Mike Brown insists that he isn't bitter towards the Cavaliers, the team that fired him this summer after five seasons as their head coach.

Brown is taking this year off to spend time with his family and he hasn't pursued serious coaching positions.

"If the opportunity presents itself, I'd love to be back coaching," he said. "The fire to coach is burning, but I also believe in family first. ... I wanted to take this opportunity to reconnect with my kids, my wife."

The Cavaliers are paying Brown the $4.5 million he was due this season over the next six years.

"I understand the business," Brown said. "[Cavaliers owner] Dan Gilbert took a chance on me five years ago with little coaching experience and not being a former player. That opportunity doesn't happen a lot. It was his team. He had to do what he thought was best for the organization.

"What I would have preferred is for me and [James] to get after it one more year. I thought we were close. At the end of the day, it's a business and that was a change they were entitled to make."