This has to be something everyone who follows the Lakers has been saying the past few weeks, but really, honest, I was thinking it in the summer of 2011:

Mike Brown as Lakers coach? What an awful idea!

Today, he became a bad idea, but in the rear-view mirror.

I didn’t like him as a coach when he was in Cleveland. He seemed to have no plan beyond “give it to LeBron James,” which was enough to get the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals once, in 2007, when San Antonio thrashed them. Of course, the Spurs have Gregg Popovich, a serious coach.

I had no idea why the Lakers hired Mike Brown, after Phil Jackson stepped down. It seemed as if they could have done much better than the guy who ran plays for LeBron.

It’s hard to imagine what the Lakers were thinking — and allegedly Jim Buss, Dr. Jerry’s son, made the call.

Was it that Brown had coached a superstar in Cleveland, so he could relate to Kobe Bryant? Was it that he wouldn’t cost too much? Was it that he was available? Did Jim Buss confuse Mike Brown with Hubie Brown or Larry Brown, each of whom would have been a better hire? (And Hubie is 79, Larry is 62.)

Wouldn’t you love to hear an audio recording of how that decision went down? Just to listen to how Jim Buss talked himself around to “Mike Brown … Yeah, he’s the guy!”

I didn’t like Mike Brown as a coach last season, and never for one moment thought that the Lakers would win a championship. This year, he seemed frozen stiff at the notion of integrating Steve Nash and Dwight Howard into the team.

A preseason record of 0-8? A 1-4 start? The Lakers of Kobe, Pau Gasol, Howard and Nash were awful? Was it them? Or was it a coach who had no idea how to make this work?

Normally, five games with a reconstructed team … not enough. Not nearly enough. But if we take into account that Mike Brown was unimpressive for the whole of 2011-12, was handed Nash and Howard and was 1-12 this season (counting exhibitions), and was given the Kobe Death Stare the other night … it was time to pull the trigger.

Like any sensible person, I would like to see the Lakers bring back Phil Jackson, if he is physically up for it. I have no problems with Mike D’Antoni, either, because the Lakers would be a threat to score 110 any night — though the other guys might score 115 every night.

Maybe Mike Brown would be good with some other NBA team. In a small market. Where expectations are limited. But with the Lakers, in Los Angeles, with Kobe-Pau-Nash-Howard … this was not going to work.

Mike Brown had to go. If it seems rash, so be it. It was wrong in the summer of 2011, and it was getting “wronger” every day this season.