Identified by the 76ers as the team’s top candidate to replace Mike D’Antoni as associate head coach on Brett Brown‘s staff, P.J. Carlesimo won’t be joining the Sixers after all, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. According to Stein, Carlesimo has decided to remain in broadcasting in order to stay close to his family.
A report last week indicated that the Sixers intended to hire Carlesimo in the wake of D’Antoni’s departure, and Stein confirms that there was strong mutual interest between the two sides. As Stein notes, Carlesimo worked with Brown in San Antonio and with new Philadelphia GM Bryan Colangelo in Toronto, so it would have been a reunion of sorts for the former Spurs and Raptors assistant, who has also held several head coaching posts.
Carlesimo’s most recent coaching job came in Brooklyn, when he took over for Avery Johnson, who was fired by the Nets during the 2012/13 campaign. However, Carlesimo was let go after the team was eliminated by Chicago in the first round of the playoffs that season. As a head coach, he has a career regular season record of 239-315 and a postseason mark of 6-13.
With Carlesimo apparently out of the mix, the 76ers will continue searching for a lead assistant for Brown to replace D’Antoni, who is set to become the new head coach of the Rockets.
Sixers should be happy he’s not joining. Carlisimo is awful.