Brett Brown will return as the Sixers’ head coach next season, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets. Philadelphia’s managing partner Josh Harris informed Wojnarowski of the decision.
Harris, Brown and GM Elton Brand met on Monday to discuss offseason priorities, including the draft and free agency, Wojnarowski adds.
Brown, 58, has been the head coach in Philadelphia since the 2013/14 season. He guided the Sixers to 52 and 51 regular-season wins during the past two seasons, but the team has been eliminated in the conference semifinals both years. Philadephia took Toronto to the limit but fell in Game 7 Sunday on Kawhi Leonard‘s last-second field goal.
Prior to the series finale, a report indicated that Brown would likely lose his job unless the Sixers reached the NBA Finals.
If the Sixers had parted ways with Brown they would have paid him not to coach. He was handed a three-year extension last May by former president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo.
Several Philadelphia’s players, including J.J. Redick, Jimmy Butler and Joel Embiid, expressed support for Brown after the heart-wrenching loss on Sunday and that may have helped his cause.
However, the Sixers’ roster could look much different next season with three starters — Butler, Redick and Tobias Harris — becoming free agents.
It would’ve been wrong to fire him after a loss like that, being so close to winning in a game 7 at Toronto and losing on a buzzer beater that almost bounced out more than once. Honestly with Embiid never playing a full season, Ben Simmons having yet to develop a jump shot, and for the most part having very little depth, Brett Brown has done a good job. That starting five was only together for a short time before the playoffs started and Embiid was banged up. Brett Brown definitely deserves to run it back next year.
He’s partly responsible for Ben not developing a jump shot and his offensive design with Joel outside the post more often than in it is a huge problem. Next year will be his last if they don’t go further.
You can try to teach people mechanics but you can’t give them confidence. Ben Simmons can shoot in practice but leave him wide open in a game and HE will choose not to take the shot because he doesn’t believe in his ability to shoot. If they don’t go further next year I agree, he should be fired. But that’s literally what I already said. He deserves a chance to run it back next year. I didn’t say give him a 5 year extension.
Joel has to be at the top of the key to keep the lane open for Ben since he can’t shoot but Joel can. Ben is the problem. Those two can’t play together.
for me,its not just a good job, but a great job.if sixers fail to re-sign haris, maybe sixers need to sign a great pg and let simmons play at 4
I’d trade Simmons. He’s a hindrance on offense against a good defensive team and this team is still just as turnover prone as ever… never got better. Players like him because he lets them do whatever they want.
Idk if it’s just me, but I think Simmons upside is much higher as a PG than as a PF. Guarding pick and rolls with him as the screener will be easy knowing he’ll roll to the basket as he has no pick and pop game. His post game is good because he’s matched up against guards who he has a size advantage on. Being matched up against other bigs would significantly decrease his production inside, and he has literally no production from the perimeter. When he has the ball in his hands at the point, he can use his strengths in his vision, size, strength, and ability to get to the rim and exploit mismatches to impact the game. Make him a 4 and you lose all that.
Why does it matter, they’ll just fire him during the season.
don’t be fooled, this decision was made by embiid/simmons. brown coddles both with white gloves.
I think it’s a decent move keeping Brown for another season.
One test of a decent coach is the ability to adjust from one game to the next in a playoff series. After Philly got blown out in Game 5 against the Raptors, the Sixers rebounded with a great win in 6 and a heck of a Game 7. That tells me that whether it be X’s and O’s, re-focusing and motivating players, etc., he helped put the team back into a position to win.
It would’ve been wrong to fire him without giving him one more chance after the joke of a team he was forced to run out there for so long