The Process Will Continue without Brett Brown Coaching the 76ers
/I had an idea to keep an up to date detail of how online virtual school is going, but I decided that I will do that more periodically, giving people a break from all of that. Most of us are living it, so we know what is going on. But, I'd still like to chime in every now and then to keep people updated. Instead, I'll do that, but I will mostly stick to pop culture and sports, and even sometimes get political.
Today we have a whopper, well to some, of a story from the NBA. The 76ers finally pulled the plug and let go of Brett Brown. I think there is a lot more change to come, like the front office and roster, but I want to solely talk about Brown today.
Bret Brown really had no shot unless the 76ers won, or even maybe made, the Finals. This was the year that they were supposed to take the leap. I picked them to be in the Finals, and I know a good amount of other sports writers did as well, mainly Zach Lowe. He is the guy I read consistently, and his take on them before the season made me a believer. Welp, that most definitely didn't happen this year. Lowe said, and I agreed, that the heartbreak against the Raptors last year, the Kawhi shot, was just what they needed to get that hunger up to make a push. Then we had all the stories about Embiid being in great shape, how he wanted to win MVP, which he was my preseason pick, and Defensive Player of the Year. There were also rumors that Ben Simmons was shooting threes, they signed Tobias Harris and traded Jimmy Butler, thus getting the "bad guy" out of the locker room, and their final move was to sign Al Horford. They were going against the grain of the modern game, with shooting everywhere, and they were going to go big and punish teams. They were going to be the modern day Bad Boys, only much, much bigger. Again, that did not really happen. Tobias Harris, while good, is not worth the max contract he got. He's a good shooter, but not a three point shooter by any means. He is also kind of soft. He is a fun guy, a player I like, a decent player, but not a superstar. They didn't get nearly enough for Butler in the trade that sent him to Miami, and they clearly needed his determination in that locker room more so than having a nice guy. Butler may be an asshole, he may rub people the wrong way and fight with staff, but the dude is always part of a tough winning culture. The front office, and from what I have heard lately, Brett Brown made a poor decision in picking Harris over Butler. Al Horford was an absolute zero for them. He did not bring them anything they were hoping for. He was the Embiid stopper,, but now they are teammates. What good does that do? He can't really stop a guy when he plays with that guy. And while Horford is a solid player, he is too old, too slow and is being paid way too much money. They need to try and find a trade partner, but it will be very hard with that contract.
Simmons, well, he simply chose to not shoot threes. He took a few, but nothing like people were saying in the offseason. And even during the restart he was hesitant, and then he got hurt. He also looked way less engaged in the bubble. Is this because of the coaching, or can he not really shoot? I think it is the former. Again, I have heard people say that Simmons was on a very long leash, and Brown was never going to really call him out on anything. Sure, he had some veiled stuff through the media, but nothing like talking face to face with him.
Then we have Embiid. He is a great player. He is a dominant force on offense, an excellent rebounder, can shoot from deep and can lock down other bigs on defense, when he is engaged. He is never really fully engaged, and that is a combo of coaching and the player. Joel Embiid only really showed out when people on TV called him out. Charles Barkley and Shaq go at him, he has a great game. The All Star game happens, he is front and center and he is getting all the touches at the end, he looks other worldly. But more often than not, he just kind of came and went all year. He also openly opined for Jimmy Butler and just couldn't put together enough good stretches. He was way, way too inconsistent.
Finally we have Brett Brown. Brown went through some shit man. He was there at the beginning of the "process". He coached a team that won only ten games. He dealt with the former front office offloading young talent for worse, and younger, talent. Then when the team got better, and healthier, he made some waves, but nothing that this team, as constructed could have done. I don't fully blame Brown, but a better coach would have done a better job with this roster. Brown was good at coaching young talent, molding them and teaching them how to play in the NBA. But, he couldn't coach the stars. When his players got big, they didn't fully respect his voice, and they basically laughed at his way of laying down the law. He didn't have their trust, he couldn't get this team over the top and he couldn't coach up "star" players. He also let the front office get rid of way too much outside shooting talent to have this "all bigs" lineup, that didn't work. Brown is a solid coach who may get another gig, but it won't be with a contender. He will have to settle for another rebuilding project, and I don't know if he has that in him if the same thing happens wherever that may be that just happened in Philly.
The 76ers need to get a solid coach, with respect to get this team over the top, but they also need to revamp the roster to fit with Simmons and Embiid. We all knew the Brown firing was coming, so it isn't a surprise. But still, he coached a team with real talent, and they couldn't even get out of the first round of the playoffs. The time had come.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.
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