76ers Talk: Brett Brown’s Future

For the Philadelphia 76ers to have so many relevant injuries (Tony Wroten, Joel Embiid, Pierre Jackson), be devoid of any real NBA talent, and still play the way they did this season was a small miracle. Not only that, but the roster itself has been a revolving door with a whopping 31 players on payroll for this year.

No, that was not a typo.  The 76ers, an NBA team, had 31 players who have received a check from them this past season. The highest paid of the bunch being JaVale McGee, who was launched away just as fast as he landed on the roster. A fact like this can only make you wonder how you can create a positive environment for young players to develop without tainting them with the message that the front office wants them to lose games.

Trading Michael Carter-Williams along with an assortment of other very meaningless deals ensured that the team reached the salary cap floor and landed the Sixers with a good chance to pick in the top four in this year’s draft. This means that there is a chance to select another game-changing talent. Free agency could also be a viable option now that the team is collecting its core talent upon which to build. There is no question that GM Sam Hinkie has an idea of how he wants the team to be built and a vision for how he plans to accomplish that.

The question is: How (and who) does Hinkie plan on coaching this team?

Brett Brown’s contract is slowly but surely coming upon that fourth year and there has been no word said about what the 76ers plan to do about Brown’s status as Head Coach in the future. With minimal talent and a GM that clearly believes building a team requires losing games first, Brett Brown has still made the case for being a great coach. Michael Carter-Williams was the ROY last year and Nerlens Noel has made a very impactful NBA debut. Brown has also developed young players that can fulfill a greatly needed role player that the team may need in the future. Guys like Robert Covington, Luc Mbah a Moute, Ishmael Smith, and Isaiah Canaan have carved out reasons for the 76ers front office to believe that they can contribute greatly when given the opportunity. The team has also shown a very distinctive focus on the defensive end of the floor.

Brown’s 76ers may have lost the ‘talent’ contest on a nightly basis but they certainly played hard and showed that defense was the absolute focus of the team even while talent was lacking. Brown was recruited from the Gregg Popovich camp so playing defense is something he preached regularly (and quite well). As a team, the 76ers caused the second most turnovers per game, tied for the most steals per game, and ranked fourth in the league in blocks per game. The dedication to defense was remarkable and that is only a testament to how the much the players have bought into Brown’s message. Playing offense was a struggle for this team because they traded away their best scorer and were slammed with injuries to major contributors but next season should assist Brown on that end of the floor on a huge scale.

No one is saying that Brett Brown should be considered the COY after posting such a putrid overall record during the season but saying that Brett Brown should lose his job or isn’t doing a fantastic job for this team would be a big mistake. On the contrary, Coach Brown may be the best thing to ever happen to a team of young players and a healthy Sixers team that will feature names like Joel Embiid, Tony Wroten, Pierre Jackson, and another highly valued draft selection. Only time will tell what he will accomplish next.