Jul 11, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard D
Fragile! Handle With Care
The pieces that Sam Hinkie brings in are talented players with upside. Each has NBA value in their own right. But you wouldn’t set a stick of dynamite next to the dinner plate. You can’t fix your engine with a wet sponge. Each component of this roster must fit and compliment each other component of this roster. That’s the rub folks. We project, speculate, analyze trends, and hope for the best. In the finance world, this is a swag – a scientific wild arsed guess. We believe that Brett Brown can find the best pieces to assemble into the best lineups to make up the best roster for the Philadelphia 76ers this season.
That’s a tall order as he is making his introductions.
So Brett Brown is the glue that not only holds the locker room together, but weaves the fabric that instills that team mentality in each of his players. In one of the toughest professional situations – the struggle to find success – Brett Brown is finding ways to make this team.
"“One of the great challenges is: How do you keep a locker room together? You’ve got to take hits. I remember talking to the owners before I even coached them. I asked, ‘Do you realize, really, the pain of losing? It’s real. It’s real. We can talk about development and this and that, but do you understand that night-to-night, day-to-day pain? So how do you keep a locker room together? And the only thing I thought was that if you genuinely cared for them, and genuinely worked them hard and developed them where they felt like they had a chance to win, where there was no sense of entitlement, where they had earned the right to play and win and get better and they really believed it. Then you had a shot of keeping it real.”"
That is the magic of this team. Tout the numbers game, tout the talent, the real “x-factor” is the love of a man to his players, genuine concern for their well being, their internal make-up, their wellness and perspective. Think it matters? Listen to the words of the Sixers star player, Nerlens Noel:
"“It’s a great job by coach Brown to keep the guys motivated. I mean, it’s not like you owe it to him to play hard. But you owe it to your teammates. And he’s instilled that. We have an effort chart. So as long as you’re playing hard, you’re going to be on the court. It’s become our style. And everybody buys in.” – Nerlens Noel"
We’ll talk about effort charts and the analytics side. But for the moment, sit back and appreciate the visual image that the artist head coach Brett Brown will assemble on the court. You may not have realized just how much of the man has become this team. No other coach could do it this way. Fragile? Perhaps. But each day it is forged to withstand a little bit more. It is forged out of the concern of a head coach who takes the time to know his players individually.
We’ve talked about how much this team means to Brett Brown. But Coach Brown is the keystone to this rebuild. The plan of converting players to bargaining chips must soon end, if the team is to succeed.
Next: Can The Sixers Defend Big Men?
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