How Philadelphia 76ers' Brett Brown Does It

The PHiladelphia 76ers are 0-9 but Brett Brown is staying the course. Mentored by the San Antonio Spurs’ Gregg Popovich and benefitting from his extensive experience in Australia, Brown is tough. He once backpacked in Oceania after playing for four seasons under Rick Pitino at Boston University. Obviously, Brown led an intense life.

Brett Brown as the realistic and cool observer:

“I have to coach a program based on what I’m given,” Brown said Friday. “You hear me beating my chest all the time about pace, and it’s true. I’m not back-peddling. But there’s a realization where you have to use what you have….

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Brett Brown and his ability and willingness to adapt:

“We could all talk next year and say, you know what, we are just a really big team,” Brown said. “And we need to walk it up and pound it inside and sprinkle shooters around and play in the 80s [points-per-game range]. It doesn’t sound good coming off my tongue. But you are always coaching to what you have, so that’s the challenge.”

Brett Brown preaches the power of pre-mortem:

“The reality of it is, we’ve had a lot of practice in this the last two years,” Brown told reporters after his team’s 111-88 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Monday night. “And so, I think that when you anticipate possibilities like we’re going through, we have a thing we call a pre-mortem. If we’re gonna die, how’s it gonna be? And we talk freely about it.”

Brett Brown as a player developer:

“And what always comes up in times like now is, we must stay together, we must be clear about our purpose and what the compass is for this year’s team,” Brown said. “And so it’s always the same old, same old. We want to get you guys better, we want to help you get to the next level. Whether it’s Jahlil’s rebounding or Nerlens’ [Noel] free-throw [shooting] or whatever.

Brett Brown emphasizes the intangibles:

“So we go right back to home plate, we stay together, we make sure that we don’t get distracted, and we recognize what’s most important. What’s most important? And I think that we have earmarked those things in a very nonnegotiable way, we’ve delivered them to our team. They hear me say this all the time and we keep those young guys together and spirited. That’s all we got.”

Brett Brown cares about the members of his team:

“The game is long, and when the game starts getting down, can I keep their spirits up? It’s not fatigue, because they are in great shape, but, emotionally, we get beaten down,” Brown said. “It’s hard. I think that once we can forget the clock and the time and the score and just play . . . I told them, ‘Look around and enjoy each other’s company. And you find a level of love for the game. And forget everything else, then we can move forward. Come out and bang out a great day. They will all add up. Trust that. They will all add up. I’ve seen it. That much I can promise. It will all start adding up.’ Those things matter.

Brett Brown’s commitment:

“I bleed for them, I bleed with them. I am responsible for keeping this group together, to helping these young guys get through this. We’ve been here before. We think . . . we actually have a blueprint that’s allowed this group to stay together, to keep a locker room together, keep our spirit high, keep improving, keep knocking out good days with the knowledge that they truly do add up. That’s the recipe, as best I know it, to dealing with this time frame for our season. But I get to a stage where I truly think we can beat anybody on a given night. I go into it thinking that, hoping that.

Brett Brown and physical and mental toughness:

“I see what I saw last year where the games are so long, you’re there for a while and then the game of 48 minutes is a long game, as it should be. But, with our group, we get exposed during that path. We feel like we’ve been playing more of the 48 than we did at the start. I think, for the most part, that’s true.”

How Philadelphia 76ers Coach Brett Brown Does It

By Dan Falcone | Nov 14, 2015