Philadelphia 76ers Bank D’Antoni Brings Fast Break Fix

Nov 21, 2015; Miami, FL, USA; Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown talks with his players during a timeout in the first half of game action against the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Mentoring The Mentor

Then and only after retaining the current head coach, they lifted the burden from him by hiring Mike D’Antoni.  Not Colangelo’s son Bryan Colangelo as was rumored, but D’Antoni.   Mike D’Antoni is an associate head coach who will do as much for Brett Brown as Jerry Colangelo will do for Sam Hinkie.  Turning from a rapid to descent to a sustainable climb requires a significant amount of expertise.  That expertise is immigrating to the Philadelphia 76ers now.  The team had already set up the supporting cast under Sam Hinkie’s guidance.  Now the team is upgrading the front office to championship caliber.

Mike D’Antoni is the expert at scoring offenses in the NBA. He fathered the Phoenix Suns fast break.  Now the Sixers are asking him to repeat history.  But moreso, he knows the demands and the ins and outs of the NBA.  He’s been there.  Brett Brown has been far too often placed in front of a microphone with hard pointed questions that have no answers except “Trust The Process”.  Now the process gets more robust.  Now Brown will have help on the court.  The questions may not get answers for weeks, but the team is working on the solutions.

There will be those who believe one win today is far more important than championship success tomorrow.  They will continue to believe this Sixer’s team is wrong, heading for disaster, plumetting uncontrollably, and heading for disaster.  There are the core Sixer fans, whose intelligence shines forth to me constantly, and whose understanding of the process has been far greater than my own, who are solid in their knowledge that this rebuild is like nothing the NBA has ever seen before.

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This team has disconnected components of a great team.  Players on this roster are still getting better, and still learning how to become a team.  Additions of Colangelo and D’Antoni will only augment that process, identify players and coaches who can accelerate the learning curve and then coach them up in areas the team is struggling in badly.   The take-away from this season is NOT how the team begins the year, but how it ends it.

When it boils down to free agents, it will be about the money.  When it boils down to the NBA draft, its about the number of picks.  Right now, the Philadelphia 76ers are sitting on a huge amount of both.  It doesn’t require expertise to succeed in this formula.  But the Sixers just signed up two of the best in the NBA.   Sam Hinkie loves stacking the deck with insurance policies.