Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown commended the city in a recent podcast interview for being a “basketball city” ever since he was in San Antonio.
Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical recently had Philadelphia 76ers head coach on his podcast to reflect on what this whole season has been like, and how the Sixers future is looking moving forward.
In the conversation, the pair talked about plenty of different topics, but something that came up more than once was Brown’s past in San Antonio, and how it led to him getting a job as a head coach with the Sixers.
Brown also shared some interesting perspective with Woj about how he felt about the city of Philadelphia when he was coaching as an assistant in San Antonio. Brown was hired as a player development person in 2002 after being with the team in more volunteer-oriented positions previously, and would be with the Spurs until he took the Sixers job in 2013.
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Here’s what Brown had to say about Philly:
"“When I would come into Philadelphia once a year for 12 years with Pop, and you know you went through those good years that they had in the AI era, immediately you could feel that Philly was different. You know, you hear me talk lots about that it’s got an edge, there’s a hardness to the city, it completely is a basketball city. And you felt that, even in one little 24 hour, one game a year, back to Philly from the West”"
Brown clearly had a high regard for Philadelphia from an outside perspective, and it’s noteworthy that Brown came through Philly for some of the Allen Iverson era, where the city really was excited and lively about professional basketball.
Brown then commented on how it’s been different to live in the city now, and live in the city this season as the tone around the team has changed. It really feels like a different atmosphere in Philadelphia after the years of losing.
"“To live in the city and go through, you know, a very sort of hot month of January, where like you say, Joel was playing, we were winning consistently, you could feel like what we were trying to build. Forget the Wells Fargo arena, because that place was rolling.”“That vibe by the people of Philadelphia confirmed that this is completely a basketball city. They love their Eagles, but you sure felt like ‘wow, imagine what’s going to happen if we flip this.'”"
That’s some powerful stuff from the head coach of a professional basketball team. For him to say, “forget the Wells Fargo arena” because the entire city was behind the team, and the entire city feels like it’s ready for this team to make its jump? That’s incredible, and if the coach is feeling it in the city, I’m sure the fans are as well.
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At the same time, that adds a degree of pressure to the team to reach their goals in the coming seasons. Not only is the attitude in the arena changing and getting more excited about the team, but you can feel it in the city. If the Sixers fail, it could be horrible for the team, and it could take even longer for them to gain the trust of the fans back.