Brett Brown Requested to be Interviewed Last for Sixers Head Coaching Position
By Josh Wilson
Philadelphia 76ers head coach reflected on when he interviewed for the Philadelphia 76ers head coaching position, saying he wanted to be interviewed last.
When Sam Hinkie took over the Philadelphia 76ers, he had a long road ahead of him. He needed to turn this team that was seemingly not going anywhere, into a contender in a fairly short period of time. First, they had to hit rock bottom. But even before they did that, Hinkie had to find a head coach.
That head coaching search was not as flashy as some of the other head coaching searches around the league might be for more competitive teams. This search was very specific, calculated, and had criteria in mind other than “a guy that can win” or “a playoff proven head coach,” that you might expect in the NBA.
Instead, the Sixers looked for things that might have been a bit more unconventional. They looked for a developmentally minded coach. They looked for a coach who would not mind losing at first. They looked for someone with immense patience.
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They landed on Brett Brown, who, at the time, was seeing success as an assistant head coach with the dynasty of a team known as the San Antonio Spurs.
On the latest episode of The Vertical Podcast With Woj, Brett Brown sat down and discussed the time when Hinkie reached out to him with interest about the head coaching position.
"“I got a call, seems a long time ago, from Sam Hinkie: ‘I am Sam Hinkie, I’m the new president and general manager.’ And think about this, we were right in the middle of playing the Miami Heat for the NBA championship. And he reached out, got permission, and said, ‘we’d like to speak to you about becoming the next head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, are you interested?’ And I said, ‘yes I am.’ I said, ‘I only have one request, I want to be talked to last. Do whatever you need to do with your interview process, speak to who you want to speak to, I just want to go last.’ So, the month of June ended, July rolls around, nothing. I didn’t reach out to him, and he didn’t reach out to me. Finally I received a call and he said, ‘we’d like for you to come to New York City and meet with me and the owners.'”"
It’s an interesting look behind the scenes as far as how that coaching search went, and why Brown was interviewed last. There wasn’t a huge interest around the league for Brown when he was hired (again, he fit a mold in Philadelphia that, at the time, was fairly unconventional for a head coach) and so the Sixers could interview other people (to Brown’s request) before they landed on him.
Clearly, no one fit the bill better than him.
It’s interesting that Brown wanted to be talked to last. That’s a bold thing to request from someone who is reaching out to you for a head coaching position. You’re willing to, more or less, bluff to the point that you’re going to allow other interviewees to possibly interest the Sixers and wow them before you are. It’s clear Brown was as confident that he was right for this job as Hinkie was, and that’s probably a big reason why he’s worked so well as far as development is concerned in Philly.
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The next step will be winning, and that wasn’t something on the forefront of Hinkie’s mind when he made the hire. Still, there’s reason to believe Brown can make the adjustments and motivate his team well enough to start that winning.