Verdict in: Philadelphia 76ers Coach Brett Brown can win

For years, NBA pundits did not know if Coach Brett Brown could win with the Philadelphia 76ers when talent arrived. Well the verdict is in. Coach Brett Brown wins the big games

The win loss record of Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown is a curious item for future trivial pursuit contests. After all, his career regular season record in the NBA is 127 wins and 283 losses for a winning percentage of 31 percent. But his playoff record so far is four wins to one loss, for a winning percentage of 80 percent.  How can this be?

Well strip away the previous four seasons of rebuild and the team played to a 52 win 30 loss season this year, good enough for fifth best in the NBA. Even more intriguing, the team ended the regular season with 16 consecutive wins.

Momentum and success combine

In short, the team is getting better and hotter with each contest. It’s not coincidence, nor is it a natural progression. It’s a plan incubated in the combined basketball plan of former executive Sam Hinkie and current head coach Brett Brown. Now, alone, it’s up to Coach Brown to forge a path to that goal sought and discussed years ago: an NBA Championship.

But forging that path is not blazing a new trail. When the team transitioned from Hinkie to Bryan Colangelo, the Philadelphia 76ers had already turned the corner on all fronts. A state-of-the-art training facilty had been constructed. The team had lowered the payroll to one of the lowest running salaries in the NBA.  Simultaneously, the team had stockpiled NBA Draft picks for the next five years.  In short, the team had everything necessary to build a winner. Now it simply fell upon the front office to sign the right players. Then, it fell to Coach Brett Brown and the coaching staff to forge a championship team from those players.

Brown wins with talented teams

Gauging the potential success of a team coached by Brett Brown prior to this season was next to impossible. Not due to the lack of effort by the team, nor the quality of the coach. The team simply had too many injuries and insufficient talent to make a valid judgement. But judgements happened anyway. Often.

In fact, the call for firing Coach Brown after each loss became so predictable, that it became a running joke among Philadelphia 76ers fans.  “Fire Brett Brown” became synonomous with “The Philadelphia 76ers lost”.

Play the hand you are dealt

But Brown simply played the best roster dealt to him. The only way to develop raw young talent is to play them in game situations. So that is what he did. Keep in mind that neither Marco Belinelli nor Ersan Ilyasova were on the roster for much of the season. For that matter, both Markelle Fultz and Furkan Korkmaz were injured for much of the season as well.

Brown still had to send a starting lineup onto the court.  Some lineups had three-point shooters. Others did not. But when the team landed Belinelli and Ilyasova, Brown had enough fire power. Subsequently, the team won 16 consecutive games to close out the regular season, and are 4-1 in their first playoffs series.

Respect all, fear none

The secret to winning authority in a diverse group is to maintain your integrity. The key to integrity is to respect everyone. When his star center vents on social media about not playing? Coach Brett Brown did not react nor splash editorial commentary on the matter. He respected his player’s perspective.

And it’s not just in managing his players. He respects opponents too.

But respect is not fear. One of the most incredible attributes of this team, directly from their head coach, is the belief that they can beat anyone. Even the 10-72 season, the Philadelphia 76ers played hard all the way to the final buzzer.

76ers roster built to win now

The Philadelphia 76ers have built their roster the right way. The toughest position to fill and fit in the NBA is the center position. The first true fill and fit for the scheme of the Philadelphia 76ers was center Joel Embiid.  It wasn’t random chance nor blind luck. The Sixers cycled through three starting caliber talents before building the team around Joel Embiid.  The center position is crucial, as both defense and offense is anchored at the center role.

The second position in the hierarchy, the point guard role, is filled by a franchise-changing talent of 6-foot-10 point guard Ben Simmons.  He not only adds incredible basketball vision and IQ, but his dimensions allow him to mix it up with other big bodies in the paint. Perhaps most of all, and not often discussed, is his detached analytical demeanor. He doesn’t rattle. In the form of a point guard, that is incredibly valuable.

Pace Space Pass

The Philadelphia 76ers constructed the team to excel at Pace Space and Pass. Why those attributes? The San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors, two NBA teams with prolonged success, feature those characteristics.

So the Philadelphia 76ers, in the same objective of being a durable successful team. The team is built around the talents of two elite players. But the scheme is such that talent becomes less important than the scheme of the team. To win for years, the recipe for winning must be greater than the chef. For this Sixers team, that’s the reality.

Tougher 76ers advance to tougher competition

The Philadelphia 76ers entering round two are a much tougher team than the one which entered round one.  And by advancing, they have broken through the glass ceiling set for this team at the beginning of the year. So now the question if which team will be the next opponent? The Milwaukee Bucks or the Boston Celtics? Christopher Kline does a good job analyzing each opponent in a recent article.

In the four game series with the Celtics this season, Boston relied heavily on Kyrie Irving‘s 25.7 points per game average to pull out the wins. Center Al Horford had mixed results. Meanwhile, the 76ers perimeter shooters played better than their season average when facing the Celtics.  In four contests, Jerryd Bayless played significant minutes. The 76ers team is vastly improved with the signings of Ersan Ilyasova and Marco Belinelli, while the Celtics have lost Kyrie Irving. The Celtics are very physical, with Aron Beynes serving as a body checking center. Still, Embiid in the lineup will have both Beynes and Horford in foul trouble. And the 76ers perimeter shooting make a huge difference in this series.

Deer in the headlights

Milwaukee Bucks are also prospective opponents. But down 2-3 against Boston, they have their work cut out for them. While Boston holds home court advantage, the Bucks have no such higher vantage point. And much like the Miami Heat, the team’s split their games based on home team wins. The 76ers won the first contest when the Bucks did not have a healthy Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks won the second game when the 76ers did not have a healthy J.J. Redick. The Bucks won the third contest at home, and the 76ers won the fourth game in a runaway game.

Next: Philadelphia 76ers Coach Brown loves defense, and it shows

Giannis is the key. When he scores in bunches, the Bucks win. He only scored 10 points in that fourth contest, and the 76ers won handily. The Sixers defense appears to be prepared to face the challenge head on. And in doing so, whether at home or on the road, are very capable of advancing even further in the NBA Playoffs.  But this never happens without the right head coach. No matter what the NBA decides, Coach Brett Brown is the NBA Coach of the Year in my book. And much like Eagles coach Doug Pederson, he may be overlooked for the award, but land the ultimate prize.