The Sixer Sense
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Philadelphia 76ers: 4 takeaways from J.J. Redick – Jimmy Butler podcast

By Lucas Johnson

(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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Philadelphia 76ers, Elton Brand (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)
Philadelphia 76ers, Elton Brand (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Two former members of the Philadelphia 76ers got together on a podcast and revealed some ugly truths about the organization.

There are some franchises that have been run very well over a long period of time. The San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat, Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, and even the Dallas Mavericks have strong organizations from the head coach, management, to ownership. While the Philadelphia 76ers aren’t in the top echelon of teams, they aren’t the worse. However, the perception of how strong they are has recently changed.

Former Sixers shooting guard J.J. Redick had 76ers former small forward Jimmy Butler on his podcast (link to the full version of the podcast has strong language in it). There was a lot revealed in that podcast about head coach Brett Brown and general manager (GM) Elton Brand, as well as the organization as a whole. There are at least four things that can be taken away from this podcast.

Lack of leadership

Brown is currently the second longest-tenured head coach in Philly’s franchise history. Brand is only his second season as the GM, but he was respected among players back during his playing days. Yet, those factors didn’t appear to matter when it comes to the organizations’ leadership hierarchy, according to Bulter.

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H/T to Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice for transcription of the podcast into quotes.

"“‘…It was so different and on any given day, me as a person, as a player I didn’t know who the [explitive] was in charge, that was my biggest thing. I didn’t know what the [explitive] to expect whenever I would go into the the gym, whenever I would go into the plane, whenever I go into the game, I was as lost as the next [explitive] …Yeah. There was so much going on on every given day, I was like yup, guess I’m just here to work I didn’t know who to talk to.'”"

This is some very disturbing news. Not only does it mean that Brown and Brand didn’t have a clear chain of command, but other voices in the organization were chiming in as well. Whether it was assistant coaching, other members of the front office or even ownership is unclear, but it’s clear that there were too many voices for Butler to figure out who was in charge.

This wasn’t just a problem last season, but this one as well. Poor leadership is one of the underlying causes of the Sixers’ poor road record.