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.
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.
Brown’s coaching
Butler pointed out not one, but two areas where he questioned Brown’s coaching. The first came in the film room and he had this to say about the experience.
"“‘And we are all sitting in there and nothing got accomplished at all. So I was like, and I told you this when I walked out, ‘JJ why would I ever go back in there again? Nothing is getting accomplished, nobody is saying nothing to anybody and we just sitting in here watching film’ and you can literally hear the thing just clicking and we are all just looking around…Click, click. ‘Alright guys let’s go practice.’ Why did we just go through this? That’s literally what’s going on in my head. So I come to you, I say ‘JJ why would I go back in there again? We didn’t do nothing, nothing got accomplished.’”"
It’s discouraging that during that film session that there was no dialogue. The point of any film session is to cause discussion about what areas need to improve upon. Brown can’t just show film and expect that to be enough. He has to also encourage dialogue with it. It’s hard to blame Butler for feeling the way he did after that.
The second issue came in the playoffs and when it came to who initiated the offense. Butler offers a unique perspective on how the offense was run when Redick asked about if Butler’s relationship with Brown improved in the playoff once the offense was running through him more.
"“‘I would say it was professional, but to this day I don’t think that was fair to switch over like that. Even though we played great basketball like that, I don’t think it was fair because the entire year, Ben had the ball. The entire year, Ben had the ball. So you mean to tell me that in one playoff series you just switch it up like that? I would be — like he was — I would feel a type of way. I would feel a type of way, I would think it’s [explitive] up to play one way the entire year and then be like you know what, boom, this is how we’re going to do it….And I used to tell Brett, I was like Brett, I think we should mix in me handling the ball a little bit. ‘No, we do A-to-B, we do this.’ Cool! But I would be pissed, and I’m not going to complain about it, but I don’t think that was the best way of doing it, in my opinion.'”"
From a strategy standpoint, Brown made the right adjustment and even Butler admitted that the team played well as a result. However, his issue was that Brown didn’t introduce that idea until the postseason. If Brown had Butler as the de facto point guard with Simmons in the game during the regular season, it probably would have helped the team come playoff time. He also made it clear that it wasn’t fair to Simmons and that the point guard wasn’t happy about the change.
Butler brought to light concerns about Brown’s ability to coach this team. While Brown’s coaching hasn’t been perfect in the past, this perspective from Butler doesn’t do the head coach any favors in improving those views.
Redick free agency fate
Apparently, Redick had a feeling he wasn’t coming back Philly before the start of free agency. It was during the exit meeting with Brand, he got feeling that he would only return if the 76ers didn’t have any other options.
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Despite the fact that Redick had already become one of the best 3-point shooters in 76ers history, Redick got the message from then first-year GM Brand that he wasn’t a high priority for them moving into free agency.
I’ve already written about how not re-signing Redick was the second biggest mistake of Brand’s tenure thus far. The fact that it appears that Brand had planned this since before the exit interviews is concerning.
Say what you will about former president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo, but even he understood that Simmons and Joel Embiid needed high volume shooters surrounding them. The fact that Brand had decided to let one of the best walk away in free agency should be a big mark against him.
Butler’s view of free agency
The team’s lack of leadership and the faults of Brown most likely didn’t help in trying to retain Butler in free agency, but he made his reason for not coming back very clear.
"“‘…Somebody told me a main reason I didn’t go back is because somebody asked, ‘Can you control him? Can you control Jimmy? If you can control Jimmy, we would think about having him back.’ I was like you don’t got to worry about it, [explitive] can’t nobody [explitive] control me. For one, I ain’t just out there doing no [explitive], but the fact that you’re trying to control a grown man, naw I’m cool, because I don’t do nothing that’s just drastically [explitive] stupidly crazy. I do not do that, so do not sit here and come at me with, ‘Oh we got to try and control him.’..Nah, you good, don’t even have to worry about it. That was my whatchamacallit, you don’t got to worry about me coming. If that’s what y’all worried about it, I think man, good luck to y’all…Oh this was early, super early.'”"
Butler had every right to feel upset in this situation. While’s he’s been known as tough and domineering in the locker room, he’s never been a problem guy from the sense of being out of control.
The fact that this was even a thing should be a bigger indictment on Brown and Brand than Butler. If there was a feeling of uneasiness surround Butler, it goes back to a lack of leadership with Brown and Brand.
If both men were strong leaders then Butler’s strong will wouldn’t have been an issue and the team’s current issue of consistency wouldn’t have been an issue this season. Personally, I can’t blame Butler for deciding to go elsewhere.
Butler revealed some major issues with the leadership of the Philadelphia 76ers on Redick’s podcast. With the same people still in place, it’s no surprise that the Sixers have had their ups and downs this year based on the lack of strength from the organization. This revealed that maybe it’s time for some changes this offseason, but only time will tell.