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Philadelphia 76ers: Let’s not drag Brett Brown through the mud

By Christopher Kline|

Joel Embiid, Brett Brown | Philadelphia 76ers (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

The Philadelphia 76ers will fire Brett Brown, and that’s probably the right decision. But let’s not needlessly disparage him.

Following the Boston Celtics’ unceremonious sweep of the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round, Brett Brown’s tenure as head coach is expected to end soon. He’s under contract through 2021-22, but his termination could come within days, if not hours.

That’s all good and well. It’s time for the Sixers to bring in a different, more creative voice. Someone who can lean into Philadelphia’s size advantage and unlock new avenues of success for Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. It’s clear Brown’s time has come.

With that said, Brown has spent seven years in Philadelphia. Seven years defined largely by success — even if the Sixers weren’t always a winning team. He guided Philadelphia through the most publicly scrutinized rebuild in modern history. He maintained a thriving locker room despite endless losing and prolonged uncertainty for the future.

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When the Sixers emerged from “the process” as a contender, Brown guided them to a 52-win season and the second round of the playoffs in Embiid and Simmons’ first year together. After that, 51 wins and a narrow seven-game defeat at the hands of Kawhi Leonard and the eventual NBA champions.

Brown has been nothing short of a positive influence during his tenure in Philadelphia. He’s a commendable human being, a joy to cover, and dare I say, a good coach. He should — he will — land on his feet, probably as a head coach somewhere else. Chicago and New Orleans have job openings.

There are, of course, plenty of valid criticisms when it comes to Brown’s performance this season. Philadelphia was probably worse than it should have been, but by the same token, I struggle to see much upside with the current roster. Brown was dealt a disastrous hand, and he’s the easy scapegoat.

The rash of recent media leaks about Brown’s tenure has made one thing clear — the front office is doing everything it can to pin Philadelphia’s failures on Brown, a helpless coach who couldn’t do much with the most egregiously ill-fitted roster in basketball.

Take for example the recent report from Yahoo’s Chris B. Haynes. In it, sources pontificate on Brown’s inability to maintain control of the locker room. While it’s clear Brown has lost a degree of command this season, to act as if he wasn’t an overwhelming force of good over the past seven years is undue erasure.

Brown has played the fall guy for Philadelphia since the beginning. He sat in front of rabid reporters and answered unanswerable questions during the Hinkie era. He answered for Bryan Colangelo’s ineptitudes, and then went on to take full blame after Elton Brand handed him a starting lineup of four big men and a wing.

We can bemoan the Sixers’ failures ad nauseam, but to act as if Brown is the main culprit — and not the endless cycle of poor managerial decisions following Hinkie’s resignation — is silly. If Brown is gone, the front office should be held equally responsible.

The Sixers’ current front office was handed two young superstars in Embiid and Simmons who primarily do damage in the paint. Rather than surround them with complementary talent, the front office decided to pile up on size and the guise of physicality. The Sixers have no reliable shot creators who can close games, nor is there enough shooting to maximize the attention Embiid receives in the post.

If Brown were given a competently built team, we’re likely having a very different discussion. Brown is not blameless in this. He certainly had his fair share of maddening strategic fetishes and baffling decisions. In the end, however, this is a Sixers organization soaked in blame. It cannot all fall at Brown’s feet, and letting it do so would be an abject failure on account of everyone in the organization and everyone who covers it.