June 29, 2016
When Ben Simmons was 13, long before the Sixers tabbed him as the top overall pick in the NBA Draft, the teenager had the opportunity to take in an Australian national basketball team practice.
By that time, Simmons had shown plenty of skill on the basketball court. His father, a former pro in his own right, would routinely wonder how his son was even able to think of such advanced, creative moves at his young age.
The powers that be had taken notice, too, which is why some of the country’s top young talents like Simmons and Dante Exum were being introduced to “the Boomers.” The way that the younger Simmons remembers it, the national team head coach’s advice for him was pretty simple: Keep working.
And as Simmons progressed through high school, Brett Brown kept up with his journey. According to David Simmons, Brown probably has more Australian in him than American at this point.
“I have a such a close connection with the country in Australia that coaches that worked with [Ben], that I’ve known for 30 years, his junior coaches, the coaches that kind of groomed and raised him in a basketball environment, I would talk to them and they would talk a lot about his gifts,” Brown said.
In quite the coincidence, Brown will now have the opportunity to coach Ben Simmons in the NBA. And while that practice was the No. 1 pick’s first recollection of his new coach, it’s now well known that Brown also coached the elder Simmons before Ben was even a thought.
The Simmons family and Brown reconnecting at the sport's highest level all the way across the world is a story that is two-fold. It’s not just incredible that the young Australian eventually worked his way up to such lofty heights; it’s also crazy that the American who started out as an assistant coach for the Melbourne Tigers, his father’s team, is right there with him.
At PCOM on Friday, David Simmons said that Brown struck him as happy and passionate when they first met in 1989. Creeping up on thirty years later, that apparently hasn’t changed.
“The thing about him I can say, he’s never gotten too big for anyone,” Simmons said. “He’s not the sort of guy like ‘I’m the Australian coach now’ or ‘I’m the Sixers coach.’ Brett can see you all the way from over there [across a room] and if he knew you, he’s going to come up over there and have a conversation.”
Each National Basketball League team is allowed two imports, and the New York City native was one of them while Brown learned how to coach on Hall of Famer Lindsay Gaze’s bench. Close to the same age, Simmons and Brown became friends. They would run camps and clinics together, and Simmons was even at Brown’s wedding.
Simmons also tells a story about Gaze being absent at one point in time, leaving an untested Brown in charge. Brown took the opportunity to draw up a few new plays that fell outside of the Shuffle Offense that the team almost exclusively and comfortably ran.
The moment drew some eye rolls from the Tiger players, but according to David Simmons, it showed the passion Brown has for coaching. And over the years, he was happy to see that fire had paid off.
“I remember seeing him, ‘Is that Brett Brown on the Spurs bench?’ he said. “And I was so amazed and proud of him. Then I heard whispers, ‘Brett’s going to be the coach of the 76ers.’ I said, ‘Get out of here.’ There he was, head coach of the 76ers.”
“I’ve always been proud of him, watching him progress up the ladder. He deserves it, you know, because he’s really put the work in.”
Brown kept working, which was exactly the advice he had for David Simmons' son seven years ago.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
