September 23, 2015
After a long summer spent crisscrossing the globe, recharging his batteries and refining his son’s “lethal right-handed floater,” Brett Brown was happy to answer any question related to the Sixers on Wednesday afternoon. That is, except one.
As it has before, the head coach’s contract status came up more than once. Brown is entering the third season of a four-year deal. Just like in years one and two, he is leading a team that has little prayer of contending for anything but a top draft pick. Still, Brown enjoys nothing less than commenting on his future.
“I just don’t want to talk about it,” Brown said. “I really don’t. I enjoy talking to everybody here, it’s just I’ve said what I had to say and am just really excited to coach the group. And I’d be disappointed in myself if I comment many sentences beyond what I’ve just done as it relates to my contract.”
"I personally feel connected to this city. I enjoy the people of this city," Brown said. "I get into deep Philly with my son traveling around with playground basketball and bumping into people. I love seeing the [youth and high school] coaches show up.”
Brown is 37-127 in his two seasons with the Sixers, but anybody who follows the team knows he has done a nice job with what little he has had to work with. General manager Sam Hinkie, the man who both gives Brown so little talent to coach and controls his future, has offered unwavering praise for the 54-year-old coach that he hired away from Gregg Popovich’s bench. But actions speak louder than words.
When asked about what keeps him invested through all of the losing, Brown will invariably talk about the development of young players like Nerlens Noel, Jerami Grant, and JaKarr Sampson. It’s more than that, though, more than Sixers specifically. Brown feels at home in Philly, which is important. The man who invented the Bostralian accent loves being a part off of this city’s basketball community.
“My answer truly is that I signed a four-year contract and my intention is to see it through,” Brown said. “And for whatever reason, I personally feel connected to this city. I enjoy the people of this city. I get into deep Philly with my son traveling around with playground basketball and bumping into people. I love seeing the [youth and high school] coaches show up.”
Besides his apparent coaching acumen, the public relations aspect of the job is why Brown was such a home-run hire by Hinkie. The Sixers don’t require someone to devise a defense to stop the Durant-Westbrook two-man game in May. Not yet, anyway. Brown did those types of things at his last job, but it hasn’t been required of him here yet. The Sixers needed a people person who could connect with the city, and it would be difficult to find someone better than Brown in that regard.
Now the question is if Hinkie’s best soldier gets rewarded with a contract extension. Brown knew what he signed up for back in 2013, but from talking to him, there is a sense he didn’t quite understand the depths of this grand rebuilding project. Still, he remains as upbeat as ever.
“I wouldn’t be telling the truth if you told me when I accepted this position that this we would be where we are at,” Brown said. “But that is not at all delivered as a negative message.”
Brown then went on to list examples of the culture he built last season as some of the twists and turns he wasn’t expecting. From here, this is a valid point. In 2014-15, the Sixers generally played harder than their opponents and important players like Noel and Grant got better as the season went along. Still, the talent was only enough for a measly 18 wins.
The question is if Brown will be in Philly when that talent level improves, hopefully drastically. Just don’t ask him.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
