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Will The 76ers Make A Coaching Change?

By Quentin Haynes

Jan 4, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown (right) and associate head coach Mike D'Antoni (left) during the second half against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Wells Fargo Center. The 76ers won 109-99. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 4, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown (right) and associate head coach Mike D'Antoni (left) during the second half against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Wells Fargo Center. The 76ers won 109-99. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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After the Sam Hinkie debacle, will the Philadelphia 76ers make a coaching change? And if so, when?

After upheaval in the front office that resulted in the subsequent resignation of Jerry Colangelo and hiring of Bryan Colangelo as the team’s president of basketball operations, the Philadelphia 76ers are now in the same dilemma with the head coaching position.

CBS Sports’ Ken Berger reported that Brett Brown might be on the hot seat, depending on what happens with the current coaching carousel.

Let’s start with this: The Philadelphia 76ers are struggling at the top. After three years of brutal but understandable basketball under Sam Hinkie, the Sixers decided to opt out of that current construction, going with Bryan Colangelo, who had success with Phoenix in the early to late 2000s but struggled in his final stint in Toronto before finally resigning.

The Sixers hired Colangelo’s father to three-year contract to serve as team president, only to see him resign in three months and give the position to his son.

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Moving current head coach Brown out of his position just months after signing him to a two-year contract extension would do much of the same. Brown’s 47-199 record would suggest that he isn’t a good coach, but that’s merely window dressing. When you look deeper, you saw some of the positive traits that Brown brought to the team as early as last season.

Philadelphia’s 10-72 record this season didn’t do Brown justice. He got good value out of second-round rookie Richaun Holmes, as well as receiving promising stretches of play from Robert Covington and Jerami Grant.

The navigation of the team’s post player situation was a tough one, but I believe Brown accurately worked Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor, with both players having moments of success over the course of the season.

And from a personal standpoint, I think he could be a really good head coach once the Sixers get the right talent on the roster. The track record of former San Antonio assistant head coaches is a bit spotty (Mike Budenholzer is great in Atlanta while former Magic coach Jacque Vaughn was less than ideal), I trust Brown’s basketball brain and philosophy.

But I also think that current associate head coach Mike D’Antoni, brought in by Jerry Colangelo, is a good head coach. A really, really good head coach.

D’Antoni’s resume doesn’t need to be repeated, but let’s do it anyway. As head coach of the Phoenix Suns from 2003 (D’Antoni took over 61 games into the season) to 2008, the Suns recorded four seasons with at least 54 victories.

The “Seven Seconds or Less” Phoenix Suns team, led by Steve Nash, bent offenses and had the Suns on the doorstep of an NBA Finals appearance during that stretch.

However, much like Bryan Colangelo, it’s been dark days for D’Antoni’s resume since. D’Antoni went to New York and finished with two losing seasons in three years before being fired midway through year four. In Los Angeles, he came back to put out the fire started by Mike Brown, leading a broken Los Angeles team to 42 wins and a playoff berth before going 27-55 and being fired the following season.

Some of that wasn’t his fault — New York was in the midst of a LeBron James pursuit when D’Antoni joined, Los Angeles lost Dwight Howard after the first season — but he didn’t help matters when he feuded with Carmelo Anthony and Pau Gasol.

Negatives, but if D’Antoni took over the roster, consider me intrigued. Noel as a defender and roll man at the rim, Covington as a big floor-spacer and Grant as the multidimensional forward who can create havoc on the defensive side of the ball.

There are things missing, like an ideal point guard who can run the show to D’Antoni’s liking and some more shooting at the top, but with cap space and a chance at two picks in the top four, those needs could be filled rather quickly.

I actually believe that the Sixers could benefit from either coach, especially if the ping-pong balls fall the right away and award the Sixers the No. 1 overall pick. Ben Simmons’ ability to operate and dictate the offense would be excellent under D’Antoni and he would know exactly how to use him as a point forward.

Brandon Ingram would work as well as a long-limbed, two-way wing player with the chance to become a superstar. The top pick, plus all the cap space in the world, could ease the transition from losing to winning and from Brown to D’Antoni.

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But after the Hinkie/Colangelo debacle, the Philadelphia 76ers have to make a move right away or allow the media to make it swirl until it becomes the elephant in the room. Either rip off the Band-Aid now and make D’Antoni the head coach or allow Brown to be the coach and continue to assist this young team and actually provide Brown with talent to turn this team around.