3. Brett Brown
Brett Brown deserves a lot of credit for the way he handled the early and dark stages of the Process as the head coach for the Philadelphia 76ers. Not many people could keep a positive attitude while leading a team that was outright trying to lose games for five seasons in a row.
In the present day, the Sixers are anything but a team playing for ping pong balls, with two midseason trades that have signaled an all-in mentality from the front office in the hope that it inches Philadelphia closer to a championship.
However, as respected as Brown may be, last season’s playoff defeat at the hands of the Boston Celtics opened a lot of eyes for all the wrong reasons. The Sixers lost that series in five games but could’ve easily won it in the same time frame. The losses all came down to late-game execution, and while Boston was calm and poised under Brad Stevens, Philly looked lost more often than not.
This has led to continuous questions regarding Brown’s ability to function more like a tactician instead of a motivator, a notion he hasn’t done the best at resolving, seeing as how the 76ers rank 20th in crunch-time offensive rating this season.
The timeline for this squad was already ramped up following last season’s playoff run, but the additions of Tobias Harris and Jimmy Butler have put the pressure on Brown’s shoulders to make sure this team exceeds expectations.
Matchups will likely have a lot to say regarding the postseason success for Philadelphia, but similar to how a talented Warriors team axed a well-liked and relatively successful Mark Jackson in the summer of 2014 to increase their ceiling, general manager Elton Brand may find the same tactic useful if the Sixers fall short once again.