2019-2020 Sixers Season/Offseason

[zambonir]

That'd be pretty funny if Lue led the Sixers to a championship.

If there was ever a year to try and get Jay Wright this would be the one but who knows if that would work?

[bigegypt0417]

Brett Brown will be gone after this series...

As much as some people dont like him, without Ben Simmons, this team has virtually no chance at winning this series. Other than when Thybulle was on the court, they have no answer for Tatum...which is also a deep wound.

[phillychuck]

Just say no to Ty Lue. He is another wishy/washy guy with no caché; no cred in the locker room. If you dislike Brown I expect you will hate Ty Lue.

Jay Wright would be an interesting experiment--might work, might crash with adults rather than college kids.

When Simmons got hurt the season was over (twice). Just a sad break in a sad year.

[bigegypt0417]

Agreed!

I think the sixers need to go out and find an established coach...D'antoni might be available.

[Lawman]

No, stay away from D'antoni. Run and gun offense and no defense.

[zambonir]

D'antoni would certainly be the most plausible candidate, even if his time working for the Sixers feels like ancient history now.

It's basically a repeat of the Flyers and Phillies, though Brown was certainly not an inexperienced guy (and has been here forever). But when you make a move partly for PR reasons you need a coach who gets headlines and has the resume. Even D'Antoni, never mind the issues with his system, hasn't ever made the finals, let alone won.

I wonder how much of a hand Brand had in hiring Udoka, or if he was purely Brown's guy from the San Antonio connection. Also, especially after yesterday's headlines, they should hire or at a Black coach, or at least seriously consider several.

Still think losing Ben and the pandemic gives them some cover. What do they really need to worry about, season ticket renewals and group sales? And while ownership isn't crying poor like Middleton (obviously the NBA didn't lose money this season like baseball will) he does have two years left on his deal (though of course it's peanuts compared to any player).

The real question is do you trust Brand to overhaul the roster yet again, and can he ever do it? Also, the series isn't over yet.

[bigegypt0417]

So here's an interesting name...Becky Hammon.

Another one from the Pop coaching tree but she really seems like someone who may fit the bill.

[zambonir]

That'd be pretty spectacular, but I don't think our owners are that that bold. And I'm not sure if I were Pop that I'd tell her to take the job. You make a move like that you really need to be in a position to succeed and this team's history with its GMs is not that. Coming into a situation where your star players seem able to go around the coach and GM to the owner also less than ideal, and the opposite of San Antonio.

I think if you fire Brown, you're not hiring a first-time coach. If you go with an assistant it's probably someone with more years on the job than Hammon or Udoka (and more rings. Udoka's got one, Hammon just missed it).

Meanwhile, we lost Simmons, they lost Hayward, series should not be over even if they beat us without him once before.

[Philsmania]

That'd be pretty funny if Lue led the Sixers to a championship.

If there was ever a year to try and get Jay Wright this would be the one but who knows if that would work?

As much as I would love to see Wright take the job, he has what is currently rated as the #1 recruiting class in the country headed to the Main Line in 2021. Plus, he--or any college coach for that matter--would essentially be leaving his school in the lurch if he took an NBA coaching job which might open up after this delayed playoffs. The school would have to scramble to find a new head coach a mere two months before preseason practices begin (and possibly have to deal with players transferring or recruits decommiting because they signed up particularly to play for that coach). I think Wright has too much fondness for Villanova to do that (grew up as one of their fans, got his first break in the coaching profession there, met his wife there).

[bigegypt0417]

That'd be pretty spectacular, but I don't think our owners are that that bold. And I'm not sure if I were Pop that I'd tell her to take the job. You make a move like that you really need to be in a position to succeed and this team's history with its GMs is not that.

I think every one of your opinions speaks to the idea that this is some lost franchise with no way forward...The sixers...regardless of what the records show have one of the most talented rosters in the NBA...I'm not really sure that you can really contest that. It is not like the next coach is taking on a reclamation project...they are taking on a very talented roster that requires a coach that can maximize that talent...watching you post i'd think we were looking at the Knicks.

[zambonir]

You can be somewhat successful and also be dysfunctional (just look at the history of the Flyers and the Phillies).

But we are talking about firing the coach and (hopefully) replacing 2-3 members of the starting five (assuming our two stars aren't going anywhere), that might be better than the Knicks, but it's not a successful franchise. That might not make us any different from the Rockets, which has similiar issues, but it does make us a lot different from the Spurs, where the owner, GM and coach are all really good at their jobs, and in harmony. You don't leave that lightly, and Mike Budinger and Brett Brown are proof (and I fully expect Brown to follow in Budinger's footsteps when he gets his second chance).

More than that, though, the new coach is going to be expected make the finals right away. Joe Girardi and Alain Vigneault can handle that pressure because they already have the resume. A rookie coach, let alone the first female coach in pro sports history, you'd be setting them up to fail.

I think the reason Wright makes sense now is that there's not actually going to be normal college basketball this year. So yeah, he'd kind of be leaving them in the lurch, but not in the usual way.

[bigegypt0417]

You can be somewhat successful and also be dysfunctional (just look at the history of the Flyers and the Phillies).

But we are talking about firing the coach and (hopefully) replacing 2-3 members of the starting five (assuming our two stars aren't going anywhere), that might be better than the Knicks, but it's not a successful franchise.

I'm sorry...if you are looking at the knicks and trying to even remotely compare them to the sixers, I can't even start to break that down.

The sixers roster makes them without a doubt the most available head coaching job in the NBA.

To discuss this team in the same breath isn't even a real conversation.

[zambonir]

I didn't bring up the Knicks, you did.

But what the Sixers went through in the Colangelo era is in fact worthy of Dolan. Roster has nothing to do with it.

[bigegypt0417]

if we were still in that time I would agree with you but we're not...Colangelo is 3 years ago now.

This roster would make any available coach excited...

[el-pietro]

A lot of the people Colangelo hired are still involved in key roles. The issue is the ownership that allowed themselves to be bullied into effectively firing Hinkie and replacing him with Colangelo are still in power. If not for the Ringer article exposing the burner twitter accounts that the Colangelo family ran denigrating active Sixers players then Colangelo would still be the GM.

[zambonir]

Of course there are only 30 jobs and there is great talent and most owners are difficult to work for. But it seems pretty clear the one reason Elton Brand is our GM is the owners were no more interested in potentially qualified outside candidates as potential outside candidates were in working for our owners. And what is wrong with this roster right now is only partly Brand, and partly not having a GM at all for one off-season (even if it's also partly the Fultz pick).

Anyway, I'm not trying to have a global discussion about the attractiveness of the Sixers job. I just wouldn't take it if I were Becky Hammon or any rising young coach who doesn't already have the shield of experience. And yet the experienced coach we are likely to end up with will probably be someone who has failed in the past, maybe multiple times. Sometimes those coaches finally thrive when they hit on the exact right situation but I don't know that the Sixers are that. We're gonna end up with D'Antoni or Jason Kidd or god forbid, someone who's currently on TV. The most attractive thing about the job might be that the coach figures he'll have more sway with the owners and the players than the GM does, but we'll see about that.

If there's even a change!

[zambonir]

Well, I really thought they'd have a shot tonight. Going out in 4 or 5 would be a lot more likely to end it for Brown, I imagine. Reminds of me of some Flyers playoffs of old.

[kmc1019]

Embarrassment in Boston tonight. If the owner has courage, Brand will also be fired. But no one is expecting that, whereas everyone expects Brown to go. Such a disappointment in how the franchise has gone the wrong direction following such a promising rise.

[bkeich]

Al Horford with his usual uninterested game. 23 minutes, 3 shots, 2 rebounds and a foul. Maybe someone should put a chair and a table on the court so he can watch and not strain himself.

Can’t wait for him to be off this team

[kmc1019]

.......which is why Brand really should be gone too. The overpay in the Tobias trade, the max contract for a less than max player in Harris, and the Horford deal are all Brand.

The past few years have seen rapid depletion of the last and best remaining financial and draft-pick assets of "The Process". Sixers enter the offseason desperate to offload Horford and ideally Harris, which means they will have to include assets in any deal. The franchise has gone from a position of strength and growth to limited possibilities and glaring deficiencies pretty quickly.