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April 18, 2013: Doug Collins officially resigned as head coach.
Over three and a half months later: The Sixers have decided San Antonio Spurs assistant Brett Brown is the person to lead them on the court.
Woj reports that the Sixers have offered the job to Brett Brown and the two sides are working currently out terms and conditions such as compensation and contract length. While this leaves open the possibility that the deal could end up falling through, that would appear unlikely at this point especially when there were premature reports dating back to the NBA Draft that the Sixers wanted to hire Brown. That Brown is the guy the Sixers ultimately offered the job to may or may not be coincidence.
While Brown is known first and foremost as a player development guy, our very own Rich Hofmann illustrated a couple weeks ago that Brown is also a well-rounded, intelligent, and process-oriented coach who fits perfectly with Sam Hinkie's overall philosophy and apparent vision for the Philadelphia 76ers. Brown will be given the opportunity to work with Michael Carter-Williams, Nerlens Noel, and assuming he does not go overseas this year, Arsalan Kazemi in helping to develop them into productive NBA players and tradeable assets.
As Spike Eskin called on the latest edition of The Rights To Ricky Sanchez Podcast, the Sixers announced the news of the Sixers head coach became public Friday afternoon where it would ultimately be buried by the first Eagles pre-season game and the weekend. Now whether or not this was intentional timing on the Sixers part or a complete coincidence is unknown, but Spike is now the second coming of Nostradamus* and we should all bow down to our Sixers-y soothsayer.
*Nostraspikus? Eskindamus? I'm open to suggestions.
Much was made about the length of time it took the Sixers to make this decision, but ultimately it mattered not whether the Sixers announced this now or three weeks ago. Sam Hinkie prioritized doing due diligence and getting information from coaches around the league before ultimately settling on Brown, who will wait two and a half more months before losing meaningful games.
Brett Brown represents a very exciting hire and if all works out well maybe even a guy who could lead the Sixers past the tanking and the player development and into the years of championship contention. There were few ways this search could have gone wrong for the Sixers, but with Brown, they not only avoided doing something wrong, they appear to have done something very right. Let the tanking begin!
[UPDATE: 8/10/13, 5:10 PM ET]: After some concern originating from Marc Stein that Brown was being discouraged from taking the Philly job by "coaching circles," it appears Stein has new sources saying Brown will in fact accept the Sixers job.
Heard some fresh rumbles on NBA coaching grapevine today suggesting San Antonio IS bracing for Brett Brown to ultimately take Philly job
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) August 10, 2013
Stay tuned to Liberty Ballers for more as we await what should be an official announcement in the coming days.