The Sixers didn’t lose Sunday night because of Brett Brown. They lost because one of the NBA’s greatest players launched a buzzer-beating, high-arching fadeaway from the corner with 7-foot-2 Joel Embiid bearing down. Kawhi Leonard’s shot hit the front of the rim, performed a magic-bullet turn, bounced three more times and fell through the net. Quadruple Doink.
The Sixers didn’t lose because of Coach Brown. They lost because they had no viable backup center. Embiid was plus-90 for the Toronto series, but every moment he sat, calamity set in. Sunday night Embiid was plus-10 in 45 minutes – and his team still lost by two. That’s not on Brown, that’s on the front office for not finding another big man who could hang defensively.
They didn’t lose because of Brown. They lost because Ben Simmons was invisible in six of the seven games. Sunday night he took just five shots. The 22-year-old — who is too often called a “generational player” — didn’t seem to want the responsibility for what was going to happen.
The Sixers lost a heartbreaker of a seventh game in Toronto for myriad reasons. Beyond that crushing buzzer beater (the Raptors’ redemption for Vince Carter missing that shot in ’01), we’ll need months to get over our team’s offensive ineptitude down the stretch. It was a three-minute tragedy of shot clock violations, turnovers and heaved-up YMCA League prayers.
I won’t absolve Brown from some of that ugliness. Poor play design factored as large as clumsy execution down the stretch, and that falls on the coach. And let’s give the Raptors credit for playing smart and aggressive defense.
But I’ll also urge Sixers fans — and more importantly, ownership — to look at the big picture before marching Brown up to the chopping block and making him the Ned Stark of this saga (sorry, I couldn’t resist a Game of Thrones reference).
Gossip has swirled for weeks that a second-round loss would end of Brown’s six-year tenure. Many of those rumors stem directly from Sixers managing owner Josh Harris. They made their way into the New York Times Sunday – game day! – when Marc Stein reported that, “rumblings in league coaching circles have grown louder by the day that (Brown) needs an NBA finals berth to keep his job.”
Stein’s an elite reporter who doesn’t make news up or rely on tertiary sources. I can only infer the reports come from inside the Sixers and are designed to undercut the coach. My sense is the decision on Brown’s tenure has already been made.
Asked soon after Sunday’s crushing finish about his future, Brown only said, “The club can respond to that.” What else could he offer?
We’ll know soon enough. While the fan base would love to see Jay Wright leave Villanova to go pro, I suspect the next coach is more likely a retread of the Tom Thibodeau, Mark Jackson, Van Gundy Brothers ilk. Would that portend improvement?
Brown isn’t perfect, but he pulled 58 wins this season (including playoffs) from a constantly changing roster that started with Markelle Fultz and Robert Covington and ended with Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris. He did it with first-round pick Zhaire Smith essentially missing the entire season. He did it with Embiid in and out of the lineup and with Simmons attempting – what? – six jump shots the entire season?
The smart, but less impetuous move is for ownership to bring the entire gang back for next year. Add a few good role players to the bench. Give it another go. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but let the process play out.
