Needless to say, Larry Brown isn’t on board with Philadelphia’s multi-year tank job.
The former Sixers head coach (now prowling the sidelines at Southern Methodist) ripped team management for their reliance on math and purposefully horrendous basketball.
Brown, who helped lead the Sixers to the 2001 NBA Finals, feels especially bad for the team’s young players and its fans.
Per the Philly Inquirer:
“I hate what’s going on in Philly,” the Hall of Fame coach said Wednesday. “They don’t have a basketball person in the organization. It makes me sick to my stomach.”
“No, I wouldn’t do it. We wouldn’t lose. Brett [Brown] can coach, he’s one of Pop’s guys,” Brown said, referring to San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich. “But what they are doing to that city to me is mind-boggling. That’s the greatest basketball city in the world with its fans and you want them to sit back and watch you lose.
“Can you imagine telling Allen Iverson that this is a rebuilding season so we’re going to be bad on purpose?” Brown continued. “I love [Nerlens] Noel, I love Joel [Embiid]. But you can’t put that stuff into them. Again, it boggles my mind. I understand you have to get assets to get better. You get assets by developing young players, draft picks and moving contracts. But how much teaching is going on?”
“These analytics, they don’t mean squat to me,” Brown said. “Throw it up against the wall and see if it sticks. To say that these analytics guys have the answer is crazy. It doesn’t apply to basketball. Everybody uses the data you get, but that’s what coaching is. Maybe it will work, I don’t know. But it’s a shame what those fans are going through waiting to see if it will.”
