Sixers Coach Brett Brown Reportedly Needs A Trip To The NBA Finals To Save His Job


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The basketball world was riveted by a Game 6 between the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets on Friday night. Golden State coming out on top ended that series, ending the dream of some hoops fans: three Game 7s on a Sunday night that’s capped off by the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones.

That means we’ll only have two Game 7s, which will be plenty of fun as it stands. But the stakes are high for the Nuggets, Trail Blazers, Raptors and Sixers, who all will battle for a trip to their respective conference finals. Toronto and Philadelphia in particular are facing uncertain futures for a number of players, but perhaps a head coach might have the most to lose if they don’t come out on top.

Marc Stein of the New York Times broke down the Game 7s on tap for Sunday and immediately laid out the risks that come with losing for reach team. The Raptors, for example, could have seen the last of Kawhi Leonard if they don’t win at home on Sunday.

But on the other side of that equation, Sixers head coach Brett Brown could be the person who’s got the most to lose.

Beyond the uncertain fates of Butler, Harris and the sharpshooting J.J. Redick, rumblings in league coaching circles have grown louder by the day that 76ers Coach Brett Brown needs an N.B.A. finals berth to keep his job. Brown, I’m told, has little chance of surviving a second-round exit.

It would be an enigmatic end in Philadelphia for Brown, who’s been the head coach in Philadelphia since 2014 and has endured three sub-20 win seasons as The Process took hold. The team then emerged as a perennial playoff squad, though the team hasn’t reached the Conference Finals under his tenure. Not being around to reap the benefits of all the losing he endured would seem a bit unfair, though the architect of that Process also isn’t a member of the franchise anymore.

Some additional reporting by Kyle Neubeck of Philly Voice says that the team is focused on Sunday, “and any declarations about what they will or won’t do in hypothetical scenarios are simply speculation.” Still, if the Sixers can’t get past the second round, it seems entirely possible that the organization will be looking to tweak things, perhaps even the man who has led the team over the last few years.

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