PHILADELPHIA _ Ever since he fired Brett Brown, Elton Brand has been telling everyone who asks that it will take several weeks to hire Brown's successor.
I spent the past few days polling a handful of currently powerless NBA lifers about the coaching vacancy. The consensus: It's a bad job, with a structureless organization. You would work in a brutally demanding town that, after seven years of Processing, itches for validation, but, after seven years of mismanagement, is years (and several catastrophic contracts) away from attainting real relevance.
The main obstacle: the stagnation of Joel Embiid, the 7-foot-2, 270-pound big man whose marketing skills currently outstrip his footwork in the low post and his willingness to use a StairMaster. Paradoxically, Embiid _ talented, skilled, and large _ also is the main attraction for any incoming coach. Sorry, Ben.
So, who should be the next Sixers coach? Who's the best candidate? They are not the same question; not exactly. And the best person for the job says he doesn't want it.
