The 76ers have Brett Brown's back.
It was thought that the coach would have to reach the Eastern Conference finals to keep his job. Well, the Toronto Raptors defeated the Sixers, 92-90, in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series Sunday night at Scotiabank Arena. So the Sixers finished one game from reaching the conference finals.
But a number of his players don't want him to go anywhere. And they don't think he's going anywhere.
Monday, the coach conducted exit interviews with the team at its practice facility in Camden. At his press conference, Jimmy Butler talked about Brown having a huge heart, being a "great dude," and working incredibly hard.
"So you have to respect that about him," Butler said. "He always thinks about how to make everybody great, which is hard to do when you have the roster that we have/had.
"I think he's going to be here for a long time."
Brown has led the Sixers to two consecutive 51-plus-win regular seasons and conference semifinal appearances. His 178-314 regular-season record through six seasons is misleading because the team was tanking his first four seasons. The Sixers finished 52-30 in his fifth season and 51-31 this season.
However, he's been criticized for some of his late-game coaching. A lot of the criticism died down after his adjustments against the Raptors.
"I would say this in general. For any NBA team, when you think about a coach, and potentially replacing that coach, you have to consider what coaches are available," JJ Redick said. "You know what I mean? That's just in general.
"I don't feel it necessary to defend Brett to anyone. I think his work speaks for itself."
Embiid called the reports of Brown's being in jeopardy of losing his job rumors. He thinks it is all bull, as he said bluntly. He said he thinks the coach has done a fantastic job.
"Then this year, I think he grew even more as a coach," the center said.
Brown had to get his starting lineup of Butler, Redick, Embiid, Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris to co-exist.
"We all learned it's hard when you got five guys that can basically score the ball and do a lot of things on the basketball court," Embiid said. "It's hard to put it all together.
"I don't think he should have anything to worry about."
He described Brown as an amazing coach, an even better person, and someone for whom he has a lot of love.
"If there was someone to blame (for not reaching the conference finals)," Embiid said, "put it all on me."
