Larry Brown on Sixers' rebuilding: 'It makes me sick to my stomach'
Larry Brown hates Philadelphia's strategy and hates analytics and probably hates other things.
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2 min read
Hey, guess how Larry Brown feels about analytics! The 74-year-old ex-Philadelphia 76ers head coach commented on his former team's rebuilding strategy, and he was surely diplomatic about it, right? He said Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie was a smart basketball mind and was doing the right thing for an organization previously mired in mediocrity, correct?
No? NO? It wasn't that? Color me shocked.
Here are the quotes, via the Philadelphia Inquirer's John N. Mitchell:
"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."
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"No, I wouldn't do it. We wouldn't lose. Brett 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?"
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"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."
Oh. OK. Well, this is what happens when you ask an old-school coach about analytics. That's to be expected, and it's a waste of time getting riled up about it. The whole feel-sorry-for-Philly thing is bothersome, though. It's not like the city was excited about the franchise's future when Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner and Thaddeus Young comprised the core. It's not like the majority of Sixers fans wanted more eighth-place (or worse!) finishes in the East. Sixers games might not be even close to competitive this season, but they're at least going in the right direction. And if you ask head coach Brett Brown, he'll tell you that there's a heck of a lot of teaching going on.
We should also remember that Larry Brown bolted out of "the greatest basketball city in the world" in 2003 in order to take over the Detroit Pistons. So yeah, this is pretty rich.
