76ers fire HC Brown, Brand reportedly staying in top front-office role

The Philadelphia 76ers have fired longtime head coach Brett Brown after seven seasons, the team announced Monday, one day after its first-round sweep at the hands of the Boston Celtics.

"I have a tremendous level of respect for Brett both personally and professionally and appreciate all he's done for the 76ers organization and the city of Philadelphia," general manager Elton Brand said in a statement. "He did many positive things during his time here, developing young talent and helping position our team for three straight postseason appearances.

"Unfortunately, we fell well short of our goals this year and I believe it is best to go in a new direction. This will be an important offseason for us as we look to get back on track toward our goal of competing for an NBA championship."

Brown finishes his 76ers tenure with a 221-344 regular-season record and a 12-14 postseason mark. Philadelphia finished with 50-plus victories in each of the previous two campaigns and was on a 48-win pace during the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season.

A former player development guru for the San Antonio Spurs, Brown was hired by former executive Sam Hinkie in 2013 to shepherd what would come to be known colloquially as "The Process."

The multi-season tanking initiative was designed to net the team a significant number of high-end draft prospects, and it largely succeeded on that front. During Brown's tenure, the team added Michael Carter-Williams (2013), Nerlens Noel (2013), Embiid (2014), Dario Saric (2014) Jahlil Okafor (2015), Simmons (2016), and Markelle Fultz (2017) as lottery picks, either via their own selections or through draft-day trades.

However, few of those players have lived up to their lottery-pick status to date, and only Embiid and Simmons remain with the organization today.

Hinkie was ousted toward the end of the 2015-16 season after ownership brought in former Phoenix Suns chairman Jerry Colangelo and his Bryan to return respectability to a franchise that went 47-199 from 2013 to 2016, the nadir of "The Process" era.

The younger Colangelo became the 76ers' president in spring 2016. However, he was forced to resign in June 2018 following a social media scandal. His wife was disclosing sensitive information and criticizing 76ers players through anonymous Twitter accounts.

Brown served as interim general manager after Colangelo's exit until Elton Brand was named GM in September 2018. Brand will stay on to run a basketball operations department expected to undergo significant change, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

The team plans to give its next bench boss the opportunity to coach the club's 2020 All-Stars, Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, before entertaining the possibility of trading either talent, Wojnarowski reports.

Los Angeles Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue is reportedly the 76ers' top target. Lue previously served as the Cleveland Cavaliers' head coach, taking over midway through the 2015-16 season to help the team win its first championship. The 76ers will also reportedly check on the availability of Villanova head coach Jay Wright, according to Wojnarowski.