Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown knew what he was in for when he took this terrible, terrible gig.
Brown knew that this terrible gig could turn into a fantastic gig after a spell, but that he’d have to endure several terrible rebuilding years in order for the Sixers to accrue the assets needed to make a proper championship run. In the meantime, the losses were going to mount as Brown led an extended training camp of sorts while the youngsters figured it out.
One of those youngsters, forward Brandon Davies, was traded away from the Sixers this week in exchange for the soon-to-be waived Andrei Kirilenko, the rights to Brooklyn’s second round pick five seasons from now, and the right to swap second round picks with Brooklyn in 2018. Not exactly a haul. Meanwhile, even if the Sixers do eventually turn it around in Brett’s lifetime and start peeling off 60-win seasons, it’s going to take years for his individual coaching winning percentage just to climb back to the ranks of the ordinary.
Brown is not exactly pleased. From CSN Philly’s Dei Lynam:
"When you start losing people that you are very fond of and have tremendous respect for ... there is a human side of it that bothers me because you are trying to grow chemistry, you are trying to grow a culture," Brown said after Thursday's practice.
"That takes a hit when teammates lose teammates. There is a respect, effort-wise, of how they go about their business. There is a reality to our job that is just business in the NBA, but it doesn't mean it has to feel right."
It’s important to note that this isn’t a rant. It is the team’s sad reality, though.
Davies is not a great player. When news of the deal became official, some members of Philadelphia’s blogging community made jokes at his expense, noting that his presence or absence wouldn’t really shift the needle for either the Nets or the 76ers. His new coach in Brooklyn, in fact, seemed less than knowledgeable about Davies’ work as a pro:
(Davies, if you’ll recall, was suspended from BYU for some rather nebulous violations against the university’s ethics code.)
Brett went on to credit Davies for acting as the sort of hard-working, “high-character” sort of guy that you’d want as the “15, 14, 13” spot in the rotation, which isn’t exactly saying much for Davies’ game. Any player selected in the second round, however, is rather lucky to make it in the NBA at that spot in the rotation, and while the Sixers have had good fortune working in that realm (second round rookie K.J. McDaniels is having a solid year), there’s absolutely no guarantee that whomever they select (in 2018 and 2020, mind you) will approximate the modest output Davies gave Philadelphia this season.
Brown isn’t really talking about “output” in the same sort of cold, clinical terms we are, however. He’s talking the challenge of keeping a locker room afloat in spite of all the losses, and the team front office’s obsession with hoarding even lower rung draft picks. From Thursday:
"It is a tremendous challenge to keep the locker room together if they lose a teammate or friend. It is a tremendous challenge to have a semblance of order or purpose on offense or with rules on defense. It is just such a volatile situation at times."
“Despite” the ridiculous “ethics violation” at BYU, Davies was considered a fantastic teammate there, and this has carried over to the NBA. He’s a great passer for a power forward and he’s in much better NBA shape this season. By all accounts, he was a great guy to have around.
And now he’s gone. Clear some locker room space for a draft pick that won’t make his NBA debut (if he’s lucky) for another 70 months.
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from Yahoo Sports http://ift.tt/1zZjchE
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