Derek Bodner: Brett Brown sets a target of 38 minutes per game for Joel Embiid in the playoffs. Embiid averaged 30 per game in the playoffs last year, which jumped up to 34 per night in the second round against the Raptors.
Brett Brown Rumors
Ben Simmons to play power forward?
Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown said Monday he has been playing All-Star Ben Simmons “exclusively” at power forward in practices inside the NBA bubble at Walt Disney World Resort and has been thrilled by what he’s seen. “He’s so dynamic,” Brown said on a conference call with reporters. “Let’s just talk about running. There’s nobody faster in the NBA. So to always have the ball and dribble it up against five guys … to do that dilutes some of his potent weapons. “So, watching him fly up the floor, watching him and Joel [Embiid] play off each other, has been a really good look. I think they’ve been fantastic together.”
Keith Pompey: #Sixers’ Brett Brown: “Worrying too much about moving up [in standings], because you could play this team or avoid that team, I stay away from that… I think sometimes you got to be careful for what you wish for. It’s always ends up of you are healthy and are you playing well.”
Serena Winters: Brett Brown: “The freedom of a gymnasium is pricelesss, you take off your mask and you’ve got a basketball in your hands, you’ve got a passport to what you remember & brings you to a level of normality that none of us had.” (I’m saving this one in the Brett Brown quotebook)
Serena Winters: Brett Brown said he will likely be more ‘frugal’ with minutes for his high-minute guys (like Ben, Joel, Tobias) in the scrimmage games, but expects ‘normal numbers’ once the regular season (8 seeding games) get underway. #Sixers
“He assimilated with the Pop philosophy,’’ one NBA executive who is close to Udoka told The Post. “Udoka is a person very driven, meticulous, hard on himself. He’s a perfectionist.” Udoka, who oversees the Sixers’ defense, joined another Spurs alum in Brett Brown in Philly. Torrel Harris, the agent for and father of Sixers forward Tobias Harris, has been most impressed with Udoka, a former Knick. If the Bulls’ job officially opens, Udoka is expected to be a frontrunner, especially now that former Sixers executive Marc Eversley just joined Chicago.
“It’s taken a lot for us to be able to get to this point where we signed,” Broekhoff said of the substitution contract he signed with the Sixers last weekend. “We spoke to [general manager] Elton [Brand] and spoke to coach [Brett Brown] and just wanted to get some more information of how the bubble would be down in Orlando, and if anything happens at home, what are my options to get back and take care of my family.”
Brett Brown has said his hope is that the 76ers will leave for Orlando with their fitness level at a B level, while looking to upgrade to an A during the official training camp portion of the ramp-up. It’s clearly a message he’s shared with his players too. “In a matter of two weeks, I feel like I’ve gotten back into really good shape,” said Thybulle. “I think it’s going to be easier to build on after this. Like Coach [Brown] said, being at a B, I feel like I’m definitely there, and once we start playing, it’s going to fall into place,” Thybulle said.
Kyle Neubeck: Brown offers a strong endorsement of Embiid’s work during quarantine: “There is nobody on our team that has put in more time than Joel Embiid.”
Serena Winters: Brett Brown on Joel Embiid: “The respect & applause I give him for putting in time. There is nobody that has put in more time than Joel Embiid…I’m looking for Joel to come in, in as good as shape as I have coached him.” #Sixers 👀👀👀
Tom Moore: #Sixers coach Brett Brown: ‘I feel like we have as good a chance as any (team to win in Orlando).’
Kyle Neubeck: Brown says vast majority of recent conversations with his team have been about racial injustice. “The truth of the matter is my last two zoom calls with my team were 1 percent basketball.” Says they have also talked a lot about a simple question: “Do you really want to be there?”
Tom Moore: #Sixers coach Brett Brown: ‘He’s doing a lot better than (previous tentative comments) would indicate. He’s good to go. He’s put in a tremendous amount of work.’
Tom Moore: #Sixers coach Brett Brown: ‘I haven’t seen these guys for five months. The beginning of training camp is going to be eye-opening.’
“My opinion, and this is not confirmed yet, is that we are going to be able to inch him back into this,” Brown said. “Is he going to be 100%, I don’t expect that. But I think he is going to be available.” Brown has kept busy the last few months. When the NBA shut down, Brown put his staff to work. He searched for reasons why a team that was 29-2 at home could be a dreadful 10-24 on the road. Everything from travel schedules to hotels to team meetings were dissected. He studied the offense, which failed to click, especially in the half court. He studied the defense, which slipped into the middle of the pack after Christmas. “It was what did we do well and what didn’t we,” Brown said. “And let’s fix the stuff we didn’t.
Conditioning, Brown says, is the key to success in a resumed season. “A fitness base is everything,” Brown said. Brown would like his team to be at a B-plus by the time they leave for Orlando, and work their way up from there. Mentally, there are different challenges. “A real fear is the question of if guys want to be there,” Brown said. “None of us can dismiss that—it’s human nature. Coming out of a pandemic, to assume everyone will be gung ho about going would be very naïve.”
“It depends on the playoffs,” an Eastern Conference executive said. “[Losing in the] first round, Brett is gone for sure. Conference finals? He may get to stay. I think ownership/management is most likely to fire Brett and keep the core together than do anything significant with the roster.”
“It depends on the playoffs,” an Eastern Conference executive said. “[Losing in the] first round, Brett is gone for sure. Conference finals? He may get to stay. I think ownership/management is most likely to fire Brett and keep the core together than do anything significant with the roster.”
Brett Brown is curious. The 76ers coach ponders an ideal way for the NBA to resume the season. He believes anything that equals a realistic timeline where players aren’t put in harm’s way would be best. “Forget the virus standpoint, just the injury standpoint,” Brown said. “There are stats … Look at the stats after lockouts, the propensity of injuries is significantly increased if you just try to cram stuff in.”
That’s why he’s curious to see what the league’s return-to-play process will look like if the 2019-20 NBA season resumes. Wednesday marks the 70th day since the league suspended the season amid the coronavirus pandemic. It will take the players a minimum of three-to-four weeks to get back into playing shape. “I’d be curious to see if that includes some way to have a preseason game. I don’t know,” Brown said.
The league is expected to make a decision on returning in June. “If we do come back, do you just go back straight into the playoffs?” Brown asked. “Or do you have a few regular-season games to sort out [what may] have happened in the event that the season did continue? “In any of those cases, my personal opinion is that I’m fine.”
Ky Carlin: Brown brushes off the idea of playing with no fans. He says: “I think everybody’s starved to play.” He did add that it isn’t ideal, but they’d rather play than not. #Sixers
Jon Johnson: Brett Brown says keeping things as simple as possible is best if NBA returns this season. pic.twitter.com/m9zcAVJJYZ
Brian Seltzer: Brett Brown media Zoom call underway. He says the team won’t use the hiatus as an excuse, should the season resume: “When it’s go time, we’ve got to go. We are still hunting for a championship.”
