Larry Brown on 76ers rebuild: 'I hate what's going on in Philly'
These aren't your daddy's Philadelphia 76ers, and they're certainly not Larry Brown's.
Over six seasons under Brown from 1997 to 2003, the Allen Iverson-led Sixers won 255 games, made the postseason five times, won six playoff series and made a Finals appearance.
The current 76ers, under General Manager Sam Hinkie, are in the middle of a multi-year rebuilding project that has seen them show little interest in being competitive in the short term.
"I hate what's going on in Philly. They don't have a basketball person in the organization. It makes me sick to my stomach," Brown said Wednesday, according to John N. Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
"What they are doing to that city to me is mind-boggling," Brown added.
Philadelphia went 19-63 last season and figures to be just as bad, if not worse, this year. The hope is that young players and assets like Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid, Michael Carter-Williams, Dario Saric and future draft picks eventually see the Sixers rise into an Eastern Conference power.
But it doesn't sound like Brown is convinced.
"That's the greatest basketball city in the world with its fans and you want them to sit back and watch you lose," he said.
"Can you imagine telling Allen Iverson that this is a rebuilding season so we're going to be bad on purpose? 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?"
Hinkie, who came from Houston, where he worked under Daryl Morey, believes in analytics, something else that seems to rub the 74-year-old Brown the wrong way.
"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."
The Sixers lost their season opener against the Indiana Pacers, 103-91, on Wednesday.