Philly Sports Jabronis
Report From Philadelphia 76ers
PHILADELPHIA, PA. – Philadelphia 76ers President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Sam Hinkie announced today the team has agreed in principle to a contract extension with Head Coach Brett Brown. Per team policy, terms of the agreement are not disclosed.
“Brett has been everything we anticipated – and more – both as a basketball coach and a partner in building this program,” Hinkie said. “His tireless work ethic, his daily desire to consistently improve, and his resiliency line up with our core values as an organization. It was not difficult to come to the decision to formally say we want to work with Brett Brown even longer.”
Brown was named the Sixers head coach on August 14, 2013, after spending the previous seven seasons as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs under Gregg Popovich. Brown originally joined the Spurs as a member of their basketball operations department in 1998-99, but departed at the conclusion of the season to become the head coach of the Sydney Kings of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL).
He later re-joined the Spurs in July of 2002 as the team’s assistant coach/director of player development, before moving to the bench as an assistant coach prior to the 2006-07 season. Brown was an integral part of the Spurs coaching staff for all four of their championships (1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007).
A native of Maine, Brown played at South Portland High School for his father Bob Brown, who is a New England Basketball Hall of Famer. The younger Brown went on to attend Boston University, where he was named team MVP his sophomore year and served as team captain his final two seasons, helping the Terriers reach the NCAA Tournament as a senior in 1983. For his career, Brown posted an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.19 and left ranked fourth in school history in assists (404).
In addition to his time with the Spurs, Brown has a wealth of coaching experience in Australia, where he started as an assistant coach with the Melbourne Tigers under Lindsay Gaze, a member of both the Australian and FIBA Halls of Fame. Brown was then named head coach of the North Melbourne Giants in 1993 and earned NBL Coach of the Year honors in 1994, after leading the Giants to the National Championship. Including his return to the NBL for three seasons with the Sidney Kings in 1999, Brown amassed 149 career coaching victories, sixth-most in league history.
In March of 2009, Brown was named head coach of the Australian National Team. He had previously served as an assistant for eight years, including both the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games as well as the 1998 World Championships. Brown led Australia to the FIBA Oceania Championship over rival New Zealand in 2011 to secure a bid to the 2012 Olympics.
At the London games in 2012, Brown guided Australia to what many consider one of its best Olympic runs, culminating with a win over eventual bronze medalist Russia before being eliminated by Team USA in the quarterfinals. Overall, Australia compiled a 3-3 mark without the services of injured star Andrew Bogut.
