Brett Brown returns to face the Sixers, who will welcome him back

INDIANAPOLIS — Gregg Popovich labeled having Brett Brown back on the San Antonio Spurs coaching staff as spectacular, both as a professional and a friend.

“Obviously, we’ve known each other for a long time, since back in ‘99,” Popovich, the Spurs’ longtime coach, said before San Antonio’s game Friday night against the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. “And you know he’s one of my best friends in life, so it’s great to have him back.”

Brown had two years left on his contract when the 76ers fired him as their head coach on Aug. 24, 2020. He spent the last two years out of basketball while spending time with family and friends. He returned to the Spurs for a third go-round on Popovich’s coaching staff in June.

On Friday, 50 minutes before tip-off, the assistant coach was in his comfort zone, coaching up young players in the Spurs locker room. The 61-year-old displayed the same passion he had during his seven-year tenure with the Sixers.

Seeing a familiar face, Brown left his seat for small talk. However, he declined to do any interviews related to Saturday’s return to Philly to face the Sixers.

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But one can only assume this first trip back to the Wells Fargo Center as a competitor could get a little emotional. A Sixers spokesperson said the team will have a tribute for the former coach. And Sixers All-Star Joel Embiid said Thursday that he hopes Brown gets a great reception.

Embiid wasn’t the only Sixer who’s looking forward to seeing Brown on Saturday night. Furkan Korkmaz called Brown “a really good friend of mine.” And Matisse Thybulle relived a couple of memorable moments with the coach.

He was well liked, but Brown was fired for an inability to get beyond the second round of the playoffs. But the Sixers still haven’t advanced past the second round since his dismissal.

“He meant a lot,” Embiid said. “Obviously, he started the whole thing and things didn’t work out the way they should have. But he did a great job and he’s one of the reasons why we’re in this position.

“So I’m going to be excited to have him back and really have him back in the building.”

It will be similar to the feeling Pacers reserve guard and former Sixer T.J. McConnell had seeing Brown in Indiana’s arena on Friday night.

McConnell made the Sixers roster as an undrafted rookie out of Arizona in the fall of 2015. Now, he’s a solid eighth-year veteran known for bringing intensity, being a solid floor general, and playing stingy defense.

“I will forever be indebted to Brett,” McConnell said before the game. “He opened the door for my opportunity in this league. You’ve got to have some luck. You’ve got to earn it. But you’ve also got to be in the right opportunity. And he gave me that opportunity.”

In addition to providing opportunities, Brown defied the odds during his tenure in Philly.

He left the Sixers with a 221-344 regular-season record and a 12-14 postseason mark. But perhaps his most telling statistic is having coached 102 players in what resembled a revolving door.

The Sixers hired him away from his job as a Spurs assistant coach before the 2013-14 season to lead the team through the multiseason tank job known as “The Process.”

Brown survived a 10-72 record during his third year. He also outlasted two general managers and briefly was interim GM before one of his former players, Elton Brand, became his third GM. He took a team from 28 wins during the 2016-17 season to 52 the next. And he led the Sixers to three consecutive NBA playoff appearances.

Yet he was let go after the team couldn’t live up to its lofty expectations and even some of his self-promotion. He and others repeatedly proclaimed the Sixers were “built for the playoffs” before being swept in the first round by the Boston Celtics in 2020. That came after suffering consecutive second-round exits the previous two seasons.

The Sixers’ 52-win season in 2017-18 ended in a five-game loss to the Celtics in the conference semifinals. The following season, they won 51 games and concluded their season with a seven-game conference-semifinal loss to the Toronto Raptors. That game ended with Kawhi Leonard’s four-bounce basket at the buzzer. The Raptors went on to win the NBA title that season.

“I cannot call him unsuccessful,” Korkmaz said. “He was successful for the organization. Like the shot Kawhi Leonard made, if he missed that shot, maybe we could have the championship that year. I really believe that.”

Popovich isn’t surprised that the Sixers players have gravitated toward Brown, even though that was difficult to do with all the early losing.

“They had to endure for a variety of reasons,” Popovich said. “But there is nobody in our business that could have put up with and live through that like Brett Brown did with the grace and consistency that he showed through all those years.

“He’s a very special man.”

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Thybulle’s most lasting memory of Brown was how much he cared about the players as people. The coach also challenged them to view what less fortunate people go through.

Another memorable moment was the speech Brown gave about Philly being a tough and gritty city. During that speech, Brown informed his players that some fans have to sacrifice a lot to buy tickets to attend their games.

“That really stuck with me as having never been in Philadelphia until I got drafted and not knowing the lay of the land,” Thybulle said. “But then also carrying that chip on our shoulders. Obviously, we are doing this to win, but to also respect the people who barely make enough money to come to a game just to watch us and support us play.”

On Saturday, Brown will be in front of some of those people, and his former players hope he is greeted nicely. But on Friday, the coach was in his comfort zone, sitting on the front of the bench and giving pointers to the rebuilding Spurs.

And those pointers are being well received in San Antonio.

“He gave some tips over the last couple of months that have helped me a lot,” Spurs guard Josh Primo said. “Going into this season, I fell like I’m confident with the little nuances of the game that he’s been able to teach me.”