The Philadelphia 76ers will play their biggest game in nearly a decade on Sunday evening, when they take on the Toronto Raptors in Game 7 of their second-round series with a trip to the Eastern Conference finals on the line. There's plenty at stake in the contest besides just advancing in the playoffs, with each team facing down a huge summer of free agency.
But for Sixers head coach Brett Brown, the stakes are even higher. According to a report from Marc Stein of The New York Times, the veteran coach has "little chance" of keeping his job if Philadelphia loses on Sunday. Via The New York Times:
The Sixers, meanwhile, will be swamped with what-next questions if they don't advance.
Beyond the uncertain fates of Butler, Harris and the sharpshooting J.J. Redick, rumblings in league coaching circles have grown louder by the day that 76ers Coach Brett Brown needs an N.B.A. finals berth to keep his job. Brown, I'm told, has little chance of surviving a second-round exit.
For Brown, who has been the Sixers' head coach since 2013, this seems like an impossibly high standard. For years, Brown shepherded the team through "The Process," during which he was handed the unenviable task of trying to coach a roster designed to lose as many games as possible.
Then, in just the second season in which they were finally good enough to make the playoffs, the ever-changing management dropped two blockbuster mid-season trades for stars in his lap, forcing him to adjust on the fly multiple times, and all of a sudden it's Finals or bust?
Sure, Brown has made his share of mistakes, but no coach is perfect. By all accounts, Brown has done a solid job not only managing the locker room during a massive roster upheaval, but also making adjustments during the regular season and in the playoffs. He deserves better than having his job come down to one Game 7 on the road against a 58-win team that has arguably the best player in the playoffs in Kawhi Leonard.
