76ers Rumors: Brett Brown Has ‘Little Chance of Surviving’ Game 7 Raptors Loss

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The Philadelphia 76ers could potentially make a major change to the coaching staff should they lose to the Toronto Raptors in Game 7 on Sunday.

According to the New York Times‘ Marc Stein, “rumblings in league coaching circles have grown louder by the day” that 76ers head coach Brett Brown could be out the door should the Sixers fall short of an NBA Finals appearance. Stein added that Brown “has little chance of surviving a second-round exit.”

Whether the move would be warranted or not, firing Brown wouldn’t be surprising after Philadelphia clearly indicated it wants to make a Finals run.

Acquiring Jimmy Butler from the Minnesota Timberwolves accelerated the Sixers’ timeline for contention, and the front office leaned even harder in that direction by adding Tobias Harris just before the trade deadline.

Even if the Sixers exit in the second round, one could argue getting rid of Brown would be far too harsh. General manager Elton Brand has done his head coach few favors.

Integrating Butler and Harris into the rotation alongside Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid would’ve been tricky enough with the benefit of a full offseason. But Butler arrived in November, while Harris had just 27 appearances with the team before the playoffs began.

Throw in the fact Embiid was limited to 64 games, and it’s not hard to see why the Sixers won one fewer game in 2018-19 compared to last season.

A roster that already had concerns about its depth sacrificed most of its supporting cast in order to load up for a Finals run—at a time when Embiid is under contract for four more years and Simmons isn’t even a restricted free agent until 2020.

If that plan falls short, it’s an indictment of the front office as much as it’s a failure on Brown’s end.