The job of being the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers comes with a lot of pressure and it will take a lot of creativity to make it work. One has to have a background and a resume that features success in those two areas to make it all work.
So, why not look at a guy who had similar issues in their own division?
Former Brooklyn Nets coach Kenny Atkinson had to look over a rebuild in Brooklyn as well before guiding the team to some success and then had to handle less than ideal conditions in the 2019-20 season having to rely more on unheralded pieces with his star duo of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving playing a combined 20 games due to injury.
Bleacher Report took a look at the head coaching vacancies in the NBA and they highlighted Atkinson for the job for Philadelphia:
Atkinson isn’t a cure-all for what ails them; too much of that is personnel driven. Yet his teams, built with far less talent, have usually overachieved on defense. And if there’s someone who can coax three-point volume out of Simmons—and the Sixers in general—it’s him.
If nothing else, Philly seems like it could use the play-hard culture of accountability he laid in Brooklyn, even though it never got the chance to translate to a roster with bigger names.
The Sixers are a talented bunch, but it is an awkward fit with the roster focusing more on bully ball rather than pace and space. The fit of Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and Al Horford will be a challenge for any coach, but maybe a guy like Atkinson could figure that out. [lawrence-related id=37333,37326,37321]