The Philadelphia 76ers are a franchise looking for their first head coach in seven seasons after firing Brett Brown on August 24 due to a failed season.
The team has a list of candidates led by Tyronn Lue, Mike D’Antoni, and Billy Donovan, and the team appears to have a few interviews set up with those candidates. They will come to the Philadelphia area and sit down with general manager Elton Brand who continues to lead both the coaching search and looking for a change in the front office.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and The Stadium, Brand is well-respected around the league and he appears to be the right man for the job at the moment.
Philadelphia remains intent on building and adding talent under Brand to further strengthen the front office. Brand is well-respected by his peers across the NBA, agents and basketball industry executives. In addition to leading the head coaching search, Brand is having conversations with multiple NBA front-office personnel to bolster his staff. For the 76ers, Brand continues to be the leader of basketball operations.
There was a report earlier in the week that the Sixers were looking into the possibility of hiring a President of Basketball Operations to oversee the coaching search and have the final say on decisions. However, Charania reports that Brand is still the leader in any final basketball decisions and the team still has faith in him to turn this around.
Charania on Brand’s leadership on the coaching search which is coming into the next round of interviews:
76ers general manager Elton Brand has met with several top candidates for the franchise’s head coach opening and the team expects to bring a shortlist of candidates to the Philadelphia area within 10 days for the next round of interviews, sources said. Former Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni, ex-Thunder coach Billy Donovan and Clippers assistant Ty Lue are expected to be part of the next round of interviews and are strongly vying for and interested in the position, according to sources.
Brand has proven in the past that he is a guy who is not afraid to make any hard or bold decisions. In this situation, he will have to make a tough choice due to the fact that these are three worthy coaching candidates who have all had success as a head coach in this league. Since it seems that Brand is really the one who is going to make the final decision here, there will be a lot of eyes on him and the next head coach to see how it all works out. [lawrence-related id=37787,37782,37779]