After playoff exit, 76ers fire Brown as coach
The 76ers fired coach Brett Brown on Monday, a day after his seventh season ended in a first-round postseason sweep.
The 76ers were 43-30 this season and had woefully underachieved in a year when they were expected to be serious contenders in the Eastern Conference.
Instead, they weren’t close, and the move was expected after the sixthseeded 76ers were swept by the Celtics.
Brown had guided the 76ers back from the bottom of the NBA, but now someone else will try to take them further.
“I have a tremendous level of respect for Brett both personally and professionally and appreciate all he’s done for the 76ers organization and the City of Philadelphia,” GM Elton Brand said in a statement. “He did many positive things during his time here, developing young talent and helping position our team for three straight postseason appearances. Unfortunately, we fell well short of our goals this year and I believe it is best to go in a new direction.”
Brown finished 221-344, though his record was never going to be pretty because the 76ers weren’t trying to win when he was hired.
Brown was tasked with the leading the 76ers through a rebuild dubbed “The Process,” where management stripped the roster of serious NBA talent to lose games and increase their odds at better draft picks. Brown won only 47 games in his first three seasons.
The philosophy paid off when the drafted Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, who would both become AllStars and lead the 76ers to two straight trips to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
But Simmons missed the postseason with a knee injury and neither Embiid nor the players brought in in recent years could provide enough scoring in clutch situations against the Celtics.
Los Angeles City Council member Herb J. Wesson Jr. announced that a portion of Figueroa Street outside of Staples Center will be renamed Kobe Bryant Boulevard in honor of the late Lakers star.
Colleges: The College Football Playoff selection committee will begin its first of six weekly rankings for the 2020-21 season Tuesday, Nov. 17.
Soccer: FIFA announced that clubs may be exempt from releasing players for upcoming national-team games in European countries that have travel restrictions because of the coronavirus pandemic. The governing body will waive the obligation on clubs to hand over their players for the international break that starts Aug. 31 if they have to go to countries with national travel restrictions or quarantine periods of at least five days.
Tennis: In her first match at the Western & Southern Open in New York, No. 3 seed Serena Williams edged Dutch qualifier Arantxa Rus 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (0).
Track and field: Former sprinting great Usain Bolt, 34, of Jamaica announced on social media Monday he’s awaiting the result of a coronavirus test and is quarantining himself as a precaution.