Celts on Brown’s mind
Philly coach realizes rival now benchmark
LAS VEGAS — Brett Brown had just graduated from Boston University when the Celtics acquired Dennis Johnson ostensibly to deal with Andrew Toney.
So tight was the Celtics76ers rivalry at the time that it was down to such chess moves. The Celts wanted DJ to quell the murderous run of the so-called Boston Strangler.
“Oh, yeah, I remember that,” Brown told the Herald as the Vegas Summer League playoffs raged just several feet away. “I do.”
Now the 76ers coach — and interim general manager, as well — he’s facing a similar situation with respect to the Celtics. Every move or potential move is examined for its ability to impact that matchup.
Philadelphia finished three wins behind the Celts in the regular season, then lost in five games to a Boston crew that was missing Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward. So Brown has no illusions to their relative proximity on the food chain. He knows his club’s conference hurdle is painted green and white.
“When you’re designing a team, when you’re thinking about the things you have to do from a coaching standpoint, when you’re forwardthinking about matchups, how can you not think about the Boston Celtics?” he said. “I’ve said many times and I’ll say it again, the partnership that Brad (Stevens) and Danny (Ainge) have is fantastic.
“And for all of my years in Philadelphia, you’re always looking over your shoulder at what Boston is doing. I think in many ways they are a benchmark type of program for me, and I’m always thinking about how ultimately do you beat them.”
Brown has been very open about it with his players. He wasted no time in bringing it up after the Celtics eliminated the Sixers in the Garden.
“Part of the discussion with my team in the locker room post-series was that this is a franchise for the next decade you young guys are going to have to figure out,” he said. “You know, if anything good is going to happen, most likely it’s going to be having to go through them.
“And that’s a good thing. It’s a rebirth of a rivalry. It’s a reality fact, in my opinion, and we’re all sort of motivated by that notion that we’re pretty close. We are a few years behind, but we feel very good about what we’ve been building and the season in totality that we had last year.”
The playoff meeting with the Celtics will linger a while in the Sixers’ minds. It was officially a 4-1 margin, but it felt closer to them. They lost a 22-point lead in Game 2 and fell in overtime when the series moved to Philadelphia for Game 3.
“When you look back at it, like with all series, there was probable an eight- to 10-possession swing where maybe our world might have changed,” said Brown. “But I think any coach would sort of view it that way when you look back. So I leave proud of what we did in the regular season and certainly disappointed losing to especially the Celtics, you know, given my own background.
“I think that we learned a lot,” said the native of South Portland, Maine. “We really learned a lot. For me, I hadn’t been in the playoffs since I left Pop (he was an assistant on Gregg Popovich’s Spurs staff), and you’re reminded in very cruel ways of things that matter most when the playoffs come around. And I feel mostly that those memories of where you ended really should influence, in my opinion, major ways on where you begin. Our May is a tremendous compass to what September and October should look like in relation to what matters most. What really is playoff basketball? What are the things that you better do especially if you want to advance in a playoff format? And that Boston series was all of those types of things to me.”
These days, there are more things under Brown’s purview. A little more than a month ago, he was pressed into general manager’s duties when Bryan Colangelo got tangled in a Twitter mess. But Brown made it clear the “interim” tag is accurate.
“At the end of the day, aspiring to be a general manager is something that I’m not interested in doing,” he said. “I’ve tried to take the situation that we found ourselves in as an organization and help lead us, help provide some level of stability. …
“So in the interim while we all are sort of general manager-less, I’ll continue to help wherever I can. But the end game is certainly me going back to being a head basketball coach and letting somebody else assume the general manager’s responsibilities.”
Then that person will be charged with keeping the Celtics in mind as the 76ers contemplate transactions.