Brett Brown is out as the Sixers' head coach and his firing was hardly a surprise. Philadelphia suffered a hammering in the first round of the playoffs, no thanks to the Boston Celtics, and the team wants to do better next campaign. The Sixers are hoping Tyronn Lue would take over from Brown, reports said.
Lue serves as assistant to LA Clippers' Doc Rivers at the moment but has been the subject of reports linking him as the next top man with the Brooklyn Nets and other NBA teams. Now the recent vacancy in Philadelphia again trained the spotlight on the former chief tactician for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
According to Sports Illustrated, the choice has been narrowed down between Lue and Jay Wright, presently with the Villanova University, but it is understood that the Lue has the upper hand, perhaps due to his NBA experience. It probably helped too that he owns an NBA ring, which he won with the 2016 Cavs then powered by LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love.
Lue's impressive credentials make him a hot item for NBA organizations looking for fresh direction with a new man calling the shots. Per the same report, NBA insiders are saying that teams are hot on the trail of Rivers' assistant but Lue is most likely to say yes to the Sixers.
That's because the two have "mutual interest," but its exact meaning was not clarified by the SI report.
In any case, Lue enjoying the confidence of the Sixers front office has got to do with his coaching performance, specifically how he proved to be a winner with Cleveland.
NBC Sports recalled that the Cavs fired their head coach in the middle of the Season 2015-16 and Lue inherited the job, and proved himself worthy. He took Cleveland all the way to the Finals and mounted a huge comeback from the 3-1 lead erected by the Golden State Warriors.
The rookie coach then engineered three straight wins that gave the Cavs franchise their first Larry O'Brien. The record shows Lue can steer a team into shape when needed and score an NBA championship when provided with the right squad.
Lue has stated that he looks forward to working with a young and talented team, and the Sixers fit the bill. The team's core talents are Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, who are both in their mid-20s so Lue would be handling that he can reconfigure to his designs.
Another thing going for Lue is his natural ability to connect with players, which is something that could make the Sixers work better in the future.
However, Lue is haunted too by the perception that he excelled only because of dominant players like James on his squad. But the good thing about this is Lue can disprove that the observation is unfair, and that he can make a good run with what the Sixers have on the lineup.
