The Philadelphia 76ers are going into a major culture change with the hiring of Jerry Colangelo as the chairman of basketball operations. The Sixers have been talking to former NBA head coach Mike D’Antoni about being an associate head coach on Brett Brown’s staff and that might not be all the moves they make.
Brown recently agreed to an extension with the team and now it might be time for the Sixers to bring in some help to dictate the future and groom some younger guys. There was talks about bringing in Elton Brand and now he might be joined by a former fellow Duke teammate, Shane Battier.
Following from David Aldridge of Turner Sports, NBA.com.
Changes are already afoot. Sources confirmed a Yahoo! Sports report Saturday that the 76ers plan to bring in former Suns, Knicks and Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni within the next few weeks to sit on the Philly bench as associate head coach. Other sources said the Sixers are talking to former star Elton Brand and NBA veteran Shane Battier about joining the organization, hoping to bring in guys with sterling reputations to serve as role models for the young players.
“Josh definitely wants to pick up the pace, but some of the people in the organization just don’t get it,” a league source said over the weekend.
Bringing in two professionals in Battier and Brand appears to be a calculated move by the team to directly help Jahlil Okafor. The rookie has been through some issues early on in his NBA career and bringing in the two veterans could be a move to help Jahlil in his young career.
The focus is on ending this process and making the right moves towards becoming contenders once again.
