Doug Collins resigned as Sixers coach on April 18. It wasn’t until Wednesday that the Sixers officially named his successor in long-time Spurs assistant, Brett Brown.
One of Brown’s first tasks in preparing for training camp, which begins in a little more than a month, is to assemble his coaching staff. That could prove to be interesting.
Though Collins is gone, his assistants are still under contract for one more year. That means Brown could decide to keep Michael Curry, Aaron McKie, Jeff Capel and Monte Shubik. Brian James, another assistant under Collins, jumped to Chris Collins’ staff at Northwestern.
President and general manager Sam Hinkie will allow Brown to have input with his coaching staff and informed the group a decision is coming shortly.
“I've told them the truth, which is everyone is open-minded and everyone will sort of think about all of the possibilities and will make some decisions,” Hinkie said. “I don't think it will be long. Everyone is anxious to get going, and those decisions will be what they are.”
In the interim, Curry was a finalist for the Sixers’ head coaching job and coached the summer league team in Orlando, Fla. in July. Curry, McKie and Shubik help players work out at the team’s practice facility at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and may have more insight to many of the team’s new players than Brown at this juncture.
Brown only arrived in Philadelphia on Wednesday and one of his first visits at the team’s training facility was with strength and conditioning coach, Jesse Wright.
“This is really my first day in Philadelphia,” Brown said. "The first thing we did was go to the strength and conditioning coach and put a huge premium on our health and our fitness. We need to establish that part of the program.”