Sixers' Brett Brown might get to really coach now | Bob Cooney

BRETT BROWN has 328 games under his belt as a head coach in the NBA, all during his four-year tenure at the helm of the 76ers.

But coaching isn't really what he was able to do in many of those games, due to the caliber of his roster. Brown was more of an overseer, a minutes divider, the on-court boss of mostly unfamiliar groups, most of whom would be out of the NBA as soon as the Sixers cut ties.

He has put his game plans, often times scaled down to the bare bones, in the hands of close to 20 point guards. Nearly 60 overall players have come through his office, shaken his hand, and then been given 20 minutes of playing time to see what sort of talent they might be able to lend to this rebuild.

If not for a 15-game stretch this past January, perhaps there still might be some doubt among the Sixers' faithful as to whether the 56-year-old is the right man for the job moving forward. But because of that stretch, in which the team went 10-5, the confidence in the head coach is sky high as the organization moves into the most important offseason since this Process began.

The snippet on which to judge Brown is minuscule - less than 5 percent of the games he has coached. But it is also the only time during his challenging time here that he was blessed with a lineup that was NBA legitimate.

Joel Embiid was tearing it up in the middle, playing the best basketball of his shortened season, though still saddled with a 24-minute playing restriction. When he had to go to the sideline, the spot was seamlessly filled by Nerlens Noel, who did exactly what's needed from an Embiid backup: play strong defense, rebound to lead the fastbreak, run the floor and provide boundless energy.

The four spot was wonderfully secured with Ersan Ilyasova, a pure stretch four, able to give Embiid room to work freely at the offensive end with an open floor and Dario Saric coming off the bench to provide toughness, rebounding, scoring, passing and ball-handling. Those four sharing time in the frontcourt and supplying what they did could match just about any combination in the league for 48 minutes.

Robert Covington provided the much-needed perimeter defense and a nice third option offensively, while T.J. McConnell benefited from the offensive weapons at his disposal as Nik Stauskas, Gerald Henderson and others divvied up the shooting-guard spot.

On top of that, and most important, Brown was finally able to show his coaching capabilities. Sets were crisp and finished. Out-of-bounds plays were finally understood and could be executed. Defense was intense, rotationally correct, and led to the fast pace that Brown best sees fit for this organization moving forward.

Really, it was pretty simple: a nine- or 10-man rotation, with roles specifically delegated, featuring legit NBA players. It led to that winning percentage of .667, which equates to about 55 wins over an NBA season, which is also about the same number the Spurs averaged during Brown's time there.

"I think it felt different almost from all angles," Brown said of coaching in January. "It felt different when you came into (the practice facility). It felt different when you would go and get my go-to order from Starbucks. It felt different when you take your son to a practice somewhere in the city and bump into young kids and fans, and it certainly felt different walking into a practice and most definitely at the Wells Fargo arena.

"What most stood out, apart from that sort of broad-based feeling, was the specifics that our style, our identity, how we wanted to play, was taking shape. You felt, maybe for the first time because it was a legitimate body of work, that the work that we had been putting in for the four years behind the scenes was being validated, and those types of feelings stood out, especially in the month of January."

And now the coach could have a full season to work with a legitimate roster. His and president Bryan Colangelo's hope is to present a matchup nightmare for opponents with Ben Simmons manning the point and joining Joel Embiid in the starting lineup, provided both are back healthy from their injuries. There is a high draft pick or two to be gotten in the June draft and free agency to explore - one or both addressing the huge need to surround Simmons and Embiid with shooters. The progression of Saric throughout the season was more than could have been anticipated, and maybe getting a stretch four to share time with him is on the to-do list. Colangelo saw Jerryd Bayless as a fit to play with Simmons when signed last summer, so his coming back from a wrist injury could hasten the rookie's development.

Should it all pan out, seeing months like last January just might become pretty common next season, when Brown will surely be able to expand his coaching skills. He knows ownership is on his side and is confident his coaching ability can carry this through.

"You're going to see, there's a Philly real. There's a Philly edge. There's a Philly hardness. We could have said attitude. We could have said blue collar. This city has a toughness about it that I just am so attracted to. When you say, 'Do you dream about what can be?' Every day. Every day. For those reasons, it is very simple and easily in my mind, seen. I hope we all step back and when you make judgments of other programs, and you say, 'Where are we in relation to them?' 'How about these guys?'

"How can we all not walk out of here with the percentage in regards to pingpong balls where we now blink and find ourselves at the end of our fourth season? Look at what we saw in Joel, not really guess what we think he can be. And then see the improvements in our players and Ben Simmons and understand that we have money to get into a free-agent market. I hope that people are as excited with the hope and vision and the prospects that this program has as much as our ownership, our management and, certainly, the coaching staff."

It's tangible. It's right there in front of Brown. Like it was for that 15-game span in January.

cooneyb@phillynews.com

@BobCooney76

Blog: philly.com/Sixersblog