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Inside the Sixers: 76ers owner takes steady approach to hiring new coach

When the Cleveland Cavaliers swiftly snatched former coach Mike Brown off the coaching carousel and rehired the guy they fired just one year after he was voted coach of the year in a hopeless attempt to keep LeBron James from leaving for Miami, Josh Harris didn't flinch.

Sixers managing owner Josh Harris annouces that Doug Collins will not
be returning during a press conference at the Philadelphia College of
Osteopathic MedicineApril 18, 2013. (David Swanson/Staff Photographer)
Sixers managing owner Josh Harris annouces that Doug Collins will not be returning during a press conference at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic MedicineApril 18, 2013. (David Swanson/Staff Photographer)Read more

When the Cleveland Cavaliers swiftly snatched former coach Mike Brown off the coaching carousel and rehired the guy they fired just one year after he was voted coach of the year in a hopeless attempt to keep LeBron James from leaving for Miami, Josh Harris didn't flinch.

Less than 48 hours after it was reported that Brown and Brian Shaw sat atop the 76ers' wish list to replace Doug Collins, Brown, whom the Los Angeles Lakers made the scapegoat for their poor play and fired just five games into this season (looks like that was a mistake, too), is off the market.

None of this, however, seems to bother Harris, the Sixers' majority owner who is resolute in the approach that finding the right coach to head his beleaguered franchise is far more important than thrusting a guy into the job and then watching it all backfire.

I thought Harris, who first said this one day after the 2012-13 season mercifully ended with the Sixers (34-48) recording their third-worst winning percentage in the last 15 seasons, was just giving lip service to a horrible situation because it was the expedient thing to do.

However, Harris, who briefly addressed this subject Saturday at an announcement that the Sixers were acquiring a new NBA D-League franchise (the Delaware 87ers), sounds wedded to his original position.

"Obviously the sooner the better in terms that there are other teams that want coaches," Harris said. "Having said that it's a really important position, so the answer is it's not possible to put a time frame on it.

"Clearly we are sequencing it quickly. We're not waiting around, but there is a lot of work to be done. It's just hard to put a time frame on it. Faster is better but only if you find the right person."

Along with the Sixers, the only other openings out there at the moment are in Detroit and Charlotte, owner of the worst record in the league two seasons running. Neither of these situations are quick fixes - although Charlotte will have more than $20 million in cap space and could lure some talented players in free agency - and that actually buys the Sixers some time to think through what is a critical move to be made.

The sorry state of those other destinations creates for the teams with vacancies a buyer's market. They are roll-up-the-sleeves gigs.

Stan Van Gundy said recently that he didn't want to coach in certain places, and he included Philadelphia among his group of ugly ducklings.

Really?

Harris seems to be the type of guy who recognizes that Van Gundy is little more than a retread who rode a healthy Dwight Howard to the Finals but quickly wore out his welcome in Orlando as soon as Howard realized he hated the guy.

Harris, who doesn't talk publicly about contract extensions, said that he and general manager Tony DiLeo, who has an expiring deal on June 30, are running the search. And he noted that while they have yet to interview anyone, they have several candidates in mind.

Whether DiLeo remains the general manager will be resolved in time. But right now DiLeo is the basketball ball mind that Harris, who inherited Collins from the previous owners, is leaning on to fill the franchise's most vital position.

They rushed to judgment on the health of Andrew Bynum's knees and are paying a price for it. Rushing to install the wrong coach would only serve to further cripple an already limping franchise.