1 Point From East Finals, Brett Brown Will Return As 76ers Coach

The Sixers came up just short in their bid to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 18 years, drudging up a bevy of inevitable questions about the future of the roster and the organization's staff.

The franchise wasted no time in settling at least some of those offseason doubts, waiting less than 24 hours following their Game 7 loss to the Toronto Raptors to announce that head coach Brett Brown would return for the 2019-20 season.

Rumors of Brown's firing have been rampant for at least a year now, and they've picked up a whole new head of steam ever since the Sixers Game 1 loss to the Brooklyn Nets in the opening round. Of course, the Sixers went on to win four straight and dispatch the Nets handily, before coming a single shot away from the Eastern Conference Finals. Not to mention, Brown is the leader that guided the Sixers out of perhaps the darkest period in franchise history, and he's received vocal public support from all of his players.

"He has a huge heart, he's a great, great dude," Jimmy Butler said of Brown during a press conference Monday. "He works incredibly hard...he's always thinking of how he can make everybody great, which is hard to do whenever you have a roster like we have."

It's assumed at this point that along with Brown, new general manager Elton Brand, who executed the aggressive trades for Butler and Tobias Harris, will return as well.

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According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Brown and Brand met with Sixers owner Josh Harris Monday to discuss the offseason plan. While there's the question of the draft, potential trades, and outside free agents, the two biggest storylines remaining for the Sixers are probably Butler and Harris.

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The franchise mortaged a significant part of the future in trades for the two stars, losing Process icons Robert Covington and Dario Saric along with Landry Shamet and a bevy of draft picks in an all-in effort for 2019.

Those pieces don't have to be wasted however, if the Sixers manage to resign one or both of Butler and Harris. While it took time, the pair meshed with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, and Embiid was outspoken in his desire to have Butler back, specifically. Salary cap issues and other concerns, such as bolstering the bench or even bringing back JJ Redick, could complicate matters.