76ers Fire Brett Brown, Reportedly Considering Nova's Jay Wright

PHILADELPHIA, PA — After being swept out of the playoffs in four games, the Philadelphia 76ers have moved on from long time head coach Brett Brown, they announced Monday afternoon. The Sixers, as the sixth seed in the NBA playoffs, lost the opening round to their archrivals, the Boston Celtics, four games to none.

Veteran ESPN basketball reporter Adrian Wojnarowski indicates that the team's search for a replacement has already begun, and includes the legendary national championship winning head coach of Villanova University, Jay Wright.

"We're going to be doing a real assessment of how we got here, and expect that more changes will need to be made in order to get this organization back on track,"Sixers managing partner Josh Harris told Wojnarowski in a text message. "We are really disappointed and know we let our fans down. It's unacceptable it's important that we all hold ourselves accountable."

Brown has helmed the team since 2013, as they moved through the stages of "The Process" and some of the darkest years in franchise history, which ultimately resulted in drafting their two franchise cornerstones, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid.

In a statement, Brown expressed gratitude at being given the chance to "lead one of the most dramatic rebuilds in professional sports history."

"I have deep appreciation for the 102 players I have coached," he wrote, thanking Harris and co-owner David Blitzer, as well as general manager Elton Brand and former general manager Sam Hinkie. "I am grateful for my coaching staffs and their dedication to our common goal, while also proud to see three of my former assistants now deservedly, NBA Head Coaches and one a major college Head Coach."

Though the team moved from the absolute bottom of the NBA to among the pre-season favorites to win the Finals in 2020, they have yet to reach the lofty expectations set by both the city and the franchise itself.

"Unfortunately, we fell well short of our goals this year and I believe it is best to go in a new direction," Brand said. "This will be an important offseason for us as we look to get back on track towards our goal of competing for an NBA championship.”

The Sixers reached the second round of the playoffs both last year and the year before, prior to this year's early exit. They were without Simmons, who suffered a knee injury after the restart from the coronavirus shutdown. Yet even before that, the bigger, bulkier group put together by Brand over last offseason failed to dominate the way many believed they could.

The Sixers were busy last offseason, adding to Embiid and Simmons by signing Tobias Harris to a long term contract, drafting one of the league's top defensive threats in Mathisse Thybulle, signing longtime nemesis Al Horford, and trading Jimmy Butler for a younger and bigger guard in Josh Richardson.

But Horford's old Celtics are on to the second round, and Butler has guided a resurgent Miami Heat team, without Richardson, to a 3-0 series lead over Indiana. The Eastern Conference was undeniably more competitive in 2019-20 than many had thought, and the Sixers found themselves in the mud with a full five other clubs in the East that looked like legitimate contenders.

In addition to Wright, reports state that the Sixers are also considering Los Angeles Clippers assistant Ty Lue for the new head coaching job.