Philadelphia 76ers: 5 options to replace Brett Brown as head coach
3. Tyronn Lue
Tyronn Lue never gets the credit he deserves as a championship-winning head coach. Such is the life of coaching a LeBron James-led team that also had Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, but Lue was given the reins of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the middle of their window for title contention.
That means something, and it should mean something to a Sixers team whose window for contention should remain open over the next few years if they can build around Embiid and Simmons properly.
The Sixers will run a coaching search and talk to multiple candidates, but the interest in Clippers assistant Ty Lue is expected to be mutual, sources said. The Sixers cornerstone talent and resources are intriguing to candidates, including Lue. https://t.co/zsFgutqSCG
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 24, 2020
Over this first three years in Cleveland, Lue posted a 128-77 record (.624) and reached the NBA Finals all three times. He was fired six games into his fourth season at the helm as a Cavs squad that no longer had LeBron or Kyrie and started the year 0-6. But Lue was never brought in for a rebuilding project; he was brought in to maximize the star talent at his disposal.
The 76ers have a somewhat similar situation, with Embiid and Simmons being two of the brightest young talents in the league, not to mention Horford and Harris being established NBA veterans. The question is how much Lue would be able to get out of the team’s younger talents, and whether his schemes would maximize Embiid and Simmons’ talents despite limited floor-spacing.