Philadelphia 76ers reportedly closing in on Tyronn Lue as next head coach

Tyronn Lue is heading to the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Philadelphia 76ers needed to shake things up this offseason, and they started that process by parting ways with head coach Brett Brown after an embarrassing playoff exit. Wasting little time to name his replacement, Philly is all set to bring former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue to the City of Brotherly Love.

Per WIP’s Jon Johnson, the Sixers will name Lue, currently an assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers, as their head coach when he becomes available.

This comes the same day the rival Nets hired Steve Nash as their next head coach.

Tyronn Lue spent last season as an assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers

After Doc Rivers gave the veteran NBA point guard his first coaching gig with the Celtics, Lue joined the Cavaliers as associate head coach in 2014. Lue took over for David Blatt in the middle of the 2015 season, and he helped guide LeBron James and Cleveland to the city’s first basketball title. Although he won the East in his last two full seasons as Cavs head coach, he was fired just six games into the 2018 season, all of which were losses, following James’ departure.

Lue has received praise for his Xs and Os wizardry, including from Cavs big man Kevin Love. While Brown impressed in the regular season but fizzled out in the playoffs, Love thinks Lue is almost the diametric opposite, as his ability to perform in the playoffs will work well with a Philadelphia team that is struggling to get over the hump.

Lue will have to figure out ways to work around the fact Elton Brand has invested so heavily in a lineup that has three almost complete non-shooters in Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and Al Horford all sharing the floor for heavy minutes, but his adjustments on the bench helped get LeBron a title, so it’s reasonable to expect he can do the same for the Sixers.