Sixers lost 17 straight games to start the season…
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Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown insists that the team prepare to win and they are not interested in tanking this season despite their 1-18 start.
The Sixers had been outscored by an average of 14.4 points during their 17-game losing streak but they were able to finally register something in the win column on Wednesday night with a victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
However, their winning feeling didn’t last too long as they lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday and so they dropped back to 1-18 for the season.
Nevertheless, coach Brown insists that they will not tank this year and he admits that it is a difficult transition for him after spending six successful years as an assistant coach to Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs.
“Everything we’re doing is about winning. I coach to win,” Brown said.
“I talk about winning. We plan to win. We prepare to win. I get why [tanking] comes up, but it’s not even close.”
Second-year star Nerlens Noel insists that the team must start to improve on defense first in order to create some foundations for themselves, and then moving forward their offense will pick up.
However, it won’t be easy for the young Sixers team who now face a daunting stretch of the schedule which sees them on the road for 10 of the next 13 games.
“Where do you begin? I left Disneyland with Pop in San Antonio. We won 50 games every one of my years, went to five NBA Finals, won four of them,” Brown added.
“To come in now and have the challenge of coaching. … It’s the youngest team in the history of the sport. We’re the team with the least experience.
“The challenges are all over the place. From trying to grow the team, to make sure they don’t feel deflated, that they feel good about themselves. … But I love it. Even though what I know now, with two draft picks not playing this year, I’d take this job 50 times out of 50 times.”
Philadelphia have a young nucleus of players to build with moving forward including the likes of Noel, Michael Carter-Williams, Joel Embiid and Dario Saric, but only two of those four are currently active on the roster.
The franchise will expect to continue to lose a significant amount of games for the remainder of this season but with another high Draft pick ahead next year, they will hope to emerge out of their current struggle and build for a brighter future.
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