On Thursday evening during the NBA Draft, news broke claiming San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Brett Brown was set to become the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers.
However, just after the draft, Spurs General Manager R.C. Buford said the reports of the Brown-76ers hiring still weren’t official and said people were jumping the gun on that situation too early.
Now, according to the Boston Globe, Brown is interested in coaching the rebuilding Boston Celtics.
Longtime San Antonio assistant coach Brett Brown, a Portland, Maine, native who played basketball at Boston University and grew up as a diehard Celtics fan, is “extremely” interested in becoming the Celtics’ new head coach, league sources told the Globe Friday.
The Globe also points out that early Friday morning, 76ers General Manager Sam Hinkie denied the report about Brown being hired by the 76ers.
So as of right now, the Spurs have Brown, Ime Udoka, and newly hired Jim Boylen as their assistant coaches under head coach Gregg Popovich.
Early Thursday morning, a report also surfaced of a Sports Illustrated writer saying he believed 100% Brown would take the job coaching the Celtics.
If Brown decides to take either the 76ers or Celtics job, he’ll be in a position where both teams are starting from the ground up as both are in the rebuilding process. The Celtics made headlines by shipping Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to the Brooklyn Nets for role players and draft picks Thursday. The 76ers also traded away their lone All-Star from last season, Jrue Holliday, to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for the talented young defensive player Nerlens Noel, who was taken in the Top-10 of the NBA Draft Thursday.
Diaw exercises player option, Boylen officially hired
As reported on Thursday, the Spurs announced Friday that forward Boris Diaw will exercise his player option and remain in San Antonio for the final year of his contract. The Spurs also announced that Boylen, a former Indiana Pacers assistant coach, had been hired as an assistant coach in San Antonio.