Even Brett Brown had to admit just how much of a whirlwind this month has been for him.
"This has been a really different June," he said after the 2018 NBA draft.
That's certainly an understatement.
In a matter of weeks, Brown went from drawing up plays during the postseason to orchestrating his first draft as interim general manager. And there's no time to take a breath with free agency barreling down the calendar on July 1.
While Brown has been tasked with running the Sixers' front office operations for the time being (see story), he has also been put in charge of an even bigger challenge: reshaping the team's image.
No matter your feelings on the Bryan Colangelo saga, there is no denying it was a black eye for the Sixers. One the franchise could ill afford heading into such an important summer.
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So Brown set out to show that the Sixers are truly all about the player-friendly, tight-knit and development culture they have cultivated throughout "the process." The reinforcement started with grabbing a pair of players in the draft with not only first-round talent, but first-rate character.
"When you look at sort of the values that were most important to us as we decided how to grow this team and select our players, there were none more important than just good people and character," Brown said Friday of first-rounders Zhaire Smith and Landry Shamet. "Personally, when you would see me work the players out and then intermittently we would call people into my office, there was a connection and a comfort level that I had just talking to them as people."
Of course talent trumps everything and Brown admitted the duo was ultimately snagged because of basketball ability above all else. However, it's no coincidence that both players are soft-spoken and eager to grind for whatever minutes come their way on the court.
"I just want to come in here, put my work in and let it play out," Smith said.
"At the end of the day, I just want to be a player that's known to do whatever a coach needs me to do," Shamet said. "Whatever the staff or my team needs me to do, that's what I'm going to be. … Coming in and working hard and doing what I can on a day-to-day basis."
What's a little competition between family?
Oh, make no mistake, the Sixers see the program they've constructed as a family. And now that the branch of the tree that tends to talk way too much on social media is gone, Brown wants every draft pick that enters the building (and superstar that is willing to listen) to know this organization is a place you want to be.
"We'd like to welcome Zhaire's family, we'd like to welcome Landry's family to our home," Brown said. "As I told these two young players, [they have] the ability to walk into this building and look up behind us and recognize the true history of this organization. To be able to look around and see the backyard that they now have and see sports science, and see a strength and conditioning program, and see an analytics department, and seeing the medical staff, and seeing the video area, and looking at our kitchen, which we kind of designed almost like a college atmosphere where we all go up as a team, as a family, an organization and spend time. This is their backyard where they're going to get better."
Now Brown hopes the franchise is stable enough again to add a high-profile name to the family by the time the July 4 BBQ rolls around.
