The Philadelphia 76ers denied a report that they hired San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Brett Brown as their new head coach.
The New York Daily News reported Thursday that the 76ers hired Brown, a South Portland native who played college ball at Boston University. However, Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie said the team has not made a hire yet.
“Nothing of that substance happened,” Hinkie told reporters after the draft. “We had a lot of things going on. That was not part of what happened in the last several hours.”
Hinkie said no one has been formally interviewed since the team parted ways with Doug Collins at the end of the regular season.
Spurs general manager R.C. Buford told the San Antonio News-Express that the report was premature.
“I would leave it to the 76ers or Brett to comment,” he said. “To the best of my knowledge, I think people are jumping the gun on the process. But again, I’m not either the 76ers or Brett.”
Brown has spent the past seven seasons as an assistant under Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. He was the Spurs player development coach prior to that.
Before joining the Spurs, Brown was a head coach for nine years in the Australasia National Basketball League. He also guided Australia to a seventh-place finish during the 2012 London Olympics.
Brown was a basketball standout at South Portland High School where he helped lead the Red Riots to three consecutive Western A crowns and back-to-back undefeated state championship seasons in 1979 and 1980. He went on to play basketball at Boston University and is the son of legendary Maine coach Bob Brown.