The trade between the Nets and the Sixers involving Andrei Kirilenko became official on Thursday, but since Kirilenko is expected to be waived by Philadelphia, the deal only exchanged Brandon Davies for Jorge Gutierrez, cash considerations, and low level future draft picks.
And Sixers coach Brett Brown is less than thrilled with how it all shook out.
While Philadelphia is tanking from a front office perspective this season, Brown liked what he was getting from Davies in practice on a day-to-day basis. He was sorry to see him go, and lamented the human side of these deals when speaking to reporters after the dust had settled.
From Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com:“When you start losing people that you are very fond of and have tremendous respect for ... there is a human side of it that bothers me because you are trying to grow chemistry, you are trying to grow a culture,” Brown said after Thursday’s practice.
“That takes a hit when teammates lose teammates. There is a respect, effort-wise, of how they go about their business. There is a reality to our job that is just business in the NBA, but it doesn’t mean it has to feel right.” ...
“It is a tremendous challenge to keep the locker room together if they lose a teammate or friend. It is a tremendous challenge to have a semblance of order or purpose on offense or with rules on defense. It is just such a volatile situation at times.”
Davies isn’t exactly a household name, but he appeared in 20 of his team’s 21 games this season, and averaged 19 minutes per contest.
Brown’s challenge this season, more than anything, is to keep locker room spirits high amidst all of the losing. If Davies is as valued there as Brown makes it seem, his job just got that much harder, at least in the immediate future.