Former C's Coach Jim O'Brien to be Sixers next coach........

[NYCdog]

According to what I just heard on WFAN in NYC.........I'll edit it in as news comes in.

EDIT: this below from ESPN.com

Former Celtics coach replaces Ford

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia 76ers hired Jim O'Brien as coach Tuesday, handing the former Boston Celtics coach a team that could be on the verge of a major rebuilding project.

O'Brien replaces Chris Ford, who was promoted from assistant on an interim basis after Randy Ayers was fired on Feb. 10. O'Brien will be introduced as Philadelphia's 20th head coach at a 3 p.m. news conference Wednesday.

O'Brien stepped down as coach of the Celtics on Jan. 27 after clashing with Danny Ainge, the team's executive director of basketball operations. O'Brien was 139-119 with the Celtics and led them to the Eastern Conference finals and semifinals the last two seasons.

He'll be the third coach to lead the Sixers since Hall of Famer Larry Brown stepped down last May. Brown, who spent six seasons in Philadelphia, coaches the Detroit Pistons.

Ayers, an assistant under Brown with the Sixers, was fired after posting a 21-31 record. Ford, who had several run-ins with All-Star guard Allen Iverson, led Philadelphia to a 12-18 record, and the team missed the playoffs for the first time since the 1997-98 season.

A Philadelphia native who attended Roman Catholic High School and Saint Joseph's, O'Brien is the son-in-law of Hall of Fame coach Jack Ramsay. The Celtics were 22-24 when O'Brien resigned midway through his fourth season.

The Sixers are entering a pivotal offseason.

Though Iverson is signed through 2008-09, it's possible he could be traded this summer. Several other veterans, including Derrick Coleman, Glenn Robinson, Eric Snow and Aaron McKie, also might be made available.

O'Brien's tenure in Boston ended because he and Ainge had different views on personnel. Ainge wanted to build a younger, more offensive team. O'Brien relied on veterans who were strong defenders.

O'Brien, 52, spent the last seven seasons with the Celtics, joining them as an assistant coach in 1997. He replaced Rick Pitino in 2001.

[MavsFanatik33]

Doesn't really make a difference, 76ers will always be bad until they bring a big man in or trade Iverson for something....

[NYCdog]

Doesn't really make a difference, 76ers will always be bad until they bring a big man in or trade Iverson for something....

I disagree with this...........was Philly bad when they made the Finals in 2001 with AI?

"Philly needs to bring in a big man?".......its not like Philly has no front court presence all. Sameul Dalembert, Kenny Thomas and Marc Jackson are pretty good young front court players to have. They could develope into the front court players the Sixers need to be contenders. And in the East, being a contender isn’t as big of a stretch of the imagination for this team as it would be if they were in the West.

Now, if the "big man" you allude to bringing in is a "great impact center," the market is really thin on those. In fact, its so thin right now, a player like Yao Ming, who isn’t exactly dominating, is often referred to as being "the NBA's second most dominating center" behind the real "MDE" himself, Shaq. Hell, I bet that if Larry Brown took the rapping’s off of Darko Milicic and finally played him, he could become "the NBA's third most dominating center" in no time by just averaging 5 points and 5 rebounds a game. That's how thin the market is on great impact centers. Philly, like the Mavs and just about every other team in the NBA except for the Lakers and Rockets, would love and literally be thrilled to death to add a great impact center to their roster.

But do you think it will happen soon?

Nope........unless you possess a high enough draft pick and a big man becomes available then, don’t count on it happening.

And as for Philly's native son Jim O'Brien not really making a difference........at the end of next season, I'm sure that will be proven incorrect.

Just look at what O'Brien did while he was coaching the C's. When he took over the C's job for Pitino, the C's were in shambles with a 12-22 record at the time as they looked on pace for an eighth straight losing season. The very next season, the C's posted there first 40 win season (49-33) in a decade since the Bird/McHale/Parrish era. That year they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. That's impact..........I believe O'Brien can and will have that same impact with the Sixers.

[kingrex]

O'Brien is a good fit for Philly. He knows the Eastern Conference teams well having coached in Boston. He knows how to deal with ball-hogging all-stars (see Paul Pierce). He knows how to build team chemsitry (the Celts had one of the tighter teams in the league until Danny Ainge blew it up).