BRETT Brown didn’t need a lesson in destiny. Not after a backpacking trip to Fiji, New Zealand and Australia in the late 1980s set the American on a path that would ultimately lead to the head coaching role at the Philadelphia 76ers more than 25 years later.
But it doesn’t mean he hasn’t enjoyed a reminder that some things are just meant to be.
Like the arrival of Australia’s Ben Simmons in Philadelphia 18 months ago.
Some 17 years before the 76ers took Simmons as the No.1 overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft, Brown struck up a friendship with Simmons’ father David while he was playing for the Melbourne Tigers, where Brown was an assistant coach.
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Now Simmons has started his rookie season unlike any player in NBA history, Brown has only one explanation.
“It confirms the realisation that everything we do in life is about timing,” Brown told The Saturday Telegraph.
“The ball dropped exactly when it needed to.
“The timing of Ben playing ball at Louisiana State University and then being the best player in the draft, coinciding with us being in a position to have that No.1 pick and the timing of the history his family and I share — it’s just something you can’t make up.”
To understand why Brown is adamant fate delivered Simmons to Philadelphia is to understand what the city has endured on the sporting landscape.
After the Sixers won the NBA championship in 1983, Philly went 25 years without a league title in the four major US sports until the Phillies won baseball’s World Series in 2008.
None has broken through in any code since.
But Simmons’ 12 double-doubles and two triple-doubles have led the Sixers to an 12-9 record — their best start to a season in years.
It was highlighted by a career-best 31 points and 18 rebounds in their gritty win over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday.
Needless to say, the city of brotherly love is smitten with the 21-year-old point guard.
From sports bars to late-night pizza joints — even Apple stores — Ben Simmons hysteria is everywhere.
Upon touching down in Philly, the first mention of the city’s great Australian hope occurs in the Uber out of the airport.
“We haven’t been this excited since we had Allen Iverson, for real,” says Uber driver Stephanie Lee Taylor.
Taylor, of course, is referring to the Hall of Fame point guard who led the Sixers to their last NBA finals appearance in 2001.
“But I think this team, with everybody healthy, will be better than the (Iverson) team that went to the championship,” she adds.
“I’d know; I was there. I had season tickets back then but I haven’t had them since.”
With the Sixers hitting rock bottom in recent seasons, securing Melbourne native Simmons was seen as a turning point for a proud team which Charles Barkley once called home.
Naturally, Simmons understands the excitement.
“Yeah definitely, I can feel it. The fans have shown me a lot of love,” Simmons says.
“The fans are really loyal; they come up to me and tell me I’m playing well and that they’re excited for our team. One thing they always say is, thank you for helping them believe in the Sixers again, which is cool.”
As the worst team in the NBA the previous four seasons with a dismal 75-253 record, the 76ers were the posterchild of Philadelphia’s sporting heartache.
Their struggles have been famously enshrined in the phrase, “Trust the process,” which originated out of team officials and players assuring fans there was light at the end of the tunnel.
That light was Simmons.
In the face of colossal expectations and hype surrounding his ability — first thrown up publicly in 2014 by basketball icon Shaquille O’Neal — the gifted, 208cm point guard has put himself in the frame for NBA All-Star selection. Never mind the rookie of the year award.
Within 10 games, he became the only NBA player to begin a season with at least 170 points, 100 rebounds and 80 assists in his team’s first 10 games. Within 16 games, his 11 double-doubles were the most by any player since O’Neal in 1993.
“We’ve been waiting for a player like him for years,” says James Brister, who has developed a cult following as ‘Big Daddy’ and is regarded as the Sixers’ No.1 fan.
Brister first gained superfan status as a member of the Broad St Beefcakes — a “big man’s dance group” named after the street on which the Sixers stadium sits on.
It’s amazing such a thing exists.
But with the Sixers deliberately losing key players in order to rebuild and eventually secure a coveted No.1 draft pick, there wasn’t much to dance about.
Especially not during the disastrous 2015-16 season, which yielded just 10 wins and 72 losses.
But now?
“There is this … buzz about the city,” Brister says.
“Since Ben arrived, and with (star centre) Joel Embiid, there’s a whole different excitement down here. I’m loving it to death.”
Even after Simmons’ arrival, fans had to wait another year when he injured a foot and was sidelined for the entire 2016-17 season.
But Simmons studied the game with a microscope and ongoing video sessions with Brown. Many believe it’s the reason he’s hit the ground running.
“It was worth the wait,” Brister says.
“We’re so looking forward to the future; we’ve all got to just trust the process.”
Seemingly, that phrase is becoming as synonymous with Philadelphia as “the city that doesn’t sleep” is with New York.
At Nick’s Bar and Grille, a sports bar in Philly’s historic district where the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall are located, ‘#trusttheprocess’ is inscribed on the specials board.
Sitting at the bar is Matt Anderson, a basketball coach and student counsellor at Central Bucks High School West.
“This is a basketball city. ‘Trust the process’, I guess, gave us something to be hopeful for,” Anderson says.
“Simmons has blown us all away, and you can tell by the amount of No.25 jerseys around town that people know they’re watching a special player.”
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