In just two weeks after announcing Scott O’Neil is stepping down from his role, his position has already been filled. O’Neil resigned on June 30th, and on July 12th the 76ers announced Tad Brown would be taking his place. Brown will be the Philadelphia 76ers’ new CEO, the spot O’Neil held since 2013.
After eight years as the CEO of the 76ers, Scott O’Neil has resigned. In his place will be new CEO Tad Brown. Brown will also be the new CEO of the New Jersey Devils, a professional hockey team in the NHL. This comes as no surprise as Scott O’Neil was also the CEO of both the 76ers and the Devils, having just resigned from both positions. The connection between the two teams is through the owners of the 76ers, David Blitzer and Josh Harris. The two bought the 76ers in 2011, and the Devils in 2013, and run them through the same investment group.
Brown just resigned from his position as the Houston Rockets’ CEO on April 23rd. Tad spent over 20 years within the Rockets’ organization, 15 of those years as the CEO. Besides having years of experience as an NBA team’s CEO, Brown’s history with the Rockets is a very good sign. That is because Brown spent 13 years working with Daryl Morey in Houston. Morey just finished his first year as the Sixer’s president of basketball operations.
Brown and Morey had some pretty notable years together with the Rockets. Their biggest accomplishment was the acquisition of James Harden, in one of the NBA’s most lopsided trades in history. Houston got Harden in a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder, where they only had to send Kevin Martin, Jeremey Lamb, two first round picks and a second round pick to OKC. Those three picks would turn out to be Steven Adams, Mitch McGary and Alex Abrines. Adams was the only one to spend more than three years with the Thunder. Meanwhile in Houston, Harden would go on to be a 9-time all-star, 6-time 1st-team all-NBA, and win one MVP award.
Besides Harden, the Rockets were still one of the most aggressive teams in the league through Brown and Morey’s tenures, acquiring several other stars. They signed Dwight Howard in free agency back when he was an all-star and before he was a 76er. Also, they would go on to complete a sign and trade deal for Chris Paul. Later on the Rockets traded Chris Paul away for another MVP in Russell Westbrook.
Tad Brown also played a big role in getting the city of Houston to host the NBA All-Star Game twice in his time there, once in 2006 and another in 2013. Philadelphia has hosted All-Star Weekend 4 times, 1960, 1970, 1976, and 2002. The next three All-Star Game host cities have already been named. Cleveland will host in 2022, Utah in 2023, and Indiana in 2024. Perhaps Brown will be able to secure an All-Star Weekend in Philadelphia for the first time since 2002.
What I am about to say next is purely a prediction and there are no facts to back this up at the moment. However, I predict that Philadelphia will host the 2026 NBA All-Star Game. Philadelphia hosted the 1976 game, and if you happen to know your US History, you would know that was the bicentennial, or the 200th anniversary of the United States of America declaring its’ independence. 2026 would be the Sestercentennial, a.k.a the 250th anniversary. With Philadelphia being the original capital in the United States and being known as the birth place of the country, I believe Philadelphia would be a great city to host the All-Star Game in for 2026.
Photo via: Mellisa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
Tad Brown has years of experience and success as the CEO of an NBA team already. His relationship with Daryl Morey makes this good hiring a great one. It will be interesting to see what Brown will do in Philadelphia.
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