On the Beat: Assistants Step in as Brown Supports Former Colleague

NEW ORLEANS, LA – Before JaKarr Sampson was waived to make room for veteran center Joel Anthony, all 14 members of the Sixers’ then-active roster took part in Thursday’s practice at Smoothie King Center.Even though all players were presented and accounted for at the afternoon workout, there still a significant absence.  The head coach. Like several of his peers from around the rest of the NBA, Brown spent most of the day in Oklahoma City, attending the memorial service of Ingrid Williams, the wife of Thunder associate head coach Monty Williams.  She was killed in a car accident on February 10th.With Brown away, Lloyd Pierce and his fellow assistant filled in. “We had all of our guys healthy, we had a good practice without Coach being here,” said Pierce, an original member of Brown’s staff.  Given how closely the two have worked together over the last three years, Pierce acknowledged that it would hard to not be influenced by some aspects of Brown’s coaching approach.  Some aspects, but not all. “It definitely won’t be the accent,” Pierce said jokingly.  “I think any time you’re around someone for a period of time, you start to pick up the same ideology, the same beliefs start mimicking some of the things he says.  I don’t have the accents that he does, but we try to stay on the same page with what we’re saying, not necessarily how we’re saying it.”Brown was expected to arrive in New Orleans on Thursday night, and be with the Sixers in time for Friday’s shootaround.  He and Williams got to know each other during overlapping stints with the San Antonio Spurs.  Brown was serving as a full-time assistant when Gregg Popovich brought Williams on as a coaching intern in 2005.  Williams had played for Popovich in the late 1990s.”I knew Monty a little bit, just being around the league,” said Pierce, who was given his first NBA coaching break in Cleveland under Mike Brown, another ex-Spurs assistant.  “I know his impact in a lot of different ways.  Coach [Lionel] Hollins, who I worked for in Memphis, was very close with Monty.  Obviously Brett is very close with Monty.  Another coach that I was close with, [Dallas assistant] Melvin Hunt, is very close with Monty.  And the consistent response to his character, his belief, just his mannerisms, everything about Monty has always been pure.  Everything that he’s going through with his family, it’s no surprise why there’s such an outpouring of support that’s in Oklahoma City for him and his family right now.  That speaks more to his family and his character.”Williams joined the Thunder this off-season.  For the previous five years, he had served as New Orleans’ head coach, twice guiding the Pelicans to the Western Conference Playoffs.