No team in the league, let alone one with legitimate championship aspirations, has turned over its roster this season to the extent of the Philadelphia 76ers. As such, Brett Brown's team is still searching for the continuity, comfort, and consistency needed to reach its full potential with the playoffs fast approaching. The abrupt departure of assistant coach Billy Lange, obviously, will make finding that cohesion even more difficult than it would have been otherwise, but the Sixers are far happier for one of their own than they are concerned about even more churn within the team.
In a statement released on the Sixers' twitter after Lange was officially announced as head coach of Philadelphia's St. Joseph's University, Brown praised his longtime pupil as an “incredibly natural fit” for the Eagles' program.
“The pairing of Billy Lange as head coach of the St. Joe's basketball program is an incredibly natural fit,” he said.
“As a Philly native, Billy's basketball experiences as a head coach at Navy, an assistant at Villanova and six NBA seasons on our bench, provides a great base to develop, recruit and stamp his vision on a storied basketball program.
“I am proud of his appointment and he and his family will be missed as friends and Billy in a professional capacity, very much.
“He has been with me from day one and to see where he started and now where he has ended up, is a fantastic human and basketball story. We will be following him closely. Go Hawks.”
Lange replaces iconic St. Joe's coach Phil Martelli, who was relieved of his duties on March 19th. Lange assumed the role of Philadelphia's de facto defensive coordinator this season after former assistant Lloyd Pierce was hired as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks. Despite the presence of reigning Defensive Player of the Year runner-up Joel Embiid and impact defenders like Jimmy Butler and Ben Simmons, the Sixers have struggled of late defensively, beset by an inability to contain opposing guards off the dribble.
Philadelphia, 47-27, is third in the Eastern Conference, two and-a-half games ahead of the fourth-place Indiana Pacers.
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