Basketball On The Internet.

PATIENCE. Brett Brown used the word at today’s press conference and formal announcement of his appointment as head coach of the NBA’s struggling Philadelphia 76ers.

He was using it to express that the task ahead, of restoring the Sixers to past glories, was going to be a slow, and at times painful experience.

But patience is also precisely what Brown showed before relinquishing his role on the bench of the San Antonio Spurs, holding out for the four-year guaranteed deal which equally committed Philly ownership to his rebuilding process.

Brown must rebuild a team with two rookies - centre Nerlens Noel and point guard Michael Carter-Williams - as the faces of the franchise.

Fortunately, his ability to nurture and teach players was one of the attributes the 76ers were seeking.

“He has a real passion for player development,” Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie said, “and he shares a lot of the values important to me and our owners.”

The Sixers haven't had a happy roster for a long time. Doug Collins left with a year to run on his contract.

Collins has a great basketball mind but isn't breezy or easy. Very self-confident, motivated and ultra-competitive players survive in his system and with a 34-48 season behind them, the 76ers were hardly chock full of those types.

Andrew Bynum (knee) never playing a game before he skipped out to Cleveland didn’t help much either.

But as anyone who knows Brown already realises, he is not afraid of risk.

Yes, he held out for four years and a guaranteed deal but that was to look after the security of his wife Anna and their three children as much as to also ensure Philadelphia would stay the tough course with him.

As Lindsay Gaze can tell you, Brett has rolled the dice for much of his life.

Not long after he finished college at Boston University, where he played for legendary coach Rick Pitino, Brown undertook a backpacking tour of Fiji, New Zealand and Australia.

Along the way, he met Anna and decided to maybe just stick around Down Under for a while.

But a man’s got to eat.

He called Lindsay – who he did not know – out of the blue and told him his background.

You know, pretty good point guard, son of Hall of Fame-bound coach Bob Brown, with a year as a graduate assistant under his belt.

What do you think?

Lindsay hired him and so continued the journey that led him to an NBL Championship as coach and three Olympics, the last as Boomers head coach.

“He is as bright a young coach as I've seen come along in quite some time,” Pitino said.

(Pitino’s Louisville is the reigning NCAA champion.)

“I hope it's the right situation, because he's a tremendous, tremendous person,” Pitino added.

If it isn’t, it won’t be for any lack of effort by Brown or the organisation.

While they were busy checking him out, he also was doing his due diligence because he easily could have stayed with the Spurs.

He had been anointed to step up as Gregg Popovich’s lead assistant, a pretty good gig in a very reputable franchise.

And Brown has built his own niche at the club, with things such as the game “Beat Sam Brown.”

It is a regular shooting game and a tough one at that.

Competitors must shoot from the five standard spots behind the three-point line - the corners, the two wings and the top of the key.

You shoot at each spot until you make one. You can then continue shooting at that spot until you miss.

Then you move to the next spot and repeat the process.

At the conclusion, you add how many shots you made after all five spots and if you hit more than 20 shots, you did “Beat Sam Brown”.

Many of the Spurs didn’t know what the game’s title actually meant and just thought it was as random as “three-on-two”.

But that’s because they weren't at practice the day Brett Brown, then an assistant coach, let his son Sam do the shooting drill after the Spurs had left the court.

Sam, the youngest of Brown’s children, made exactly 20 shots from behind the NBA three-point arc that day.

Here’s the thing though. He did that three years ago when he was just eight.

The story says something about Brett.

Clearly, his reputation as a shot teacher and purveyor of basketball fundamentals is on the money.

But it also says Brown is fun to play for because anyone who knows an eight-year-old, knows keeping them engaged and interested to even undertake such a venture has potential nightmare written all over it.

“This is really my first day in Philadelphia,” Brown told the city’s battle-hardened media today.

“The first thing we did was go to the strength and conditioning coach and put a huge premium on our health and our fitness.

“We need to establish that part of the program.

“The steps that we need to go through, whatever the result is, are still the same.

“The process is still the same.”

And just like that, the new adventure began for the former Bulleen Boomers, North Melbourne Giants, Sydney Kings and Australian Boomers head coach.

“Brett brings a positive energy that's sort of infectious,” Hinkie said.

“That becomes clear to anyone who meets him.”

How that enthusiasm holds up at the helm of a team expected to lose 60 games in 2013-14 will be the challenge.

Fortunately, Brett has the patience.