Sixers Deciding Jordan's Fate, Get Advice From Unlikely Source

It's sounding more and more like it's a matter of when, not if Eddie Jordan will be fired as the coach of the Philadelphia 76ers. The Philadelphia Inquirer's Kate Fagan reports that Sixers brass is weighing whether to fire him now or let him finish the season and give more playing time to the team's youngsters.

Comcast-Spectacor and the 76ers are balanced on a ledge. In the next few days, they will either fire coach Eddie Jordan or step back and wait until the season ends.

One of the issues is that Jordan seems unwilling to play the team's young talent, particularly Jodie Meeks, who the Sixers acquired in a trade with Milwaukee at the trade deadline. The 76ers want to see what they have in Meeks, and Jordan hasn't let them. You read that right. If Fagan's story is to be believed (and it should be), Jordan's fate will in part be decided by how much he plays Jodie Meeks. A second-round rookie. Who was acquired for a second-round pick.

But wait, it gets better. According to Fagan, the 76ers got some advice from an unlikely source.

Former Sixers coach Larry Brown, now coach of the Charlotte Bobcats, advised Comcast-Spectacor chairman Ed Snider against firing Jordan before the season ends, according to a source close to the situation. Brown told Snider to keep Jordan, play the young guys, and make the necessary changes in April, the source said.

So the 76ers won't listen to their own coach or GM, but they will listen to a former coach that's coached about half the teams in the league. And of all people, Larry Brown? The same Larry Brown that's always switching teams? The same Larry Brown that always has a hat in the ring? The conspiracy theorist in me thinks that Brown just wants to go back to coaching Philly once the season is over. I wouldn't put it past him to do something like that.

It should come as no surprise that the 76ers are underachieving this much. Jordan's been a disaster in Philly, but he doesn't deserve this kind of treatment.