Sixers coach Brown tapped for Aussie Olympic role

LOS ANGELES – Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown is set to coach Australia's basketball team at next year's Olympics, ESPN reported on Tuesday (Wednesday, Manila time).

The 58-year-old American is poised to lead the Australians again eight years after taking charge of the team at the 2012 London Olympics.

Brown has a long association with Australian basketball, spending the early years of his coaching career in Melbourne during from the late 1980s to the late 1990s.

He was also an assistant coach for the Australian team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and in Sydney four years later.

Brown has led the Sixers to the Eastern Conference semi-finals for the past two seasons after taking over in Philadelphia in 2013. 

Taking over for next year's Tokyo games would see Brown in charge of an Australian team spearheaded by Sixers star Ben Simmons.

The Australia-born Simmons has said he plans to represent the country of his birth at the Olympics next year.

"I will still be heading back home to Australia to host my camps as well as train and play with the Boomers in the upcoming exhibition games," Simmons said in July. 

"I'm really excited about the talent we have on the Boomers squad, especially moving closer to 2020 where I will be honored and humbled to represent my country on the world's biggest sporting stage at the Olympics in Tokyo."