Sixers facelift: O’Brien out, Cheeks in

Cheeks becomes the 21st head coach of the 76ers and arrives in Philadelphia after a stint of three-plus seasons as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers.

"Mo is family," team president Billy King said. "Mo bleeds 76ers. He bleeds Philadelphia."

O’Brien lasted just one season in Philadelphia after being introduced as the head coach on April 21, 2004. He guided the 76ers to a 43-39 record and the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Philadelphia was ousted in the first round of the postseason by the defending champion Detroit Pistons.

"Not one of them said they could not play for Jim and it wasn’t a decision where it was a coup or anything of that nature," King said. "I just felt the direction we were going and the overall play wasn’t where we wanted to go."

The 53-year-old O’Brien, a Philadelphia native, had spent the previous seven seasons in the Celtics’ organization. He resigned as coach of Boston in late January of 2004 after several conflicts with Danny Ainge, the team’s director of basketball operations.

O’Brien took over in Boston for Rick Pitino on January 8, 2001 and compiled an overall head coaching mark of 139-119 with the Celtics.

The 48-year-old Cheeks was dismissed as coach of the Trail Blazers on March 2 after the club dropped 33 of its first 55 games this season. Portland went on to post a 27-55 mark and missed the playoffs for the second straight year after a string of 21 straight postseason appearances.

Cheeks, a product of West Texas State, was named Portland’s 10th head coach on June 27, 2001 after seven years as an assistant in Philadelphia. He ended with a record of 162-139 during his tenure with the Trail Blazers.

A four-time NBA All-Star during an impressive 15-year playing career, Cheeks was a second-round pick of the 76ers in the 1978 draft and spent 11 seasons with Philadelphia. He was the starting point guard for the 1983 championship club.

The Sixers have coveted Cheeks since Larry Brown resigned after the 2002-03 season, but were denied permission to speak with him by the Blazers.