By Andrew Porter

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — It’s a family feud.

Former Sixers head coach Larry Brown made comments saying what the Sixers are doing “makes him sick to his stomach” and questioned the basketball knowledge of Sixers’ front-office. On Thursday, CEO Scott O’Neil responded on 94WIP, taking a dig at Brown missing the Final Four last year.

A remorseful Brown, on Friday morning, clarified his comments.

“I understand about getting draft picks and developing young players,” Brown told Angelo Cataldi and the 94WIP Morning Show, on the Sixers’ plan. “That’s what I do, is try to teach, but you gotta have quality kids in your dressing room. [Nerlens] Noel is gonna be great, Joel [Embiid] is gonna be great, we got young players that are gonna be terrific people and players, but they need veteran guys sitting around teaching them how to be pro’s. No matter what Brett [Brown] does, it’s not coming from the coach all the time. So that’s my point. I don’t want kids to accept losing. I don’t want to see Brett go through that. But Sam [Hinkie] has a plan, Scott has a plan, I guess what I got to do is shut my mouth and support them and do a better job of expressing myself.”

Brown admitted O’Neil’s comments about his Southern Methodist team missing the Final Four, bothered him.

“I spoke to Scott [O’Neil] yesterday. I was kind of upset with, a little bit of some of the stuff he said about me, but you know, he had that right,” Brown said. “I guess I kind of blind-sided him. I didn’t realize it was gonna come out the way it did. But at the end of the day, we have the greatest fans there. They support the team. It’s a basketball community, you know, when you got Sonny Hill and all the great college programs there and the high schools. I just want, I want them to do well. I guess that’s my point.”

“I didn’t mean to create a firestorm and couple things that were said, they didn’t exactly come out right,” Brown continued. “One, I have no problem with Brett Brown and I love him. He’s been involved with Gregg Popovich who’s family to me and I have unbelievable respect. I think a lot things that came out of my mouth, I was a little upset.”

Brown was unable to attend Allen Iverson’s retirement ceremony last season because his team had a game that night, something that frustrated the 74-year-old legendary coach. Brown also explained that he thought Iverson should have a significant role in the franchise, going as far as to mention Assistant General Manager.

“If anybody deserved to be part of that franchise, I felt it was Aaron [McKie] and then I was really upset when Eric [Snow] and George [Lynch] and myself weren’t able to get to Allen’s retirement,” Brown said. “And then, I’m concerned, I wanted Allen involved with that franchise in a real positive way and in an important way. So a lot of that stuff happened to come out, but at the end of the day, I want them to do well. I like David Blitzer [part Sixers owner] a lot, I know him. I know Brett, I want them to win. I do not want to see them struggling.”

“We always talk about plans,” Brown said. “Maybe Sam [Hinkie] has a plan. I wish he’d express it to everybody.”

You may also be interested in these Sports stories:

[display-posts category=”sports” wrapper=”ul” posts_per_page=”5″]