Brown emphasized that he doesn't necessarily have to come back as a head coach. He also considered offers to be an assistant outside the NBA. "I had heard from a bunch of colleges in that capacity as well, and I thought about it," he says.

But his meetings with Snider and 76ers president Billy King convinced Brown to stay in Philadelphia, where he and wife Shelly are raising their young family. "Mr. Snider hired me a long time ago and was phenomenal to me, and he asked me to come back," said Brown. "I owed it to him to do that."

It was surprising to hear that Snider wanted to retain Brown in spite of rumors that the 76ers are back on the market for sale. "I don't know," says Brown of those rumors. "Mr. Snider told me you never stop exploring the possibilities. But I think he really had a lot of fun last year at the end of the season. He's become, in my mind, a lot more involved than he was when I initially worked for him (in 1997-98). But I wouldn't be surprised. If the right price were to come along, I'm sure every team would be up for sale."

While he remains protective of his relationship with Snider, Brown clearly would like to find a way to get back on the court and help develop the 76ers' young talent. But he also knows that any working relationship with the players would create suspicion that he's lining up to replace head coach Maurice Cheeks.

"I just want to help here," Brown says. "I just want to see us get back to where it was. I told Billy I just want to be there to help in any capacity that I can. Until we made that trade the other day getting [veterans Reggie] Evans and [Calvin] Booth, we were like a college team. So I want to help without stepping on anybody's toes.

"Ultimately my goal is to try to get back and coach somewhere -- and I'm not looking at Philly. I want to see Mo succeed."

That's why, as Brown points out, "I didn't go to a practice last year. I really stayed away." So could he serve in a teaching capacity with Philadelphia without undermining Cheeks?

"I see myself having that ability. I just don't know if that's going to be a reality," says Brown. "I've talked to Mo a number of times -- even last year -- that I was there to help. But we'll see how things evolve.

"In Philly I want to do whatever I can to make our whole organization better. I just want to help." His next words without any prompting were these: "I miss practice terribly and miss being around the players terribly."