The Philadelphia 76ers announced today that Head Coach Eddie Jordan has named Mike O’Koren as Associate Head Coach and will retain Jim Lynam and Aaron McKie as assistant coaches for the upcoming season. Jordan was named the Sixers head coach on June 1, 2009.
O’Koren and McKie will represent the Sixers on the sideline as part of their joint Orlando Summer League team with the New Jersey Nets.
“I am excited to be joined on the bench by three coaches with a wealth of basketball knowledge and for whom I have a tremendous amount of respect,” Jordan said. “My staff has a common vision for this team and how we will play, and I truly look forward to working with them to achieve our goals.”
O’Koren begins his first season as the Sixers Associate Head Coach after spending five full seasons with Coach Jordan in the same capacity with the Washington Wizards. The former North Carolina All-American joined the Wizards staff after serving as an assistant coach alongside Coach Jordan on the New Jersey Nets bench from 1999-2003, where they helped guide the Nets to back-to-back Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference Championships in 2002 and 2003.
After a stand-out college career at North Carolina – where he was a three-time All-American and a four-year starter – O’Koren was drafted by the Nets with the sixth overall selection in the 1980 NBA Draft. He averaged 8.5 points in his seven NBA seasons with the Nets, including a career-high 11.4 points per game during the 1981-82 season.
Lynam, a veteran of more than 23 years in the NBA coaching ranks, returns to the sidelines in 2009-10. With an NBA resume that includes 10 seasons as a head coach with three different teams – San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers (1983-85), Philadelphia 76ers (1987-92) and Washington Bullets (1995-97) – Lynam has compiled 328 wins. In his four-plus seasons as head coach of the Sixers, he led them to a 194-173 record and was runner-up for NBA Coach of the Year during the 1989-90 season.
McKie returns for his second season as an assistant coach after originally joining the coaching staff on Oct. 3, 2007. Since he never officially retired as a player, his rights still belonged to the Los Angeles Lakers, who signed McKie to a contract in order to package him in a trade with the Memphis Grizzlies for Pau Gasol on Feb. 1, 2008. Although he did not appear in a game, McKie spent the remainder of the season on the Grizzlies roster before being waived on May 9, 2008. He returned to the Sixers on September 30, 2008.
In 793 career games with 287 starts, McKie averaged 7.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.15 steals in 24.2 minutes per game. He enjoyed his best season as a Sixer in 2000-01, taking home Sixth Man of the Year honors while helping Philadelphia reach the NBA Finals. That same season, he recorded back-to-back triple-doubles at Sacramento on Dec. 30, 2000 (19 points, 14 assists, 10 rebounds) and vs. Atlanta on Jan. 3, 2001 (11 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists).
