Bob Cooney: Sixers have enough challenges to make anyone's head spin

The starting point guard was the youngest player in the league last season and really hadn't run a team from that position since his high school days, which weren't all that long ago.

The second overall pick struggled mightily in the position the team drafted him to play and showed more signs of being better at the spot where the team was already satisfied with who was there.

The inside game was suspect, at best, on the defensive end with no real shot blocker or consistent rebounder.

Young players still needed to prove what type of players they were and if they belonged in the rebuilding process.

To put it mildly, before the start of the season for the 76ers, there weren't a whole lot of definitive positives. One exception was newly hired head coach Doug Collins.

Plucked out from behind his analyst microphone, where he was perhaps the best in television for TNT, Collins brought a plethora of knowledge accumulated during his nearly 40 years around the NBA game.

Unfortunately, a few days after being introduced as the new head coach in May, Collins suffered a head injury stemming from a Memorial Day fainting episode in which he broke three ribs and suffered a concussion when he fell in a coffee shop in Phoenix.

Though he was in constant contact with his new players and general manager Ed Stefanski during the summer, Collins was suffering from headaches and dizziness. The news of his fall and subsequent injuries never reached Stefanski or newly hired president Rod Thorn until Collins had to leave Cincinnati on Oct. 18 prior to a preseason game because of the persistent symptoms. Collins missed two exhibition games, but returned a few days later and pronounced himself fit.

That appeared to be the case up until Wednesday night when, as he rose from the bench to head to the locker room at halftime of his team's first win of the season, over the Indiana Pacers, assistant coach Michael Curry had to grab Collins' arm to keep him from falling as the arena spun in the coach's head. Curry led a wobbly Collins back to the locker room where the coach spent the rest of the game on a trainer's table.

Collins faced the media following the game, and explained that his dizziness was due to the fact that on game days he does not take his medicine to reduce the symptoms because of the fatigue it causes him. Wednesday was the Sixers' second game in as many days, so Collins was a double dose short. Also, the team traveled home on Tuesday night from Washington, not returning until early in the morning. Collins had just a few hours of sleep as he watched tape of the agonizing Washington loss (116-115 in overtime) then got up to prepare for the Pacers.

A grueling schedule for anyone, let alone someone trying to rid themselves of the problems vertigo causes.

Collins has looked less than 100 percent at times since his problem became public. Is it out of the ordinary for a coach to look pale, tired and stressed during a season? Of course not. Had Collins' condition not been known would flags have been raised about his appearance? Probably not.

You don't need to be around the team and its coach every day to see that the passion Collins exudes is unmatched. He cares deeply about each player as both a person and as someone who can help his team win. He doesn't let anyone in his presence go without a greeting, a handshake, a question of how they're doing. He is also a numbers freak, finding unimaginable stats that prove to him what he's seeing on the floor and help him correct it. He is a man of deep faith, a devoted family man. He approaches a Sunday afternoon with his daughter and grandchildren as excitedly as he would coaching a playoff game.

In short, like most successful athletes, there is nothing in life that Collins doesn't do without 100 percent effort. Including telling himself that an ailment will not get the better of him.

When he was hired, Collins spoke frequently about the talent he inherited, about this team not being far off from getting back on track. After a few weeks of practice and preseason games, Collins realized the task was a bit more monumental than he had thought, though he said the challenge only has made him a stronger person.

Hopefully, for him and the organization, his struggles with the vertigo symptoms will do the same.

In Wednesday's 101-75 win over Indiana, which broke a four-game losing streak, the Sixers consistently did something they hadn't done in all their losses - go to the foul line.

In the four losses prior to Wednesday's victory, the starters had averaged nine free attempts COMBINED per game. In the win, the starting five went 16-for-20. Spencer Hawes got there for the first four times this season and power forward Elton Brand made all seven of his attempts.

In the next two games against the Cavaliers and the Knicks, the Sixers face teams that love to play a perimeter game. It's easy to get drawn into that, but the Sixers are at their best when they are running and streaking to the basket. A good barometer of how they'll do in those games will be how often they get to the foul line.

Tonight

vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, 7 o'clock

TV: Comcast SportsNet

Radio: WIP (610-AM)

The Skinny: No, this is not the Cavaliers team that you've been used to, posting 50-60 wins over the past several seasons. The departure of LeBron James stunted that, but new coach Byron Scott has done a very nice job of implementing a "no one believes in us" attitude that his players really have bought into.

at New York Knicks, Noon

TV: Comcast SportsNet

Radio: WIP (610-AM)

The Skinny: You get the feeling the Sixers, and many other teams, really like playing against coach Mike D'Antoni's team as the Knicks love to get out and make it a running game. Add to that the fact that New York isn't very good defensively. They did add Amar'e Stoudemire during the offseason, and he could prove to be a significant problem for the Sixers.

at Oklahoma City, 8 p.m.

TV: Comcast SportsNet

Radio WIP (610-AM)

The Skinny: If the Sixers are looking for a franchise to emulate, this would be the one. Who would have thought that when it moved from Seattle in 2008 that the Thunder would be this far along? Of course, it helps when you have MVP candidate Kevin Durant to throw out there every night and a terrific young coach in Scott Brooks.

4: The Sixers halted a season-opening four-game losing streak with the win over Indiana on Wednesday. The last time they opened the season with four straight losses was 2001-02, when they lost their first five and then won the next seven. The year prior, they advanced to the NBA Finals.

21.4: That's how many fastbreak points the Sixers are averaging a game this season. Last year, they were second in the league while averaging 18.9.