Bob Cooney: Collins can't change Sixers by himself

Remember the last time the 76ers were somewhat prominent? Remember when a professional basketball game involving the Sixers had meaning and captured the fans' attention?

It was April 30, 2009, Game 6 against eventual Eastern Conference champion Orlando Magic in the first round of the playoffs. The sixth-seeded Sixers had taken two of the first three games against the Magic, before dropping the next two. Pivotal Game 6 was at the Wachovia Center in front of a raucous, nearly sold-out crowd. Pro basketball mattered. Then came a 25-point loss.

Since then, the team has let go of two coaches (Tony DiLeo and Eddie Jordan), let go of its leader and starting point guard (Andre Miller), brought back its exciting, but troubled and exiled former franchise player (Allen Iverson), jumped up in the draft to gain the No. 2 pick (Evan Turner) and hired a long lost son to coach the team (Doug Collins).

Oh yeah, and since the series finale against the Magic, the Sixers have won 30.9 percent of their games (29-65).

And if there's anything we've learned definitively about this team through 12 games this season it is this: Doug Collins is not the savior for this 76ers organization. He can't be.

Collins has been around the NBA for 37 years as a player, a coach and a broadcaster. His wealth of knowledge of the game is matched by few, perhaps not surpassed by anyone. When talking to players, coaches and others around the league about him, there is one common theme: Collins was the right man to turn this organization around.

Here's the problem: This project is too big for him to conquer by himself.

Unlike his predecessor, Jordan, Collins looked at the talent that was assembled and implemented an offense that was best suited for his club. And that is one of the coach's strongest talents. But it appears from Collins' reaction on the sideline that even the simplest of offensive sets cannot be mastered by everyone.

The center position has, so far, been disastrous on both ends of the floor.

The team's best all-around player, Andre Iguodala, has been beaten up since the beginning of the season, after a long summer of competition with Team USA. in the FIBA world championships. And when he has played, he hasn't exhibited the kind of on-court leadership that Collins surely was hoping to get from the 7-year vet.

The bench, which was the club's strong point at the start of the season, is now a liability as Marreese Speights and Lou Williams are struggling at doing what they do best - scoring.

As much as they've battled in some losses (seven by less than 10 points), they don't have someone whom they can truly rely on to make a shot or get to the foul line down the stretch.

Nor do they have a defensive stopper to lock down the other team's go-to guy at the end of games.

Their backcourt is a project that is receiving on-the-job training. Jrue Holiday is showing some good signs in his first season as a starting point guard, while Evan Turner is taking baby steps in becoming a reliable backcourt mate.

Their frontcourt has been slowed by the ineffective play of starting center Spencer Hawes. The small forward spot is still up in the air due to Iguodala's continued injuries and players having to fill roles that weren't envisioned prior to the season. If not for the strong play of power forward Elton Brand (16.9 points, 8.2 rebounds, 53.4 field-goal percentage), this area would be disastrous.

Though Collins can put the players in the right positions to win games, and he can design offensive and defensive concepts that will best suit the players assembled, and he can preach endlessly about how the game should be played and tap into his vast knowledge of the game, it's just not enough.

He can't do it alone. He needs the help of the players he has here now. He needs the help of the front office to get him better players that will make his job easier. He needs whoever is wearing a Sixers uniform to buy into what he is preaching, to play with the same amount of passion that the 60-year-old coach brings with him every day to practice and games.

"I've been through a lot of ups and downs in my life," Collins said, "been knocked around and kicked around and stuff like that and I've always felt that the measure of the man is really not how you deal with success but how you handle those failures and where you go from that and how you grow. I don't know of a man that's ever walked back to his hotel and questioned himself after he's been successful. I think you always question yourself when you're going through those periods when things aren't going your way.

"You're looking at a guy here who's been in this business 40 years [37 years in the NBA], I came to a team that was 9-73, I had my career taken away with injury at a young age, been fired three times. You're looking at a guy who's been kicked around pretty good. But I have to be a pillar for those guys in that locker room, for them to understand that if you keep fighting, things will turn, they'll change for you. Nobody's going to give us anything."

It's time to give Collins something. The players need to give him better effort, better attention to the knowledge that he is supplying to them. The front office needs to give him players who have a chance to fit more cohesively than the ones assembled now.

Collins can't turn this around alone. Probably no one could.

It's that bad. Has been since that loss to Orlando.

IGGY UPDATE

Swingman Andre Iguodala will not play in tonight's home game against the Milwaukee Bucks due to tendinitis in his right Achilles'. Coach Doug Collins said yesterday that the team is targeting Tuesday for Iguodala's return, when the team will play in Washington.

DRIBBLES

UPCOMING GAMES:

Tonight vs. Milwaukee Bucks, 7 o'clock

TV/Radio: Comcast SportsNet/WIP (610-AM)

The skinny: Good news, bad news in this one. The Bucks are the second-worst scoring team in the league, putting up just 93.5 a game. Problem is, they give up the third-least at 92. Not good for a Sixers team that has been averaging just over 90 points their past four games.

Tuesday at Washington Wizards, 7 o'clock

TV/Radio: Comcast SportsNet/WIP (610-AM)

The skinny: Back to the site of the most heart-breaking loss in Doug Collins' coaching stint with the Sixers. No. 1 pick John Wall torched the Sixers in the first meeting for 29 points and nine steals in a 116-115 overtime win on Nov. 2. Wall, however, missed the Wizards' last two games with a sprained left foot. Embattled guard Gilbert Arenas, who missed the first meeting with a bad ankle, is back and playing well for the Wizards.

Wednesday at Toronto Raptors, 7 o'clock

TV/Radio: Comcast SportsNet/WIP (610-AM)

The skinny: The Sixers get right back at it with the Raptors, who picked up just their third win of the season on Wednesday at the Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers allowed forward Andrea Bargnani to do his best Dirk Nowitzki impersonation Wednesday, as he went for 30 points, mostly on outside shooting.

BY THE NUMBERS:

6: That's how many times Elton Brand has scored 20 or more points in the first 12 games of this season. In the 76 games he played last year, Brand did it a total of 12 times.

305: That's how many free throws opponents have made during the season against the Sixers.

298: That's how many free throws the Sixers have attempted this season.