Collins Can't Wait To Get Started
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Collins Can't Wait To Get Started
LEXINGTON, KY -- Doug Collins is always excited by another basketball season but the 76ers coach has even more enthusiasm going into this year.
The Sixers have revamped a unit that took the Boston Celtics to a seventh game in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Obviously the Sixers did get a break when Derrick Rose was injured in the first playoff game against the Chicago Bulls and then later center Joakim Noah was sidelined.
Still, the Sixers won that series and extended a Boston team to the limit. That's a Celtics squad that that took NBA champion Miami to a seventh game of the Eastern Conference finals.
The feeling around the NBA was that the Sixers probably got as far as they could with last year’s roster and apparently the team felt that way as well. That is why the Sixers made so many changes.
Just since that final game with the Celtics, the Sixers are bringing in veterans Andrew Bynum, Kwame Brown, Jason Richardson, Dorell Wright, Nick Young, and Royal Ivey, and rookie Arnett Moultrie.
Pair that with projected rotation players, Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner, Spencer Hawes, Thaddeus Young and Lavoy Allen, and the Sixers appear to be a much deeper team than last year. In Bynum, they have a viable all-star capable of impacting the game at both ends of the court.
It’s not unrealistic to consider the Sixers a top-four team in the Eastern Conference. And Collins is raring to go.
“My mind is always going and I am a crossword puzzle guy, how to solve a puzzle,” Collins said last week during the 1972 U.S. Olympic team reunion in Lexington, Ky. “We have new pieces and I like our pieces.”
Of course Collins also wanted to praise a number of key players who have departed.
“Anytime you change your team you have to give up talent and we lost an incredible professional in Elton Brand,” Collins said. “We lost a tremendous all-star, Olympian and world champion Andre Iguodala. We lost one of the best sixth men in the NBA in Lou Williams and lost a guy who helped us win a lot of games in Jodie Meeks.”
Now the challenge is to mesh all these new players, which makes training camp that much more important this season.
“We think we have added size, we think we have added shooting,” Collins said. “If we have our health I think we can do a lot of things.”
It appears as if one of Collins' most difficult tasks will be to appropriate playing time.
“I like our versatility, I think we can play big, we can play small and I think we have the best low post player in the NBA,” he said obviously referring to Bynum. “The big thing is how quickly we can put it together.”
The season begins with the Oct. 31 opener at the Wells Fargo Center against Iguodala and the Denver Nuggets.
“We have to be ready when the season starts but I think our guys are committed to that,” Collins said. “I am looking forward to it.”
-- Marc Narducci
Tomorrow's headline: "Collins Still Can't Wait To Get Started." And I can't wait until this site truly covers the Sixers for the first time since the departure of Kate Fagan.— iceman- Don't understand the longing for Kate. Nice young lady but little writing skills or interesting insight.
And the sixers? Great summer. Now, i would trade ET and Thad for Lou Williams and Jumpin' Johnny Green!— Shragez - Doug needs to focus on DEFENSE and the LOW POST GAME on offense.
Here's what's so great though....
We really are a three headed monster offensively...here's why...
1. We now can work the ball inside - out with the best low post player in the NBA (D Howard - go blow a candle out on top of a backboard)...this being said, we can score more easily inside, while drawing a REAL double team and kick out to solid outside shooters.
2. We can still..."RUN" - with Jrue, Evan, and Thad, we can still consider the fast break a valid threat to any opponent who focused too heavily on our half court game (i.e. - rebound/blocked shot and quick outlet pass")
3. Our outside shooting will open up the inside game for Bynum, and just a importantly, Jrue and Evan can penetrate and make things happen in the half court game.
We are more balanced that the HEAT, though the HEAT would probably defeat us in a 7 game series. With Doug's passion and hoops wisdom, this could be the year we can truly compete for a chip!— cancerouscynic - Bynum is not very good on the double team. He created a turnover 168 times last year when double teamed.
He needs to learn how to pass when he doesn't have a shot.
Bynum was a third option last year on offense. He is going to face a different defensive alignment now that he is the primary first option. How fast is going to be in setting up for the offense?
— fafink - Wow, A Sixer's article. I quit looking a while back. Have to agree with the posters here that the writers are missing some views by not getting something out there about this completely revamped team. @bear, you mentioned that you thought Hawes might be gone in the middle of the season. Don't you feel he can be a good fit with Bynum based on his passing and ability to hit mid-range jumpers? Always interested to hear your analysis.— borntosuffer
Do not leave Moultrie Behind. Sit Hawes for 20 games and Bynum for 20 games. 40 games, give the minutes to moultrie an equivilant of a college season. After March Madness shut Arnett down until the post season. 200 made mid range jumpers everyday. 200 pick and stretch 4 3 pointers made everyday 200 catch and shoot 3's everyday. 600 j's made per day. At moultrie's cap number the more he develops the more value of the asset. The goal? A Tremendous Bargain Asset.— combocancer1975
John Mitchell is in his second year covering the 76ers for the Inquirer after joining the paper in November 2011. He covered the Washington Wizards for the Washington Times from 1998 to 2008. He's also worked at the Philadelphia Tribune, the Wilmington News Journal, Courier-Post, Trenton Times and Elmira Star-Gazette.Born and raised in West Philadelphia - not too far from Will Smith - he graduated from Overbrook High School the same year the 76ers won their last championship. He's a proud graduate of Howard University and the proud father of two sons, Jared and Jordan.
ABOUT MARC NARDUCCI
Marc Narducci has served in a variety of roles with the Inquirer since beginning in 1983. He has covered the 76ers as a backup and a beat writer. In addition, Narducci has covered everything from the Super Bowl to the World Series and a lot in between. Narducci also has a true passion for South Jersey scholastic sports, which he has covered for many years.
