Sixers' Collins, Iguodala already working well together

Doug Collins delivered a stirring text message to 76ers star Andre Iguodala before the gold-medal game of the FIBA World Championships in Istanbul. It was essentially the same message Collins, then a TNT analyst and now the new coach of the Sixers, delivered in person to the U.S. Olympic team before it left for Beijing in 2008.

Collins was part of the U.S. Olympic team that lost the 1972 gold-medal game to Russia, 51-50, in an excruciating, controversial finish. He has never forgotten the disappointment, the frustration, the emptiness. The players declined to accept their silver medals. Asked the location of his silver medal, Collins said, "I have no idea."

"In 2008, I looked at Mike [Olympic coach Krzyzewski] and the players and said, 'The bond you guys are going to create is one you'll have forever,' " Collins said. " 'We were bonded in pain. I want you to be bonded in joy. I want you to hear the national anthem being played and to be able to put your hand over your heart and get that gold medal around your neck. It's a feeling I did not have in '72. I want you guys to have that experience.' "

Before the U.S. national team defeated Turkey, 81-64, to secure a 2012 Olympic berth, Collins told Iguodala, the team's defensive stopper, "We had something taken away from us in '72. I want you to have that feeling [of being champions]."

Collins was in regular communication with Iguodala during the tournament. Most recently, Collins had a telephone conversation with him, laying out the beginning of a plan for the Sixers' training camp, which opens Sept. 28 at Saint Joseph's University. It might involve Iguodala participating in just one of the two daily practices. It might include having Iguodala sit out the first two or three preseason games.

Collins told Iguodala: "You're a guy who wants to play every minute, every play. You're a competitor, you love the game. But I'd like you to take a little break right now, get away, try and recharge your batteries, emotionally as much as anything. That way, as we get into the meat of our schedule, you'll be fresh."

At the same time, Collins is the fifth coach for whom Iguodala will have played. Collins said Iguodala told him, "I've played for so many coaches, I felt that each time I had to prove myself."

Collins said that Iguodala will have input in how the training plan for him is implemented, but that the seventh-year forward/guard "has nothing to prove."

"Obviously, he'll be more of an offensive factor for us," Collins said. "But I want him to do his scoring by slashing, cutting, using an open-court game. I don't want him to live and die with jump shots; I don't think that plays to his strength. I don't want him to shoot a lot of threes.

"I want the game to be easier for him. I want him to get to the foul line, to manufacture points. At the same time, he can be one of the best - if not the best - defensive player at his position; I think we saw that this summer."

More important, Collins wants to see what effect becoming a champion has had on Iguodala. "I want to see how the experience has changed him," Collins said. "What can he bring to our team that he could not before? Where is he in terms of leadership on a daily basis? What does he expect of his teammates and of his coaching staff?

"I felt all along that this [summer] was going to be a great time for him, and that coming back he's going to be a different guy."

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