Collins back at Sixers practice after post-concussion symptoms

That must have been some Memorial Day scene. Doug Collins, the new coach of the 76ers, was being strapped onto a gurney in a coffee shop in Phoenix, about to be transported to a nearby hospital.

Collins had a concussion and three broken ribs. He was to be hospitalized overnight.

This, of course, was no way to start his tenure with the Sixers.

"I fainted," Collins revealed yesterday, rejoining the team at practice at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine after missing the last two preseason games to get treatment and undergo testing for some lingering symptoms. "I think I hit the whole building [when I fell]. I hit a table and chair going down, and I cracked my head on the concrete."

He said the incident felt "like I'm on the teacups at Epcot Center [in Disney World] with my daughter and she's spinning the bleep out of me and won't stop. She did that to me when she was younger, and when I got off, I was green sitting on a bench for about an hour later."

He laughingly said he didn't want to reveal the name of the coffee shop "because they won't give me any gift certificates." He also said, "I had a doctor with me," who took control of the situation.

Nearly 5 months later, Collins, 59, still felt symptoms of the concussion and a case of vertigo; it is a dysfunction of the vestibular system in the inner ear.

He said that he has "fainted before," incidents usually related to low blood pressure, but that yesterday he felt "great, awesome, terrific" after a practice session that went nearly 2 1/2 hours. Chairman Ed Snider and president Rod Thorn watched much of the session, while general manager Ed Stefanski was there for the duration.

Collins said doctors explained "you have these little crystals in your ear that affect your equilibrium, [and] one of them got dislodged. I'm having treatment and medicine trying to get that [crystal] back in the canal to where you get your equilibrium back."

Dr. Aaron Shapiro, an ear, nose and throat specialist who is not involved in Collins' care, explained the crystals, known as otoconia, sit in the inner ear, "and when they fall off, can create dizziness," a symptom that can be seen after head trauma.

Collins said he thought the time away during the final two preseason games was good for him to try to get his situation resolved. He resumed working Thursday, giving his assistants the day off and watching tape of the preseason games against Cleveland and New York "for 7 1/2 to 8 hours" with video coordinator Monte Shubik.

He said he has been told that there should be no long-term effects of the vertigo, that it is not related to stress or fatigue, and that it should not interfere anymore with his ability to do his job. The Sixers, 2-5 during the preseason, open the season Wednesday night against the Miami Heat in the Wells Fargo Center.

Doug Collins said he is "getting closer" to determining a starting lineup, and confirmed that he is considering Jason Kapono as a possible starting forward, "because he gives us a shooter and some spacing on the floor." The lineup also will depend, in part, on being able to create a more effective bench. "I have a lineup I would like to start, [but] the bench group has been getting in trouble the last couple games. Putting the pieces of this [entire] group together has been the biggest challenge of any job that I've had." . . . One likely starting group: guards Jrue Holiday and Andre Iguodala, forwards Elton Brand and Kapono, and center Spencer Hawes . . . Hawes, who missed significant preseason time with a lower back strain, went through yesterday's full workout. "It just felt today like a little bit of rust," Hawes said. "As we got going, once we started playing, it wore off pretty quick. Hopefully, every day you feel better and you keep progressing." *

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