Collins plans whirlwind trip to see players before CBA expries

Sixers coach Doug Collins leaves nothing to chance, and, with the collective bargaining agreement set to expire on June 30 and a lockout pending, he is making sure everything is in place beforehand.

"Here's what my plan is," Collins began. "[Assistant coach] Michael Curry and I and my assistant coaches, we are going to try and see every one of our players before July 1.

"Monday, I will be back here, and [assistant] Brian James and I will have dinner with Thad [Young]. Michael Curry is going to see Mo Speights for a couple days. Then I'm going to meet Michael in Atlanta on Tuesday, and we're going to have dinner with Jodie [Meeks], and the next day, we're going to have lunch with Lou [Williams].

"Then we're going to jump on a plane and fly to LA that night and see EB [Elton Brand] for dinner, and maybe Nik [Vucevic] can join us, I'm not sure. Then the next day, we're having lunch with Dre [Andre Iguodala] and dinner with Jrue [Holiday], and then it will be midnight on the 30th.

"The reason we're doing that is because we want to make sure the guys have everything that they need, because we can't talk to them [once a lockout is in place]. So we have to make sure that they're training, because we're not allowed to provide for them. We can't provide any therapy or anything like that.

"We have to make sure that they have everything they need, because we have to be ready to hit the ground running in case that [lockout] happens. I want to see them. I want to see how their spirits are. I want to see how they're doing, talk about our draft, what our plans are, what we expect out of them for next year. It'll be good to see those guys. I miss them.

"I saw Evan [Turner] here before he left to go to school. I saw Craig [Brackins] here. B.J. [James] is going to Ohio State to work out with Evan for 3 days." *

- Bob Cooney