It happened a year after it should have and it cost the Sixers dearly in the crowded, very competitive Philadelphia sports market, but the team finally made the hire it should of when they named Doug Collins head coach on Friday.
Collins wanted the gig last year when Sixers basketball chief Ed Stefanski made the biggest mistake of his life by hiring his friend from New Jersey, Eddie Jordan.
Last offseason, Stefanski went through a vetting process that can only be described as a public relations campaign, designed to fend off the notoriously tough Philadelphia media.
Collins wanted the gig last year when Sixers basketball chief Ed Stefanski made the biggest mistake of his life by hiring his friend from New Jersey, Eddie Jordan.
Last offseason, Stefanski went through a vetting process that can only be described as a public relations campaign, designed to fend off the notoriously tough Philadelphia media.
Jordan was the lead assistant with the Nets for four seasons when Stefanski was an executive with that organization. The Nets went to the Finals twice during that time, in 2002 and '03, and it was no secret in NBA circles how much Stefanski liked Jordan.
Big names who had an intent on returning to the NBA's coaching ranks like Collins, Jeff Van Gundy and Avery Johnson all showed interest in the Sixers' position but were never interviewed.
In Stefanski's defense, timing is everything. Comcast-Spectacor big shots Ed Snider, one of the most overrated owners in all of sports, and Peter Luukko probably would not have opened up the checkbook last year for another big name coach in the City of Brotherly Love.
The thought process there was simple. The Sixers will be paying more ex- coaches than players at some point. Since Larry Brown fled the organization in 2003, Randy Ayers, Chris Ford, Jim O'Brien, Maurice Cheeks, Tony DiLeo and Jordan have all roamed the sidelines in Philly. No truth to the rumors Comcast is still cutting checks to Doug Moe and Alex Hannum, however
A "big ticket item" was something Stefanski was not prepared to fight for last year so he settled on candidates that would make his friend and his extensive NBA coaching experience look good.
Assistants Tom Thibodeau and Dwane Casey were brought in for interviews as were Ford, who still works for the Sixers as a scout, and Villanova mentor Jay Wright.
Locally, Wright was the big story because of his success on the Main Line but his "interview" was another publicity stunt. While few doubt Wright has NBA aspirations, the 'Nova mentor only took the Sixers interview as a courtesy to Stefanski, his personal friend.
In the end, Stefanski finally pulled the trigger, naming his old bobo the Sixers head coach and giving him a three-year deal.
The results were disastrous.
If you weren't subjected to it, Sixers' basketball was virtually unwatchable this past season. A notorious "system guy," Jordan brought his "Princeton offense" to Philly, with no intention of tweaking anything for anybody.
To play the Princeton, you need passers and shooters. Gilbert Arenas, who excelled in the offense in Washington, once said: "Athletes don't work in that offense, to be honest."
Of course, the Sixers had one upper-echelon shooter, Jason Kapono, and a host of superlative athletes in Andre Iguodala, Lou Williams, Thaddeus Young, Rodney Carney and Jrue Holiday.
But, instead of playing transition basketball, Jordan kept hammering the square peg into the round hole until he lost his locker room by Christmas.
Some might call that an indictment of guys like Iguodala, Young, Samuel Dalembert and Elton Brand, who all took a huge step back under Jordan and seemed to bail on their coach. I'll call it an indictment of a mentor who didn't have the IQ to figure out his players are better suited for something else.
To me, great coaches in any sport always add talent that fits into what they want to accomplish (the system), while maximizing the strengths of their current players and masking as many of the deficiencies as possible.
Coaches like Doug Collins.
Stefanski probably should have joined Jordan on the unemployment line for hiring him but Snider and Luukko gave him one more chance. This time with the leash pulled tight and DiLeo, the team's assistant general manager, and consultant Gene Shue watching over his shoulder, Stefanski made the prudent decision.
"We are excited to hire a head coach with the level of experience, knowledge and passion for the game that Doug Collins has," Stefanski said. "He has been around basketball his entire life, has experienced success at every step throughout his career and we are confident in his ability to lead our team."
Collins, a former No. 1 overall pick by the Sixers in the 1973 NBA Draft, is a disciplinarian that preaches defense and is a stickler for execution in the half-court set.
While younger fans may know him as the brilliant analyst from TNT, the 58- year-old mentor has compiled a regular season record of 332-287 in eight seasons as a coach with Chicago, Detroit and Washington, highlighted by Michael Jordan's first trip to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1989.
It was Collins not Phil Jackson that build the foundations of the Bulls' dynasty. He took Chicago to the playoffs in his first season and guided the club to 50 wins in 1987-88, marking the franchise's first 50-win season since 1973-74. In his third and final season in the Windy City, the Bulls advanced to the East finals.
In his first season as head coach of the Pistons in 1995-96, Collins inherited a Detroit team that had won 28 games the previous season and engineered an 18- game improvement along with a playoff appearance. The Pistons won 54 games the following season (1996-97).
Collins last coaching stint came with Washington during the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons where he was reunited with Jordan. In 2001-02, Collins once again improved his team's win total by 18 games from the previous season and the season after he left, the Wizards won just 25 games.
In addition to Jordan, Collins helped with the development of several other future All-Stars who were in the early stages of their careers, including Scottie Pippen, Grant Hill, former-Sixer Theo Ratliff, Allan Houston and Rip Hamilton.
You can expect Iguodala and Holiday to turn into dogged on-ball defenders on a consistent basis under Collins. Meanwhile, when he arrives at training camp and sees a bunch of thoroughbreds that can't shoot the basketball -- trust me -- Collins will start running.
He will also inherit a new, very talented toy since the Sixers made the unlikely leap from six to No. 2 in the recent NBA Draft Lottery. The odds of Philadelphia making that jump was just 6.03 percent and it gives the moribund franchise a chance to take the National Player of the Year, Ohio State star Evan Turner.
"The past week has provided us with a series of events that we believe will be a turning point for the Philadelphia 76ers," Snider said. "Doug Collins is a coach that can make an immediate impact. He has all the attributes that we are looking for in a new head coach and we are happy to welcome him back into the Sixers family."
Left to his own devices I could see Stefanski passing on the sure thing in Turner for a speculative stock like DeMarcus Cousins, but Collins will quickly garner the ear of Snider and Luukko, forcing Stefanski to make the right decision again.
Who knows, if Stefanski keeps letting the competent basketball people make the decisions -- he might even keep his own job for the long haul.
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