Sixers organization hoping Doug Collins decides not to return next season?

The Philadelphia 76’ers season didn’t turn out as planned. The absence of their key centerpiece for this season, Andrew Bynum, caused a glitch the team never recovered from. Months ago I shared with you that I was told that even before Bynum discovered he had to have additional surgery, he wasn’t too interested in playing for Sixers head coach Doug Collins. I was also told that while the team was in LA for New Year’s eve, they bonded over their dislike for their head coach and his erratic substitution patterns and lack of consistency.

Word out of Philly now is that the hope is Collins opts not to return for the final year on his contract worth $4.5 million.

“I think he’s gone at the end of the year. He’ll be moving on,” said one NBA source with intimate knowledge of the situation. “He’ll decide to leave, and they won’t be upset about it. They would like to see it work out that he decides to move on.”

Collins style of coaching can wear on players. This season among complaints have been guys ending up in Collin’s dog house firmly planted on the end of the bench after hot streaks and the new ownership feeling that Collins is inflexible with his approach.