Doug Collins

The abrupt hiring of Houston Rockets assistant general manager Sam Hinkie as 76ers president of basketball operations and general manager, coupled with the swift kick the organization gave to Tony DiLeo on Friday, shows that owner Joshua Harris is going full-bore in doing away with one culture and giving birth to another. Harris has made his billions by propping up distressed companies, restoring them to value, and, in some cases, increasing their value. But in less than one year, the 76ers regressed badly after being one victory away from the Eastern Conference finals.

IN AN IDEAL basketball world the 76ers would be set to move forward with a new coach, perhaps a new president, maybe a new general manager or at least word that the one in place (Tony DiLeo) will be here beyond June 30, when his contract expires. Since April 18, when it was announced that coach Doug Collins was resigning and majority owner Josh Harris stated that the organization is now basically a blank canvas, we have heard nothing from the team. There have been reports of background checks on perspective coaches, various names thrown about as to whom may replace Collins.

Since Doug Collins resigned as head coach more than three weeks ago, speculation surrounding the 76ers has been on finding his replacement. However, on Friday the Sixers secured the services of the man who will make the final call on Collins' successor, naming Sam Hinkie president of basketball operations and general manager. Hinkie, the Houston Rockets' vice president of basketball operations the last five seasons, replaces Tony DiLeo. DiLeo, who has spent 23 years with the organization and was named general manager less than a year ago, will not return.

Philadelphia's sports franchises have been late to the party, but the balancing point on applying modern methods to ancient crafts was reached Tuesday when the 76ers introduced a new general manager who doesn't think "quantitative analyst" is merely a synonym for "geek who never played. " If you're keeping score, this makes it 2-2 in our town. The Sixers, with new GM Sam Hinkie, and the Eagles, with coach Chip Kelly, are trying different things. The Phillies and the Flyers are apparently still throwing them back just like the good old days and if they can't win the game, well, they'll win the fight.

COLLINS' TOUCH 1985-8630-52 Stan Albeck (+10) 1994-9528-54 Don Chaney (+18) 2000-0119-63 Leonard Hamilton (+16)

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - The 500-pound pink elephant was in the 76ers' locker room Monday, before they took the floor for the next-to-last game of the season against Detroit. When asked to comment about the news that coach Doug Collins does not wish to return and will be coaching his last game in Indiana on Wednesday, most pleaded ignorance. They had yet to be told by Collins or anyone in the organization what has been decided. What seems to be settled, according to multiple sources, is that Collins and the team either have completed or are working on some kind of financial settlement, and that it will be announced as early as Thursday that Collins will not return for the final season of his contract.

THIS IS HOW the past week appears to have played out between 76ers coach Doug Collins and management, according to multiple league sources. The sources say that Collins, now in his third season as head coach and with 1 more year remaining on his contract, told management he would prefer not to return as coach next season. Owner Josh Harris informed Collins that he very much wants Collins back at the helm next season, but was told that Collins was not prepared to return in that capacity.

According to a source who has spoken recently with Eddie Jordan and Doug Collins, both would be interested in becoming the next coach of the 76ers, a job made available yesterday when Tony DiLeo removed his name from consideration. Jordan is interviewing for the Sacramento Kings' vacancy today and tomorrow in Las Vegas, but the source, who confirmed Jordan's close relationship with Sixers general manager Ed Stefanski, said Jordan would be drawn to the Sixers' job because of the team's ability to contend.

New 76ers coach Doug Collins got what he wanted. Collins said he likes when NBA prospects produce pre-draft workouts that make a team reconsider its draft plans. Syracuse forward Wesley Johnson did just that Saturday at the Sixers' pre-draft workout at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. "You like someone and you want someone [else] to come in and make you think. That's what you love to do as a coach," said Collins, whose squad holds the No. 2 overall pick in Thursday's NBA draft.

If the NBA championship were determined by what teams do during the offseason, the 76ers, with their impressive moves, would have the look of a contender. The reality, though, is that the pieces must fit together; growing pains must occur. For the Sixers, who return just one-third of the players from a team that came within just one victory of reaching the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 11 seasons, that process begins on Tuesday, when the revamped Sixers open training camp at St. Joseph's University in preparation for the 2012-13 season.

Philadelphia's sports franchises have been late to the party, but the balancing point on applying modern methods to ancient crafts was reached Tuesday when the 76ers introduced a new general manager who doesn't think "quantitative analyst" is merely a synonym for "geek who never played. " If you're keeping score, this makes it 2-2 in our town. The Sixers, with new GM Sam Hinkie, and the Eagles, with coach Chip Kelly, are trying different things. The Phillies and the Flyers are apparently still throwing them back just like the good old days and if they can't win the game, well, they'll win the fight.

JOSH HARRIS acquired Twinkies and Hinkie in the same calendar year. Either move could make the billionaire investor look like a Ding Dong. Harris' group of investment sharks, Apollo Global Management, in March bought a piece of Hostess out of bankruptcy. Harris' group of hoops hobbyists, the Philadelphia 76ers, last week hired 35-year-old Stanford MBA graduate Sam Hinkie to be the team's president of basketball operations and general manager. Twinkies have a timeless allure.

Since Doug Collins resigned as head coach more than three weeks ago, speculation surrounding the 76ers has been on finding his replacement. However, on Friday the Sixers secured the services of the man who will make the final call on Collins' successor, naming Sam Hinkie president of basketball operations and general manager. Hinkie, the Houston Rockets' vice president of basketball operations the last five seasons, replaces Tony DiLeo. DiLeo, who has spent 23 years with the organization and was named general manager less than a year ago, will not return.

If the 76ers were to heed the advice of their all-star point guard, they would call off the search for the team's next coach and promote from within. As the 76ers ramp up the search for their eighth coach in the last 11 seasons, Jrue Holiday, who has voiced his opinion that the Sixers should consult him during the search, cast his vote for the promotion of associate coach Michael Curry. "I've known him for the last three years," Holiday said Wednesday in a telephone interview.

IN AN IDEAL basketball world the 76ers would be set to move forward with a new coach, perhaps a new president, maybe a new general manager or at least word that the one in place (Tony DiLeo) will be here beyond June 30, when his contract expires. Since April 18, when it was announced that coach Doug Collins was resigning and majority owner Josh Harris stated that the organization is now basically a blank canvas, we have heard nothing from the team. There have been reports of background checks on perspective coaches, various names thrown about as to whom may replace Collins.

THE SPECULATION will go on, probably for quite some time, as to who the next coach of the 76ers will be. All of the popular names will be thrown about, names that were listed in the Daily News over 2 days last week. But if there is any reading into what may happen, it should be done with last week's words of caution from owner Josh Harris. "We're certainly starting with more of a blank sheet of paper than we all expected," Harris said last Thursday, a day after the team's final game and the day he announced Doug Collins' resignation.

After a season that began with lofty expectations that they never came close to realizing, the 76ers are headed to the lottery along with the other irrelevant NBA teams. Here is one man's look at the players the Sixers may or may not bring to training camp in October. Who should stay and who should go? Lavoy Allen. A new contract and extended minutes didn't translate into better productivity from the former Temple star in his second season. He is owed $3.1 million next season and could be playing to remain in the league.

WELL, AT LEAST the Sixers have the consultant thing down solid. Between them, Rod Thorn, who is stepping down as team president to become a consultant, and Doug Collins, who quit as head coach on Thursday to become a team adviser, combine for about 100 years of NBA experience. As he goes about the business of trying again to repair a shattered franchise, Sixers owner Josh Harris will have little problem finding sources for advice. It's just a question of whether Thorn will be in Harris' right ear and Collins in the left or vice versa.

HAVE ANY of the professional sports teams in Philadelphia suffered the fast free fall that the 76ers have over the past 11 months? During that time, the team came within one win of advancing to the Eastern Conference final, blew up the roster via buyout, free agency and trade, acquired a player whom many considered one of the top two centers in the NBA, lost that player for the season because of injury, failed to make the playoffs and now lost...