Doug Collins

It is telling when Stan Van Gundy, a man who wants back into the NBA, lumps the 76ers into that clump of teams (Cleveland and Detroit are the others) where the situation is so rancid that a respected ex-coach wants nothing to do with them. And it is even more telling when those gigs are, at the moment, the only openings in the league. Heading into the offseason following a disastrous season on all fronts, this is how the Sixers are viewed from the outside looking in. A season removed from coming within one game of reaching the Eastern Conference finals, the Sixers are at a crossroads and find themselves among the NBA's armpit organizations.

Interest in 76ers associate head coach Michael Curry from other teams with coaching vacancies "will be high," according to league source with knowledge of the situation. On Thursday, when Doug Collins resigned his post as head coach after three seasons, majority owner Josh Harris acknowledged that Curry would be among the candidates to interview for the vacancy. Collins and the team agreed that Collins would move into an advisory role with the team. On the same day that Collins resigned, Cleveland and Detroit fired their coaches, Byron Scott and Lawrence Frank, respectively.

Great father figure. Fiery. Winner. Those were some of the things the 76ers had to say about their former coach, Doug Collins. Collins resigned Thursday and will remain with the organization as a personal adviser to majority owner Josh Harris. While he had some reported disagreements with players, Collins definitely left his mark while coaching the Sixers for three seasons. "I think he's the best coach I've had throughout my career," said Thaddeus Young, a sixth-year forward.

Doug Collins spent his final official moments as Sixers coach trying to define his three-year tenure and clarify the way it suddenly ended. "The last week has been very hard for me," Collins said. "It's been very tough. I never felt that Josh Harris did not want me to be his coach, and that was reiterated again [Thursday] morning. But that's not going to change. People are going to believe what they want to believe. " Late in his 25-minute session with reporters, tears welling in his eyes, Collins added this: "I hope that I've been a man in every way, that I've done my job to the best of my ability.

At some point during a marathon West Coast road trip that placed thousands of miles between him and his loved ones, 76ers coach Doug Collins, 62, realized that while he was physically with the team, mentally and emotionally he had checked out. And that is when Collins, who officially resigned as coach Thursday after three seasons and with a 110-120 record, knew it was time to sever the umbilical cord that has attached him to the Sixers since they...

INDIANAPOLIS - Even with no season left to be played, the 76ers' cat-and-mouse game - or whatever it has become - continues. In what has been reported to be Sixers coach Doug Collins' last game, his team defeated a playoff-bound Indiana team, 105-95, in a meaningless contest. The Sixers are headed for the lottery, and the Pacers are the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. After the game, when asked about his impending departure as the team's coach, Collins' brief answer belied what continues to be reported.

THE INDIANA PACERS, secured in the No. 3 playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, didn't use their meeting with the 76ers on Wednesday as a tune-up for the postseason; it was more of a rest up. Four of their normal starters began the game as spectators, the Sixers scored the first nine points of the game and the tone was set for a meaningless contest that was won by the Sixers, 105-95, who nearly had a 26-point lead dicipate. Dorell Wright led the Sixers with 23 points, while Evan Turner scored 16 and Damien Wilkins 15. Lavoy Allen added 11 points and 11 rebounds and Thaddeus Young contributed 10 and eight.

THE PLAYER who cost the organization much of its future in a trade last summer didn't play one game and recently had surgery on two deteriorating knees. He becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1. There is not much room under the salary cap, perhaps about $12-13 million, to try to make a splash in free agency. The draft pick will be just out of the top 10, in a draft that is filled with players who appear to be peripheral pieces, not ones to build a team around. There could be some front-office moves and now, as of Thursday morning, 76ers owner Josh Harris is heading a group to find a new head coach.

ON THE OCCASION of Doug Collins' final game as the coach of the Sixers, it is impossible not to acknowledge the futility of making your coach the face of your franchise, and to bring up another name: Larry Bowa. The Sixers have spent the last 3 years finding out what the Phillies found out a decade ago - that your coach/manager does not sell one ticket for your franchise, not one, not even to his family (because they get in for free). Since Dallas Green, there has never been a more popular Phillies manager than Bowa - not even Charlie Manuel, who won the whole damn thing in 2008.

INDIANAPOLIS - The end came Wednesday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse - one of the best arenas in the NBA. Although it probably won't be officially announced until Thursday, Doug Collins oversaw his final game as 76ers coach against the Indiana Pacers. He will most likely be handed a consultant title and basically a buyout from the organization, and move on to something else that will keep his competitive fires burning. Or, he'll put them out for a while and just relax. After watching his team close out the season with a 105-95 win over the Indiana Pacers, Collins was asked about his future with the team.