Doug Collins says 76ers were “maxed out,” had to evolve

It’s going to be a very different 76ers team that takes the court this fall — and there is a lot of optimism in Philly that this is a better team.

It may be in the short term, but more importantly Philly has positioned itself well to improve in the years going forward with cap flexibility. This has brought a lot of hope to Philly fans who are probably three weeks from throwing in the towel on the Eagles (whether they deserve it or not) and will watch the 76ers with interest.

Coach Doug Collins was on 97.5 the Fanatic in Philadelphia and talked about how the old roster needed to be changed if the Sixers were going to move forward (via Sports Radio Interviews).

“I personally thought we had maxed our team out I thought we were a team that every night played hard, we played terrific defense and if you looked at our team other than Andre Iguodala we really didn’t have a premier defensive player individual. Michael Curry, what he did with our defense was spectacular. We didn’t have a dominant rebounder or shot blocker so to do the things that we did on the defensive end to give us a chance we thought was really, really good but we knew if we were going to make a move that we were going to have to get better and unfortunately when you do that you’re going to lose good people.

So Andre Iguodala is gone, Elton Brand is gone, Jodie Meeks is gone…

And Andrew Bynum is the focus of the franchise. It’s exactly what Bynum has said he wanted… but be careful what you wish for. Now he has to live up to it. He has to be mature, he can’t take nights off and be petulant (or flatten guys like J.J. Barea), he has to lead. He can, but it’s on him.

Collins talked honestly about Bynum adjusting to his new role.

The day of the press conference we went back and he, I and Jason Richardson spent some time together along with some of the other people in the organization and I think for Drew, I think a big part of him is he’s excited to be coming home. He was out in LA and I don’t think he ever really fit into the LA scene. I talked to him the other day and he was ready to go over to Germany to have the little procedure, the little injection done in his knee, he’s gotten home in the country here and is excited to be back near his family and everything like that. I think he’s excited that he’s going to be the primary focus of us playing through the post rather than being the third option in LA. He’s a very smart and bright guy, he’s articulate, he knows the game and we talked a little bit about it. Sometimes you say things and I think even he would agree that some of the things that he said came across maybe being a little immature a couple of times. He knows the play on JJ Barea is going to be seen forever and he will always be a part of that but I just feel like he’s in a great place.

Bynum, your legacy really starts now. Yes, you’ll have the Lakers years and the rings, but now is when you prove what you can do. The training wheels are off. This is your team. This is how a lot of people will remember you.