Philadelphia 76ers: 25 Best Players To Play For The 76ers
By Phil Watson
Doug Collins. 15. player. 93. <strong>How acquired:</strong> 1st overall pick from Illinois State, 1973 NBA Draft.. SG.
Doug Collins was an All-American, an Olympian who had averaged 26 points and five rebounds a game as a senior at Illinois State and the Philadelphia 76ers—coming off the worst season in NBA history—took the shooting guard with the first overall pick in the 1973 NBA Draft.
Injuries cut short his rookie year and would be an over-arching theme to his career. Despite that, Collins was a four-time All-Star, but he never really recovered from a major knee injury in 1979.
In the 1977 NBA Finals, Collins averaged 19.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.8 steals in 39.2 minutes per game, shooting 50.5 percent from the field and 81.3 percent at the line in a six-game loss to the
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When the 76ers returned to the NBA Finals in 1980, Collins was injured and did not play in the six-game loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
He eventually retired in September 1981 after playing in only 48 games the previous two seasons.
In eight seasons in Philadelphia, Collins averaged 17.9 points, 3.3 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 33.6 minutes per game, shooting .501/0-for-1/.833.
Collins later coached in the NBA, leading the Chicago Bulls to a 137-109 record and a 13-17 playoff mark from 1986-89. In 1995, he became coach and general manager of the Detroit Pistons and was 121-88 overall and 2-6 in the postseason before he was fired in February 1998.
He coached the Washington Wizards for two seasons from 2001-03, going 74-90, and was coach of the 76ers from 2010-13, with a record of 110-120 and an 8-10 playoff mark before resigning in April 2013.
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