Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Posted: 8:23 p.m.
By Dei Lynam
CSNPhilly.com
Doug Collins often points out how his core rotation includes seven players who are between 20 and 24 years old.
He has made it his responsibility to develop those young guys, but amazingly in the process his team has landed the sixth seed. While the Sixers playoff positioning can still fluctuate, there is one definite change on the horizon: Tony Battie and Andres Nocioni will hold regular reserve roles coming down the stretch.
Big part of what I did with those two guys this year was to keep them as fresh as possible for this time of year, Collins acknowledged.
We spent 30 minutes full court going up and down going through every one of our plays. Tony Battie has been out a lot and I want to make sure he knows everything we are doing and that Noche knows everything were doing.
Nocioni and Battie are two veteran players brought in during the offseason to add toughness and experience. Battie was hurt on and off this season, but recently has seen regular backup minutes. Nocioni has played in 44 games, but his minutes have been limited until now.
I am ready to go, I can give valuable minutes to the team, Nocioni said after Tuesdays practice. I have a lot of experience in the NBA playoffs and I play a lot of playoffs overseas, so I try to help this team and hopefully we improve, get to the playoffs and play well.
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Nocioni has played six seasons in the NBA prior to his stop in Philadelphia and he has always been a regular part of his teams rotation. He has stayed prepared for Collins, which has not gone unnoticed.
You have an incredible pro here, Collins said of Nocioni. He has had a lot of DNPs (did not play) and hes been the best. I told him that and I appreciate that because a lot of guys go south on you. He has been the ultimate pro and he has worked incredibly hard and he is ready to help us.
Collins admits it is not always easy for a player not knowing their place on a team. He feels as if he has his frontcourt settled and now he would like to do the same with his perimeter.
I have a pretty good feel with my big guys, now its the perimeter, Collins said. You start three and its tough to play six, so it can be game to game where this guy plays well against one team and this guy plays well against another team. Its going to have to be on my gut feel.
Knee-d a healthy Iguodala
Andre Iguodala practiced Tuesday after resting the previous three days. He is dealing with right knee tendinitis, but practiced to tolerance according to Collins the day before the Sixers are set to face the Atlanta Hawks at home.
We didnt want him to go to fatigue, the coach explained. We didnt want that leg getting tired because when that happens you have a chance of that thing flaring up. He got up and down and went through all of our stuff.
The Sixers had a 12-minute, fullcourt scrimmage of which Iguodala played about five. Iguodala missed his 13th game of the season Saturday night when he did not play at Portland.
The Sixers will meet the Hawks for the fourth and final time this season, having gone 1-2 in the previous three encounters.
E-mail Dei Lynam at dlynam@comcastsportsnet.com
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