Liberty Ballers, a Philadelphia 76ers community

Unfortunately, the arrival of Andrew Bynum can be considered as both a blessing and curse for 76ers coach Doug Collins, who has pretty much coasted under the radar with his team who were low on talent, but high in effort. Now much more pressure will be on him to not only coach this overachieving team to the post season, which he has done masterfully the last two years, but to coach a team that will be under the microscope as well. Collins will not only have something to prove to fans in Philly, the media and the league, but he will have the challenge of assuring the happiness and compliance of his new prized acquisition. Once the season ends, Bynum will be an unrestricted free agent and it will be up Collins and the front office to convince him to remain the face of the franchise for years to come. Last season Collins had the luxury of not having to deal with a pre-Madonna star player with a huge ego making it easier to keep his players on the same page. Although there were grumblings amongst some players about their inconsistencies concerning playing time, he basically kept that team in line. Now he will have to deal a high profile NBA All Star with impeccable credentials, and who is on the last year of his current contract making it very difficult for Collins to assert dominance over. He will have his front office watching him very closely and breathing down his neck; the slightest misstep can mean him leaving the coaching seat in Philly and returning to the broadcast booth. So in effect, the arrival of Andrew Bynum can have great potential for success for Philly or become a disaster of epic proportions as things may go quite bad in a hurry.