Ex-Sixers coach Doug Collins returns to Philly for NBC throwback game, but a few voices are missing

The last time Doug Collins called the Sixers on NBC Philly, the team was playing in the NBA Finals and some guy named Allen Iverson was dominating the court.

Fast-forward 25 years and NBC is bringing NBA Hall of Famer Collins back to Philadelphia to call the network’s Coast 2 Coast Tuesday night game against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.

Collins will be joined on the call by Bob Costas and Mike Fratello — the “Czar of the Telestrator” — in yet another callback to the heyday of the NBA on NBC.

Jim Gray will return to report court side from the recently renamed Xfinity Mobile Arena. NBC’s studio coverage will be handled by Hannah Storm (on loan from ESPN), Isiah Thomas, and P.J. Carlesimo, who nearly joined the Sixers’ coaching staff a decade ago.

Costas stopped calling MLB games in 2024 because he felt he wasn’t as good as decades prior. He said he was comfortable returning to do play-by-play for Tuesday’s game because the tone of the broadcast will be more conversational, leaning heavy on NBC’s history broadcasting the league and the unending list of stories Fratello and Collins can tell.

“I know we can accomplish that,” Costas said. “How much of the nuts and bolts of the play-by-play I can nail? Well, we’ll see.”

Collins and Costas share more than their time together in the booth. During Collins’ days playing college ball at Illinois State, he remembers two young girls around who where big fans and would come to games dressed as cheerleaders.

One of those girls — Jill — happens to be Costas’ wife. And her brother, Doug, is named after Collins.

“How about that?” a laughing Collins said. “So I have a connection with Bob that goes far deeper with our friendship and all.”

It’s more than a broadcasting homecoming for Collins. The Sixers took him with the No. 1 pick in the 1973 NBA draft, though his career was shortened by a series of injuries beginning in 1979. The team later brought him back to coach from 2010 to 2013.

An injury during his days playing for the Sixers launched Collins’ long broadcasting career. Unable to play, the Sixers put him on the radio to call games alongside famed play-by-play announcer and sports talker Steve Fredericks.

When Matt Guokas left Channel 17 to join Billy Cunningham’s staff in 1982, Collins jumped to TV and replaced him during the regular season alongside Andy Musser, and later called playoff games on CBS. From there he ping-ponged between coaching and calling games, first for NBC and later TNT and ESPN.

“I spent 13 years of my life with the 76ers,” Collins said. “I’m not sure there are a lot of people who have been a former player, broadcaster, then coached” for the same team.

Collins had a year remaining on his contract when he stepped down as head coach of the Sixers in 2013, knowing the team was headed for a rebuild. His tenure is best remembered for Andrew Bynum, who never played a game after the Sixers traded for him in 2012. It was that failed trade that set off “The Process” and years of endless losses, landing the Sixers Joel Embiid but not much else.

“Through the years, they’ve had number one picks and all, but they’ve never really had a sidekick for Joel,” Brown said. “Now they have Maxey, and I think people are going to sleep on the Sixers. They can light that scoreboard up if Joel isn’t playing.”

While Tuesday’s throwback game is a who’s who of famed NBC talent, there are some notable omissions. Not joining the broadcast will be legendary NBA voice Marv Albert, who was alongside Collins during the 2001 NBA Finals.

Initially, the plan was for NBC to carry the retro theme across a doubleheader, with Albert and Fratello calling Sixers-Spurs and Collins and Costas covering the Phoenix Suns vs. the Sacramento Kings. But Collins said Albert has a health situation with his voice, shifting plans to a three-man booth.

Peter Vecsey, who worked as a reporter and analyst on NBA games for NBC, also isn’t on the lengthy guest sheet for Tuesday night’s throwback game. Vecsey wrote on social media he wasn’t invited to participate, which he called “complete disrespect” from NBC.

The network plans to produce more comeback games in future seasons, executive producer Sam Flood said, though he stopped short of saying who would be offered a chance to participate.

“Not everyone was able to join us this year, but there will be invites to plenty of other former NBA stars as time goes forward,” Flood said during a conference call.

NBC is scheduled to air one more Sixers game this season — March 17 on the road against the Denver Nuggets. There’s also a Peacock exclusive on March 30 against the Miami Heat, though the game is also scheduled to air on the relaunched NBC Sports Network.