ORLANDO, Fla.Throughout Doug Collins' coaching career, Year two has usually been pretty good for his teams.
In his three previous head coaching stints (Chicago, Detroit and Washington), Collins' teams averaged six more wins from the first year to the second.
And his latest team, the Philadelphia 76ers, continue that trend.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Despite playing 16 fewer regular season games because of the lockout-shortened season, it's not that big a stretch to believe that the Sixers (20-14) will win more games than last season's team that finished with a 41-41 record and lost in the first round of the playoffs.
Philadelphia has been atop the Atlantic Division for most of this season. They head into the all-star break with 3.5 game lead over New York and the Boston Celtics trailing by four games.
Finishing atop the Atlantic Division would bode well for the Sixers when you consider the last time they won the division was 2001.
That year, they advanced to the NBA Finals where they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Philadelphia forward Andre Iguodala isn't surprised at how quickly the franchise's fortunes have changed under Collins.
"It didn't take us long, but we had to figure out what he was about and what he was trying to do," said Iguodala, a first-time All-star this season. "And we figured out that he's kind of the right guy, and his track record shows that he's been able to come in in different situations and get things turned around in the first couple years."