76ers coach Doug Collins will not return

On Thursday, Sixers owners Josh Harris officially announced that Doug Collins will not return as head coach next season.

Collins also announced that he will not coach anymore in the NBA. he said he made the decision that this would be his last season "around Christmas."

His final record in Philadelphia is 110-120 over three seasons, and his overall record is 442-407 over 12 seasons.

"I don't have to drop my head - I didn't fail," Collins said. "A lot of it was out of our control and sometimes you have to realize that. We've got a lot of good young pieces [and] we probably played our best basketball the last 6 weeks of the season, which was important to me."

Collins also strongly denied reports that 76ers upper management tried to push him out.

"The thing that stunned me the most was at the end when they made it look like they didn't want me," Collins said.

He admitted that the 76ers "swung for the fences and it didn't work" when the team traded for Andrew Bynum. The seven-foot center never played a minute for the 76ers this season. The team finished in ninth place in the Eastern Conference with a 34-48 record, four games out of the playoffs.

Collins said this season's disappointments weren't the reason why he resigned."

"I was not going to base [stepping down] upon winning and losing," he said.

Harris also talked about the direction of the team after failing to make the playoffs. Here are some highlights of his remarks:

On Doug Collins: "Doug will not coach next season and I'll leave it to Doug to say why."

"He is going to stay on with the 76ers as my advisor. He loves the 76ers, he loves the city. He's not planning on coaching anywhere else."

"This is his decision, he's not being pushed out - I don't know where that came from."

"I wish him well and I look forward to working with him in this capacity."

"I tried to convince Doug to stay... We wanted Doug to come back - why wouldn't you want a great coach to come back? At the same time I recognize his desire as a man."

On the team's current direction: "We are making progress... Unfortunately we need the fans and the city and everyone to bear with us."

Harris added that the 76ers are in "advanced stages" of buying a D-League team.

On Andrew Bynum: "There's no one scenario that is determinable right now."

"Of course we're going to look at bringing Bynum back... a healthy Bynum playing is a needle-mover."

"We're going to weigh the positives and negatives and try to make a reasoned assessment about Andrew."

"I'm not saying we're going to bring [Bynum] back - I'm saying we aren't ruling it out."

"We're very interested and open to Andrew coming back" in a way "that makes sense for us."

On the team's upcoming moves: 76ers general manager Tony DiLeo and I "will be the ultimate decision-makers."

On fans bailing on the team: "I don't think that's a fair characterization - I think the fans have been great to us."

"If we win, we sell tickets, if we don't win, we don't sell tickets - that's the way Philly is... I get it... that's the way I am as well."