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What are people saying now of DC? A team player. Well-respected. Vital to the 76ers’ playoff run. Ever since 1997, Larry Brown’s first year as the 76ers head coach, Coleman has been one of Coach Brown’s favorite players. Technically speaking, what’s not to love? A big, strong 6-10 frame, solid on the boards, and an inside/outside game that can consistently frustrate even the most air-tight defenses in the NBA; DC was once the poster boy for the future NBA power forward: all the rebounding prowess of the “old-school” forwards, but can shoot and score like a two-guard and pass like a point guard. Instead DC became the poster boy of everything that was wrong with professional athletes. Already thought of by fans (whether fairly or unfairly) as a greedy, lazy player not making the most of his talent, stories of the Syracuse product became embedded in the minds of fans all over the country. Who can forget the “Whoop-de-damn-do” quote a few years back, his problems with then-Nets coach Butch Beard, or his constant trips to the injured reserved list? His image seemed more helpless than a Yugo with a blown transmission. DC and negative publicity went together like peanut butter and jelly, or Method Man and Redman, or Larry Eustachy and, well…negative publicity. After Larry Brown decided to bring Coleman back to the 76ers for a second go-around with the team (DC signed with the Charlotte Hornets as a free-agent after three seasons with the Sixers), few fans really wanted him back. After all, the team traded away George Lynch to get DC in a Sixer uniform. Lynch was known as a scrappy, durable, yet offensively-limited player who sacrificed everything he had to help the 76ers get to the NBA Finals in 2001. Lynch was a fan-favorite. For once, many Sixers’ fans were in total disagreement with Brown’s decision making. Ah, but Brown knew, just as time heals all wounds, it allows people to change as well. Coleman has shown off a different side of himself this year. He knows his role on the team, and though he averaged roughly nine points less than his career average of 17 ppg, Coleman has noticeably worked incredibly hard on both ends of the floor and given the 76ers, with Kenny Thomas (a God-send from the Rockets…thanks again, Houston!) a very formidable low-post threat on the glass and in the 76ers’ half-court offense. Not only did Coleman rack up 14 points and 15 boards in Sunday’s series-tying 95-82 win over the Detroit Pistons, he hustled his butt off, racing down court to block two transition shots attempted by Detroit (really three shots, but a phantom call gave DC a foul instead of a deserved block). DC also showed no fear by going right at Ben Wallace, the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year, while viciously attacking the rim. There was once doubt about if Derrick Coleman would be the player everyone thought he could be as the first pick in the 1990 draft. This year, by fully embracing his role on the Sixers, Derrick Coleman is showing everyone that he can be more than that. 
Steve Robbins is a 21 year-old senior at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Steve is studying Communications with a focus on Journalism and was an intern in the 76ers Public Relations Department. The Mt. Laurel native was a co-host/co-producer of a sports talk show on a local radio station (WBZC in South Jersey). Following college graduation, Steve plans to remain on the East Coast and continue writing in the sports field. |
At 35 years old, Derrick Coleman has proven to be a big part of the Sixers success.