Collins betting Brown can do more for Sixers

PHILADELPHIA — Doug Collins took his time assembling Wednesday’s starting lineup, which included Kwame Brown.

Collins waited, until Brown had finished pregame shootaround. Then he waited some more, until assistant coach Michael Curry had returned to the locker room with a scouting report on the oft- hobbled big man. Thumbs up. And with that, Brown made his second start, and his second appearance, in a Sixers uniform. The first go- around didn’t go so well. It didn’t last long, either, with the veteran center re- aggravating his left calf strain 11 minutes into a Nov. 5 debut that featured four points, three rebounds and a personal foul.

“He was testing it,” Collins said, doing everything but crossing his fingers in the hope that Brown would be cleared.

In case you haven’t noticed, the Sixers don’t have too many options at center. Be- cause Andrew Bynum’s timetable makes a 2013 appearance more logical than one in 2012, the Sixers have to lean on Brown to give them more in the middle.

Looking more like a linebacker than a center, Brown left a mark on the game five minutes in. That’s when Brown’s hind- quarters met Kyle Singler’s face, laying out Detroit’s rookie forward at midcourt while contending for a loose ball.

The Sixers cobbled together a lineup Monday, in a loss to Milwaukee, that situated Thad Young at center for more than 20 minutes – not exactly by design.

“I don’t want to ever play him there. I don’t know what else I can say,” Collins said.

Young, at power forward, acts as a springboard to the Sixers’ transition game. Two additional options at center simply don’t work. Spencer Hawes is a preferred reserve for Collins and Lavoy Allen is suffering from a sophomore slump.

That left Brown, who has played more than 60 games only once in the last six sea- sons and has averaged only 20 minutes per game in that span.

“I’d like to start him and let him play against ( Detroit’s 6- 11, 250- pound) Greg Monroe to start the game. ( Brown’s) a bigger, stronger body,” Collins said in pregame. Collins got his wish.

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Unsure when his opportunity will present itself, Arnett Moultrie admitted patience isn’t a strong suit.

The rookie forward, entering Wednesday night, had scattered 12 minutes across three games. Nabbing some first- team reps at Tuesday morning practice was nice and all, but as for helping the kid’s confidence…

“No, not really. Didn’t help,” Moultrie said. “It’ll be good for me when I start playing.”

That aforementioned dearth of big bodies from which the Sixers are suffering might open the window for Moultrie, a 6- 10, 245- pounder out of Mississippi State.

Moultrie was an absentee during the Orlando summer league, sitting out with a sprained ankle. Now he’s sitting some more, for reasons altogether different.

Wednesday, Collins went out of his way to laud Moultrie for staving off weight gain while keeping himself mentally and physically prepared for the rigors of his first pro season. He said Moultrie “has picked our stuff up … and he’s done a good job with it.”

“I told him the other day, ‘ Don’t get discouraged,’” Collins said. “When you’re not playing and all of a sudden you let yourself get discouraged, then your number’s called and you have to be ready. You go out there and play well and all you’re doing is building trust that we as coaches and your teammates can feel good about you being out there on the floor.”

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Ed Malloy worked as crew chief Wednesday. The Cardinal O’Hara All- Delco player is in his 11th season as an NBA official.