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Inside-Out

Photos: The first one is Andre Miller with Sixers GM Ed Stefanski. No, there is no news about Miller's contract (he is in the final year for $10 million). Today was the first practice I saw Stefanski attend. The second photo is Thaddeus Young working on his jumper after practice ended. As you can tell, the Blackberry Curve does not handle motion very well.

Surprise, Surprise, it appears as if tomorrow night's lineup will be the one most Sixers' fans have been hoping for all summer: Andre Miller, Andre Iguodala, Thaddeus Young, Elton Brand, and Sam Dalembert.

That was the "Black Team" practicing together today. The "White Team" was Lou Williams, Royal Ivey, Willie Green, Reggie Evans, and Theo Ratliff.

Of note: Because of the sprained left ankle Kareem Rush suffered during yesterday's practice, he did not play today. Head coach Maurice Cheeks said that tomorrow Rush will be a "game-time decision."

At the end of practice the Sixers worked through a few offensive sets. Most played off Elton Brand at the mid-post/pinch post. Miller would deliver the ball to Brand and then screen up for Iguodala, who would slice off Brand for a handoff, or exchange down to the corner. The bulk of the sets the Sixers worked involved exchanging and cutting off Brand. Once or twice, Iguodala set up mid-post and players cut off of him.

After practice, Miller said these are sets the team used last season, but what they will look for has changed.

"Last year," Miller said. "we were playing from the outisde-in, now we're playing from the inside-out."

We can thank Mr. Elton Brand and his 20-10 game for the change. Remember, though, these are half-court sets. The Sixers will still be looking to run whenever possible.

What does Cheeks want from tomorrow night?

"I'm just looking for our cohesiveness," Cheeks said. "To get on track. We've been changing the lineup so much."

Added Cheeks: "Not everyone will play, but we'll get different guys playing out there: Thad, Willie, Kareem, Royal ... We've been practicing so long, we want to see how they react to each other in a game situation."

Cheeks said he also wants to see how Brand plays against someone other than, well, Reggie Evans or any other Sixer.

Cheeks said he learned from his former coach Billy Cunningham to put players in situations to see how they will react.

"He would only tell guys before the game who was starting to see how they would react," Cheeks said. "He wasn't concerned about the score."

(Obviously this goes for preseason games. I think the score is a valid concern come regular season.)

Again, I apologize for cancelling this afternoon's chat. But we will have a Live Chat tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. before the Sixers play the Celtics. And now I must drive to Boston.

Until tomorrow ...

-- Kate