Sixers center Samuel Dalembert makes millions of dollars playing basketball in the United States. He recently became a citizen of Canada.

     But a big part of his heart still resides in Haiti, the place he was born and spent the first 14 years of his life..

     So it was with a heavy soul that Dalembert watch the devastation reaped as Hurricane Gustav, and Tropical Storms Fay and Hannah slammed the impoverished island nation during a two week period in September. More than 100 people were killed and thousands were left homeless and without food and fresh water.

     The images of the suffering in Haiti were heartbreaking.

     "The thing that bothers me is that I am a forward-looking person," Dalembert said. "I don't only help when something happens. I want to prevent what is happening. When you look at the history, it is always the same area, places where people barely had anything and now they have nothing at all."

      Dalembert wants to help. He did not give specific details, but it sounds like that in addition to immediate aid,  he would like to create some kind of community and educational center for children in Haiti.

      He believes that children are the key to the future and that they and their dreams must be protected and allowed to flourish.

     "I've already talked with the Sixers and we are working on putting together some kind of fundraiser just to help out a little bit - to go and help the children," he said. "There parents have no homes, so if we can help the kids maybe they can continue on and have a safe place to be."

      ."Sometimes you want to do so much, but sometimes you have to focus on a small group. And if you can help them, then hopefully that group can go back and help make things better for more. That's why purpose has been to help the children. You can try to help adults but their minds are already made up. Kids are the ones who all they have to look up to is the mistake their elders are making."

     Throughout his career Dalembert has donated over $72,000 to benefit relief efforts in Haiti. He is actively involved in the Sixers Drive for Kids community initiative, and participates in the NBPA and WNBPA's ""Feed the Children" and ""Operation Rebound.""

    He and former Sixers teammate Kyle Korver and two the NBA's most reliable participants in "Basketball without Borders" - the league's premier international basketball and community relations outreach program.

     "I think one man can make a difference on a small scale," Dalembert said.

The 76ers are heading for training camp at Penn State, where workouts begin Tuesday morning. I know coach Maurice Cheeks has a laundry list of things he'll be looking for. And I have mine.

I'm ready to see . . .

Elton  Brand draw double-teams, even in scrimmages.

Perimeter players, including--especially--Andre Iguodala make open shots.

Kareem Rush make shots, because that is precisely what he has been signed to do.

Royal Ivey show the toughness and defense he was known for in Atlanta and Milwaukee.

Samuel Dalembert and Brand co-exist in the paint.

Thaddeus Young stake his claim to the small forward spot.

Aaron McKie resume his coaching career. I believe in second chances. And I believe McKie is a solid addition to the staff.

Jeff Ruland offer thoughts and suggestions to Dalembert, Brand, Marreese Speights, etc. Ruland was an effective big man in the league because he knew how to play, not because he could run fast and jump high.

Somebody, anybody, be as impressive in camp as Kevin Ollie was last year.

    With the Sixers opening training camp at Penn State on Tuesday, I like the changes president/general manager Ed Stefanski has made to the roster.

     Obviously, signing free-agent forward Elton Brand was the big move, but the bench is more solid with the additions of guard Kareem Rush, veteran forward Donyell Marshall and the return of center Theo Ratliff.

     I do, however, see one glaring void in the "intangibles" category - playoff experience. Top to bottom, this squad simply does not have much playoff experience and has even less playoff success. That could be an issue in May if they are involved in a tight postseason series.

    Who will the Sixers look to to provide the playoff savvy to get them over the hump? 

     Marshall leads the pack with 41 playoff games stretched over a 14-year career. He went to the NBA Finals with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2007, but two of his four playoff seasons ended in one-and-done.

    Ratliff has played in 33 playoff games in 13 seasons. He made it to the Eastern Conference finals as a member of the Detroit Pistons last season, but before then he hadn't played in the postseason since being with the Sixers in the 1999-2000 season.

     The anticipated starting lineup of Brand, Samuel Dalembert, Andre Iguodala, Andre Miller and Thaddeus Young have played in a combined 61 playoff games, with 24 of those coming in last season's opening-round loss to Detroit.

     Brand, whose only playoff appearance came with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2006, is the only one who has won at least one playoff series.

    Marshall and Rush (Los Angeles Lakers in 2004)  are the only players in training camp who have been to a NBA Finals. Both lost.

     Rookie Marresse Speights, a reserve on Florida's 2007 NCAA championship team, is the only player on the roster who has won a championship since high school.

Well, there is nothing like the realism of a coach to knock you off a cloud of optimism. We had a media lunch with Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks and naturally, I asked his assessment of the Eastern Conference going into the upcoming season.

He told me what I already knew.

"Boston is still the team to beat," Cheeks said of the reigning NBA champion Celtics. "The players that they added last year (Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen) were All-Star players at their positions, and they didn't disappoint anyone the way they play.

"The defense was No.1 in the league and they had offensive players who could command a double team, and when that happened, they had players who spread the floor and could make jump shots from different positions. Boston is certainly the team to beat."

Sure, the Sixers added one of the top free agents on the market in power forward Elton Brand, and they certainly strengthened their bench with the addition of players like Kareem Rush and Donyell Marshall, but let's not forget that there is a 26-game difference between Boston's 66-16 record of a year ago and the Sixers' 40-42 mark.

Unless you've added Shaquille O'Neal or Moses Malone in their prime, you don't make up that kind of distance in one summer. The Sixers will be vastly improved, and a lot of things could change between now and the start of the playoffs. Come the postseason, they might be a match for anybody in a seven-game series.

But as of right now, before any training camp has opened, the Celtics look like they will again go into the postseason as the No.1 seed.

"Obviously, Detroit is still good with that veteran team," Cheeks said. "Orlando and Washington are good. I expect Chicago to be better. There will be different teams, but the clear-cut favorite is Boston."

BRAND IS GOOD, BUT HE AIN'T MOSES

Speaking of Moses Malone, Cheeks was asked if Brand could have the same impact on the team he coaches as Malone had on the 1983 Sixer team that won the NBA championship.

Cheeks, who was the point guard on that championship team, said it all by his silence while trying to find the right way to respond.

"We had been to the Finals a couple of years before [Malone]," Cheeks said of the '83 Sixers, who also featured Julius Erving, Andrew Toney and Bobby Jones and were coached by Billy Cunningham. "We just got to the playoffs last year. We are still trying to get ourselves to that elite level. [The '83] team was already at the elite level somewhat because we had been to the Finals.

"Moses came in and took us over the top. The final piece? Had we gotten to the Finals and barely missed it, yeah maybe, [Brand] would be that. I hope we get to that level where we are saying that [Brand] was that final piece."

WANT THE SIXERS AT YOUR SCHOOL?

The Sixers are having an essay contest for students throughout the Philadelphia region.

The "Rule the School" contest asks students to submit a 200-250 word easy and a photo both of which show their Sixer pride. The winner contestant will have the entire Sixers team, head coach Maurice Cheeks, Hip-Hop and in-game performers come to his/her school on Oct. 16, 2008.

The Sixers crew will "Rule the School" by taking over as teachers and faculty.

Deadline for entries is Oct. 1 via email and Oct. 4 via the postal service. For complete rules and regulations visit www.sixers.com. 

Fact: Even with the addition of Elton Brand, the Sixers -- Donyell Marshall and Kareem Rush off the bench notwithstanding -- still aren't blessed with an array of knockdown shooters.

Fact: Despite that, the plan is to generate a significant portion of their offense from the perimeter.

In a lengthy conversation Wednesday, coach Maurice Cheeks said, ''You'd love to have knockdown shooters, but our game last year was to catch the ball, put it on the floor, get to the rim, get to the foul line. At times, they're going to have to make shots -- all of them, and with Elton some of those shots are going to be a little easier. That's not to say they're going to be easy, because sometimes the wide-open shots are the most difficult to make. But you don't have to stand out there and shoot, shoot, shoot; you can get to the rim; we did that as well as anybody in the league.''

At the same time, Cheeks said he has no concern about point guard Andre Miller at 32.

''Some of his scoring will go down because he doesn't have to take on the load he did last year,'' Cheeks said. ''The way he plays lends itself to being able to continue at the level he's been playing. He's a very efficient player, and he'll continue to play that way.''

Cheeks touched on some other pertinent subjects, including--

* Losing Jason Smith to season-ending knee surgery: Smith, entering his second year, was being projected as a changeup backup center and forward because of his ability to score from the perimeter. He worked on his aggressiveness in the summer, and by all accounts was making solid progress. ''That's a big blow,'' Cheeks said. ''His first-year jitters were out of the way, and he had a chance to be a more established player. But his injury gives others -- Reggie Evans, Marreese Speights -- a chance. They're not the same type players, but when someone goes down, someone else gets a chance to step up.''

* The value of a refurbished bench loaded with experience in Marshall and Theo Ratliff, and to a lesser extent, Rush and Royal Ivey: ''It's a good thing to have guys who have played before, who understand, who have been in a lot of situations, who know how to play,'' Cheeks said. "We played on emotion last year and got a lot of benefit out of it, but these older -- not old -- guys will play on experience.''

Chemistry: ''I hope there's some carryover from last year,'' Cheeks said. ''The enthusiasm we had will still be there. Every player I've talked to has said he's excited about getting started. But the other teams understand the way we played, and they'll be ready for us. There won't be any surprises. We'll be tested right from the jump.''

For more of the interview from today's Daily News, click here.

I just finished reading Marty Burns' interesting take on the top 10 battles for starting spots in the NBA, and -- surprise -- none of those involved the Sixers.

But, at least from where I sit, only 60 percent of the Sixers' lineup is set in stone: Elton Brand at power forward, Andre Miller at point guard and Samuel Dalembert at center.

After that, though . . .

Is Andre Iguodala the shooting guard and Thaddeus Young the small forward? Or is Iguodala the small forward and either Lou Williams or Willie Green the shooting guard?

I can't envision a lineup without Iguodala, but I could conceivably see Young coming off the bench, at least in the early part of the season. I see Williams as being far too valuable as instant offense and a pace-changer off the bench, and I see Green playing less than he did last season.

If you pinned me down right now, I'd project Iguodala at shooting guard and Young at small forward. As the Sixers prepare to leave for their camp headquarters at Penn State, I submit that the next few weeks will focus on putting in a system and developing chemistry and a rotation rather than a pitched battle or two for starting spots.

Where Are They Now

Ex-Sixers Shavlik Randolph and Bobby Jones are bound respectively for Portland and Sacramento. Joel Bell, the agent for both young players, says Randolph is ''100 percent, maybe 110'' after last season's fractured and dislocated ankle.

The 76ers have confirmed that Jason Smith is out for the entire season.

But, truthfully, didn't we already know that?

Isn't that how long it long it takes to fully recover from surgery to reconstruct a torn anterior cruciate ligament in a knee?

Smith, the Sixers' second-year big man, underwent the procedure on his left knee last week. Mark Bartelstein, Smith's agent, said at the time that it was far more important to make certain that his client rehabs properly and gives himself the best opportunity to come back as strong as possible, whenever that might be.

And that's still what Bartelstein is saying.

''If anything, the surgery went great, the rehab has already started,'' Bartelstein said. ''Nothing has changed (in terms of the degree of injury or time frame for recovery). Things are getting better every day. It was never a goal for Jason to play this season. The goal was--and is--for him to be 100 percent.''

Smith, though, will count against the NBA roster maximum of 15. The Sixers, who open training camp Sept. 29 at Penn State, currently have 14 players.

The economy in the outside world is sliding disastrously. But the morale and the level of optimism are going in the opposite direction just as rapidly. And with just about all the other issues that were hanging precipitously at the end of last season already addressed in some fashion, it's finally time to speak directly about the future of Andre Miller.

In some ways, it's amazing that it could take this long to begin to focus on the guy who was easily the team's MVP last season, but not when you realize the earlier issues included the dramatic signing of elton Brand, the drafting of Marreese Speights, the re-signing of Andre Iguodala and Lou Williams, the re-signing of coach Maurice Cheeks and the bench-filling additions of Theo Ratliff, Donyell Marshall, Royal Ivey and Kareem Rush.

It's also important to know that for several months Miller didn't have an agent. He does now. He signed last week with Andy Miller. Whether of not the Sixers decide to extend Andre Miller beyond this season, at least there is a formal representative with whom to negotiate.

But before that even gets underway, let's clarify a couple of points:

Premise--Andre is 32, an age when players--particularly point guards--can begin to lose a step.

Counter--He has never depended on sheer speed; he's more like a pitcher who can change speeds and hit spots. And he he has shown no sign of losing any of that skill.

Premise--We've all heard the same refrain; Andre isn't happy here, he wants to play on the West Coast.

Counter--He told me in a recent interview that he has never made any comments about wanting to go West. He knows he ultimately has little control of where he ends up, but he likes the players here, he likes the addition of Brand, he likes the changes in the roster, he likes Cheeks.

He'd also like an extension. Most players would. You would. I would. Whether he gets one is up to the negotiators and president/GM Ed Stefanski's blueprint for the future. But right now, finally, Andre Miller is at the top of the priority list.