Sticking to the building plan was one of the primary reasons he traded veteran shooter and popular teammate Kyle Korver to the Utah Jazz.

It was why he went to Maurice Cheeks and suggested the coach quicken the manner in which the Sixers play and find more minutes for the younger players.

Now, reflecting on a surprising season in which the Sixers won 40 games and pushed the heavily favored Detroit Pistons to six games in the Eastern Conference playoffs, Stefanski is pleased to know that his young nucleus can not only play the style that he wants but can also have success doing it.

"What the Sixers have done this season, of which I'm extremely proud of the players and coaching staff, is that we have finally created an identity here," Stefanski said. "Our style is going to be: We are going to push it down your throat.

"That's our identity. The Sixers will fastbreak. They are young. They are long. They are athletic. They will defend."

Finding out who you are is the first step toward becoming what you want to be.

When Stefanski took over for Billy King in December, the Sixers were a halfcourt, defense-oriented team that wasn't particularly good at either of those things.

Stefanski wanted an up-tempo team, one that played an exciting brand of basketball and fully utilized the youth and athleticism of its roster.

He had no idea how Andre Iguodala, Samuel Dalembert, Lou Williams, Thaddeus Young, Jason Smith and Rodney Carney would react, but Stefanski knew he had to find out.

I doubt anyone saw the Sixers going 22-12 over the last 3 months of the season and earning the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, but it quickly became apparent that this was a style the players embraced.

"When we started this, I think we were like 16th or 17th in fastbreak points," Stefanski said. "[At the end of the season] we were basically tied for second place with Phoenix. I think we were like [within] 10ths of a point of them.

"That's who we are. We are going to be a team that will fastbreak, and you better be ready to play 48 minutes against the 76ers. We pushed the ball, but we also played defense."

Stefanski knows, however, that his squad can't play at 100 mph all the time - not if it wants to become championship caliber.

The way the Pistons slowed them down and exploited them over the last 2 1/2 games of their series emphasized that the Sixers have to be able to execute some sort of halfcourt offense.

But they already knew that.

"I don't think it came as a surprise to anyone in Philadelphia that we struggled in the halfcourt," Stefanski said. "We struggled from Day 1.

"That's one of the reasons we tried to up-tempo the game so we could get out of the halfcourt. We did get better as the year went on, but we have to continue to get better at it."

A post-up big man who can score out of halfcourt sets is still the primary target for the offseason. A player who can consistently knock down a long jump shot wouldn't hurt, either.

"In a perfect world, a power forward would fall from the sky," Stefanski conceded, "but if we don't get one, I won't be distraught because we'll get pieces to do things in another way."

No one said this was a complete project.

Young players Iguodala, Young, Williams, Carney and Smith must use the offseason to improve their games.

The Sixers will have about $11 million in cap space with which they can sign free agents or acquire help via trade. They have the 16th pick in what is considered a deep draft.

The Sixers discovered who they were. The playoff series with Detroit gave them a taste of where things can take them.

"[The playoffs] solidified a lot of things," Stefanski said. "It really gave us a barometer of where we want to go. We know the young kids are going to get better. We've got to bring in a couple of more pieces.

"We want to continue [to be up-tempo and defend]. Now we'll have a preseason to work on that. [Cheeks] changed to this in the middle of the season and did a tremendous job. I think with a preseason we will only get better.

"This is who we have to be as we keep moving forward. I think we now have an identity." *

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