Past champions help Sixers usher in a new era

The new era in Philadelphia 76ers basketball began Friday night at the Wells Fargo Center with lights, music, dancing girls, special effects, smoke, loud introductions, and video on the big screen.

None of this was necessarily an invention, of course. It wasn't as if the previous era under the impatient stewardship of Father Comcast was played in a dimly lit gym in front of a bunch of old guys wearing fedoras and smoking cigars.

There have been all of those sideshow elements before - and perhaps even a management that would have known this isn't the year to call the dance group "The Dream Team." Bad karma.

But reinventing the game-night wheel that will turn the direction of the franchise is no easier than reinventing the team that will have to carry the heaviest burden on the court. For now, the new ownership group has to be forgiven any small missteps because they are being made with excitement and enthusiasm. It is really a perfect corollary to the team itself, which is also exciting and enthusiastic, but still a ways from determining its potential.

The theme of the night and the theme of the season is based on reaching back into the annals of team history and tying the current unit to the threads of past greatness, especially the 1983 championship team. It's sound marketing, even if no one mistakes Andre Iguodala for Julius Erving or, so far, Evan Turner for Andrew Toney.

Erving and Toney were in the house Friday night, along with Bobby Jones, Moses Malone, and some others from the glory days. It's nice to be remembered and, despite the smoke and music and drumbeats for the incumbent heroes, the old guys got the loudest introductory ovations of the night. No surprise there. Bernie Parent, Eric Lindros, and Bobby Clarke probably received the best receptions among past and present Flyers during last weekend's Winter Classic festivities.

Things were better in the old days, or it sometimes can seem that way. The world was younger, the electricity crackled in the Spectrum, and the teams occasionally won something. Very occasionally, if you happen to have an accurate memory, but nevertheless.

This new Sixers team is building something, and it has a lot of the pieces necessary to fashion an era of its own worth remembering.

"I watched all five of their games so far," Malone said at halftime. "The main thing with them is they play hard every night."

They do that, and much of the credit goes to coach Doug Collins, but it is also a reflection of the mind-set of the group. The players are talented and mostly young, and unwilling to give in to the outside perception that their ultimate achievement is necessarily limited by the absence of a true superstar. Collins uses that optimism to great advantage, getting more from the team than you might expect.

They have come back this season better than they were. Turner went to school with Herb Magee on his jumper, and it shows. Spencer Hawes worked to trim his physique from 13 percent body fat to 9 percent, and now he can stay on the court 30-plus minutes. Thaddeus Young crafted a little pick-and-roll game, Jrue Holiday got stronger, Elton Brand got fully healthy. The list goes on. They have all done the work and now they are 4-2 after Friday's 96-73 win over Detroit in the home opener.

How far can they go this season? Former coach Jim Lynam said they are a legitimate contender to win the division. That's a long way up from the end of Eddie Jordan's tenure 21 months ago. If working hard counts - and it will often be the difference in this season of three-games-in-four-nights - it isn't a far-fetched prediction.

"Last year, we wanted to be relevant. Now, at some point, we want to be important," Collins said. "If you finish in the top eight in the conference, you're relevant. If you get into the top four, you start to become important. We want to take that next step, but it's hard and we know that."

The popular notion is that the compressed schedule will favor younger teams with fresher legs and more tolerance for punishment. The Sixers hope that's true, but it also will limit the teaching time between games and they will have to learn on the run.

There will be stretches when the meat grinder will get to them, no shots will fall, and nothing but defense will save them. Fortunately, that appears to be a strength of the Sixers, starting with Holiday, who very soon will be as good an on-the-ball defender as the franchise has ever had.

Against the Pistons, who were missing two starters, the offense sputtered for most of three quarters, but the defense remained solid.

"We gave ourselves a chance to win," Collins said.

On most nights, they will have that at the very least. It won't guarantee a win every night or a winning season, but that's the way to play. When all the smoke has cleared and the lights come up and the drumbeats are silenced, that is what will matter. The music will be in the memories being made, as it always has been.