But when that will happen, and how? Not so clear.

They can't even necessarily look to tonight's home opener against the Milwaukee Bucks, projected among the bottom two or three teams in the NBA, as a way to climb up off the mat after Tuesday's night's season-opening, 120-106 loss in Orlando.

Not after the Magic shot 55.6 percent from the floor.

Not after they shot a remarkable 55.2 percent from three-point distance.

Not after they led by as many as 31 points.

Not after the Sixers showed glimpses of familiarity with their new read-and-react Princeton offense, but too often seemed, at best, uncomfortable initiating things and following the progression of plays through to their finish.

"It's mostly, not mostly, [but] some communication on defense," Jordan said, seemingly trying to spin something positive into what was a terrible performance. "Offense, it's some communication, but mostly it's 'reads.' You should be able to read each other."

Not to overstate anything, but try reading the box score. The Magic shot 16-for-29 from three-point distance, the Sixers shot 7-for-18. That's a scoring disparity of 48-21. The Sixers, among the league's worst last season at defending beyond the arc, were showing the same inability.

"I'm not concerned about last year," Jordan said. "I think that was a little bit different [Tuesday]. I saw Vince Carter make two threes from well beyond [the arc]; we're not going to guard that anyway. The game plan obviously was to take away [center Dwight] Howard first; I thought we did for the first half. It's a new defensive system. We trust it.

"They started making threes. They were dagger after dagger after dagger. It was incredible. I don't think they hit the rim on most of them."

Fair enough. But seven different Magic players knocked down at least one triple, and the majority of them were wide-open looks. Seven of the 10 Magic players to launch a shot finished at 50 percent or better.

So, Jordan was asked, how long does history suggest it will take for the Sixers to figure out their new systems?

"It varies," he responded. "It depends on whether you have guys who can pick it up quickly. Some guys learn faster than others. That's human nature."

The Sixers play tomorrow night in New York, then come home Tuesday night against Boston.

It shouldn't be too early to at least check the learning curve.

Instant starter

 

The Sixers' Lou Williams, now 23, had to wait through four full seasons before becoming a starting guard. Brandon Jennings, at 20 the Bucks' first-round draft choice, will start at the point tonight. Williams arrived directly out of high school as a late second-round pick. Jennings spent a season playing for Lottomotica Roma in Italy.

"I think [starting is] going to help him in the long run, as much experience as he's going to get against these high-level guys," Williams said. "I think that's going to be great for him."

Six shots

 

Lou Williams, on Tuesday night's loss: "They shoot threes. We're attacking the basket, shooting twos. It's hard to plays threes and twos, threes and twos. You're going to get blown out every night if a team shoots like that" . . . And: "It was an eye-opener for us, which will be motivation for us [tonight]" . . . Bucks star guard Michael Redd is expected to start, coming back from a lower-back problem. Hakeem Warrick (Friends Central), their leading scorer in the preseason, is back after missing 2 days with a neck injury. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is also back, shaking off a bone bruise in his right knee.

For more Sixers coverage, read the

Daily News' Sixers blog, Sixerville, at

http://go.philly.com/sixerville.