Sixers' Collins wants good chemistry on the team

As new 76er Evan Turner tweeted yesterday, the honeymoon is over and it's time to get to work.

The team, well, those who are making up the summer league team that will compete in Orlando starting Monday, started working out together Thursday night, though new coach Doug Collins didn't oversee it because of flight problems.

He was there yesterday for two workouts, and is pleased so far from what he has seen, especially from Turner, second-year point guard Jrue Holiday and third-year center Marreese Speights.

"Things have been going very well," Collins said. "The guys are playing well together. They are all willing learners. We had a lot of teaching. We had some good defensive practices and [yesterday morning] we put in some offensive schemes. We do have a league we have to compete in, so we need to put some stuff in."

The main story coming out of Orlando for the next week-plus will be the play of Turner and how he does teaming in the backcourt with Holiday.

"Evan and Jrue have been very good together, so far," Collins said. "Jrue is really going to be a good player. This was the first time I've seen him play in person. I want to see a big jump in him this year. I've been talking to [assistant coach] Aaron McKie about Jrue's growth and confidence. I'm looking for him to be a leader this year.

"Obviously, I want Jrue and Evan to get used to playing with each other. Down here, I'm looking for Jrue and Evan and Marreese and Jodie [Meeks] to be leaders. I want them to put their leadership into the practices, create good habits, show that this is the way we do things. I want them all to bring out the best in each other."

And there will be plenty of opportunity for that this coming week.

"There's probably going to be a little crash course in a lot of things," Collins said. "We do three or four offensive drills every day. The basis of our drills is the shell drill, where we're practicing all the things you have to defend against, making sure guys are in right spots, the screen-and-roll. [Thursday night], they worked on screen-and-rolls, defending guys offs screens, which is what you have to do against players like [Boston's] Ray Allen.

"It's all going well so far. I'm looking forward to the week."

As are many Sixer fans.

For more Sixers coverage, read the Daily News' Sixers blog, Sixerville, at

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