MCW eager for Thursday's return to action

Michael Carter-Williams has been waiting a long time - nearly seven months, to be exact - for Thursday's game in Dallas, where he will make his season debut against the Mavericks.

Carter-Williams underwent labrum surgery on his right shoulder on May 6 and wasn't cleared for physical contact until last Thursday.

"I am real anxious to be out there," Carter-Williams said following Wednesday's practice at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. "Probably a little bit too anxious, I need to relax a little bit."

Easier said than done.

This will be the first time that Carter-Williams and Nerlens Noel will be in the lineup together. Noel is returning after missing the last two games with a sprained left ankle. Noel says he isn't bothered by the ankle.

"It was a regular, old sprain," he said. "I took care of it, and I am back hooping."

Sixers coach Brett Brown says he will take a cautious approach with the minutes both players get. Brown also said he doesn't know whether Carter-Williams will be in the starting lineup.

"I can categorically say it will be responsibly divvied up," he said about their playing time. "We aren't going to come back and say they played 38 minutes - that won't happen."

Brown said he has a range in mind on how long both will play.

"They shouldn't be put in a position to play extended minutes," he said.

Any minutes from the two will be welcome for an 0-7 team that will face a brutal three-game road trip against the Texas trio of Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.

The key will be how long it takes Carter-Williams to regain the form that saw him average 16.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 6.3 assists a season ago and earn the NBA's rookie-of-the-year award.

"I am not sure," Carter-Williams said. "I was hurt last year and out a little bit, and it took me about one or two games to get the feel back, and I hope it is the same thing."

Carter-Williams missed 12 games last season due to injury.

He said the workouts over the past week with the Sixers have helped immeasurably with his conditioning.

"It has improved a lot, especially [Wednesday] going five-on-five," he said. "I was feeling really good and wasn't too winded."

And he will feel good to move on after a frustrating off-season and beginning of this year.

"It's been really hard," he said. "Of course, I want to be out there with the guys playing, and it has been tough for me."

Notes. Guard Alexey Shved did not practice because of low back soreness, and the team said he is questionable for the Dallas game. . . . Despite published reports that the Sixers are preparing to call up Robert Covington from the NBA Developmental League, a Sixers official said there were no additions to announce. The 6-foot-9 Covington, who played seven games last season for the Houston Rockets, is competing for the Grand Rapids Drive.

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