Questioning Sixers' point guard situation

GALLOWAY, N.J.

- "OK, here we go. It's point guard day."

That was coach Brett Brown's reaction yesterday after the Sixers' training camp practice at Stockton University, when the focus of questions from the media surrounded the lead guard position.

The questions might be coming for the rest of the season. This time last year Michael Carter-Williams was entering his second season, fresh off being selected as rookie of the year. It was thought that he was the team's point guard of the future. But poor shooting and a huge number of turnovers soured the higher-ups and he was dealt to Milwaukee at the trade deadline.

After that, Brown had at least five players man the point. The most productive, Ish Smith, wasn't brought back for this season. Battling for what Brown has said are three roster spots, let alone the starting position, are Tony Wroten, Kendall Marshall, T.J. McConnell, Pierre Jackson, Scottie Wilbekin and Isaiah Canaan. Wroten and Marshall both suffered torn ACLs in January, so their return is about a month away, at best. Jackson missed practice yesterday and has been battling his body since tearing his Achilles' in July of 2014.

So there's reason for the questioning. Does Brown see a point guard of the future for the franchise among this group? Is the talent level where it needs to be?

"It's too early to tell. I like what I see at the moment," Brown said. "Everything gets sort of filtered when you play an NBA game and you start to see it, truly, for what it is. These guys are A-plus attitude, A-plus effort. They're young. I see upside in all of them. I see why they're in our gym. Then all of the sudden it's, 'How soon can they develop?' I feel I can make better, more accurate assesments after we start playing some preseason games.

"It's hard to deny that Ish was good for us. We decided to go younger and try to uncover somebody that can be with us for a long time, maybe because of the age aspect, and I support the club's decision to do that. We'll all be better able to make more accurate assessments in a month or so. Nobody's really jumped ahead of the pack yet."

Maybe that will happen, maybe not. Maybe Canaan or Marshall prove to be what Brown is looking for. Perhaps it will be another year of revolving-door point guards. And if that instability happens, it certainly can't be good for the two big men Brown is trying to groom in Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel.

"I just go back to I like coaching these guys,'' Brown said. "Somebody will emerge. Usually opportunity flushes a lot of us out. We're in such early stages of making assessments or broad-based comments."

Michigan coach

John Beilein

was in the stands checking out his former player,

Nik Stauskas

, and

Brett Brown's

practice regimen. Brown said he planned to pick the coach's brain afterward, while Beilein was happy to watch his former Big Ten Player of the Year. "He's the best (shooter) I've ever seen,'' he said of Stauskas. "He just needs consistency in his routine, his day, everything. I just wanted to be here so that when I watch him during the season and I know what coach is doing, I can say, 'Nik, you got to do this' " . . . The team will practice today and tomorrow before breaking from Stockton . . . Brown said NBA legend

Hubie Brown

is expected to visit camp.