Are Sixers better? Brown reserves judgment

The 76ers had won two of three games and five of their last 13 before Sunday night's loss to the Boston Celtics.

That's a big improvement for a team that opened the season by losing 30 of its first 31.

But with the Sixers at 6-39, Brett Brown tempered his enthusiasm.

"I bet I felt better this time last year, because I feel like we had done it a little bit longer than we are currently doing it," said the Sixers coach, whose team had eight wins at this point last season. "I get the fact that we are playing good basketball now. It's purposeful basketball."

Brown said he would say this stretch is better if the Sixers continue to play well until the NBA all-star break, which begins Feb. 11.

"I think at the moment it's too early," he said. "We are greedy. We always want more, and I want more."

General manager Sam Hinkie told The Inquirer last week that the Sixers will listen to trade offers, but chances are they won't make any moves by the Feb. 18 trade deadline.

Brown acknowledged that he's "not confident" to say anything regarding the trade deadline. However, he spoke as if the team does not want to make major changes to its roster.

"I think that we all recognize wholeheartedly that we are ready to move on," Brown said. "We want to keep moving forward, where we are not always in flux. We want some solidarity. We want some balance to what we are doing."