Smallwood: Now we'll see how far Sixers have come

IT WAS Dec. 29, 2013, and the Sixers were on a six-game road trip that took them to Milwaukee, Phoenix, Los Angeles (Lakers), Denver, Sacramento and Portland.

Rookie coach Brett Brown knew he signed up to be part of a massive rebuilding program, and an 8-21 start had done nothing to change that notion.

Brown's squad had dropped games in Milwaukee and Phoenix, giving the Sixers nine losses in their previous 10 games.

That night against the Lakers, however, Thaddeus Young had 25 points and nine rebounds and the Sixers ended 2013 with a 111-104 victory.

The Sixers then started 2014 with wins at Denver, Sacramento and Portland, giving them their first four-game winning streak since late in the 2011-12 season.

Since that win in Portland, the Sixers have had several record-setting losing streaks, including one of 26 games later in the 2013-14 season that would match the longest in a single NBA season. But they haven't managed a winning streak as long as three games.

On Wednesday, when the Sixers beat the New York Knicks, 98-97, on a buzzer-beating shot by T.J. McConnell, it marked the fourth time in 36 games this season that the Sixers (11-25) have won consecutive games. In the previous span of 177 games, they had managed back-to-back wins only five times.

On Friday night, the Sixers play the Charlotte Hornets at the Wells Fargo Center. A win would give them their longest winning streak since the four-game run that spanned 2013 to 2014.

Since it's the second week of January, there is a good possibility they could pull it off. Brown's teams have been at their best with the turn of each calendar year.

Explain this however you can, but from Dec. 29 to Jan. 12, Brown has a career record of 13-14, including 4-1 this season.

When you consider that Brown's current career record is 58-224, it seems strange that nearly a quarter of his wins (22.4 percent) have come during the same two-week period in four straight years.

So what does this mean for the current edition of the Sixers? Well, not much when considering what has happened after Jan. 12 in the previous three seasons.

The combined record for the last half of January is 9-21 and each was followed by even more dismal play in February, March and April.

Over the last three years, the Sixers' combined record for the final three months of the regular season is 15-88.

So you can forgive Brown for still remaining cautious, while being encouraged over the Sixers' recent play.

"There is still so much to be learned and so much to be filled in if you want to go where we want to go," Brown said after the win over the Knicks.

I agree, but I have to say that the start of 2017 has a different vibe from that of the previous three years.

In the other Januarys, you could look at the Sixers roster and know that a collapse was imminent.

I don't feel that way this time around.

I don't think the Sixers have enough to back up the talk from center Joel Embiid about making the playoffs, but I do believe they'll continue to make a run at it.

Even if No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons does not return from injury in time to play a significant number of games, I don't see this team following the same path the previous three did.

Obviously, the incredibly impressive debut of Embiid after sitting out two seasons is the primary reason why, but other players - some I've admittedly derided as "career D-Leaguers" - are contributing to this team's slowly but steadily trending in the direction of improved play.

The Sixers' lineup is not great and still needs serious upgrades, but I finally concede that it is displaying NBA legitimacy - even with Simmons' injury and the regression of second-year center Jahlil Okafor into a guy who can't get minutes.

If president/general manager Bryan Colangelo stays true to his word that the Sixers are "really changing our focus toward winning," any trades will be like the one he made for stretch forward Ersan Ilyasova and have the intent of improving the current team, and not just kicking the rebuilding down the road a bit more.

Players and circumstances change, but for the past three seasons, Jan. 13 has represented a crossroads for the Sixers. Each time, they've seen a decent start to a new calendar year collapse into a disappointing second half of a season.

The Sixers have 11 games remaining in January, including three back-to-backs, so it won't be easy to keep the ship sailing straight.

Still, I don't see that traditional collapse happening this season, and that will be a tangible sign that the Sixers are developing in the right direction.