This off-season, the 76ers replaced Ford with another ex-Celtics coach, Jim O'Brien, who's as Philly as Rocky. O'Brien decided to build around Iverson as his point guard, leading Philadelphia to ship veteran Eric Snow to Cleveland primarily for future salary-cap relief. The Sixers drafted Andre Iguodala when the other AI slipped to the ninth pick of the draft. Philadelphia also brought back Brian Skinner, a reserve big man with the 76ers in 2002-03, on a lucrative free-agent deal.

O'Brien quickly put his stamp on the Sixers, deciding late during the preseason to bench projected starters Glenn Robinson and Samuel Dalembert in favor of Iguodala and Marc Jackson. Robinson, the team's second-leading scorer a year ago, started the season on the injured list and is openly being shopped for a trade. After three straight losses, the O'Brien program didn't look like it was working about a week ago, but Philadelphia has bounced back to win their last three at home, two in overtime, to move to 4-3 on the season.

The Sonics open tonight their longest road trip of the season, a six-game Eastern sojourn that will be telling with regards to what the Sonics can accomplish this season. The Sonics play four of the five teams in the Atlantic Division, starting tonight, and the Atlantic has been surprisingly competitive thus far, with three of those teams above .500. The Sonics won both games over the weekend, but were not as dominant when referees figuratively took Danny Fortson out of Friday's game and an NBA suspension literally kept him out Sunday. Fortson will be back in the lineup tonight, and the Sonics are glad to have him.

G U A R D S
	It's early, but we might be seeing history in the making with Iverson this year. Within the last decade, only Iverson has topped 4.2 turnovers per game, giving it up 4.43 times per game in 1996-97 and 4.35 a year ago. Iverson is well ahead of that pace this year, averaging a remarkable 5.29 turnovers per game. (It should be pointed out that Iverson is second in the league behind Richard Jefferson, but Jefferson doesn't have Iverson's history with turnovers.) Turnovers per game is not an official NBA statistic, but the highest turnover season in league history (Artis Gilmore in 1977-78) was 4.46 turnovers per game. Only one player in recent memory (Gary Grant with 4.68 in 1989-90, when he played only 44 games) has topped that mark. That's not to say, of course, that Iverson is not having a good season. He's fourth in the league in scoring (26.4 ppg) while handing out a career-high 8.1 assists per game, good for fifth in the league. Sonics counterpart Luke Ridnour is coming off a fine week which saw him average 12.8 points and 7.8 assists per game.
	Sixers guard Willie Green was drafted for the Sixers by the Sonics in the 2003 NBA Draft. A virtual unknown out of Detroit Mercy, Green had a solid first season and impressed enough to enter training camp this year as the starting shooting guard. (Aaron McKie actually won the job, but is now on the injured list.) Green has improved his shooting this year, hitting 40% of his threes, but is also struggling with turnovers (2.8 per game). Because of their backcourt, the 76ers are third-worst in the NBA in turnovers as a percentage of possessions. Green is a well-regarded defender who will match up with Sonics guard Ray Allen. Allen won Western Conference Player of the Week after averaging 28.3 points per game last week as the Sonics went 4-0.
F O R W A R D S
	Iguodala should be no stranger to Northwest basketball fans after starring for two years at Arizona. There, Iguodala had not one, not two, but three triple-doubles, joining Jason Kidd as the only players in Pac-10 history to go trip-dub multiple times in the same season. Iguodala is not yet a polished offensive player, averaging 9.3 points per game, but he's averaging more than a block and a steal per game, something only 10 NBA players did last season, while adding 5.9 boards. Iguodala is only 6-6, but long-limbed defenders of his ilk have given Sonics forward Rashard Lewis trouble in the past. Lewis is looking to bounce back after a tough shooting weekend, but he contributed in other ways, pulling down 12 boards Sunday and continuing to be active on defense.
	Philadelphia forward Kenny Thomas is the idol of undersized power forwards everywhere. Though just 6-7, Thomas has established himself as a quality starting power forward. He averaged 13.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per game last season, making him one of the 11 NBA players who averaged a double-double. Thomas' scoring numbers have been down this season as Philadelphia looks elsewhere for offense. 6-8 Sonics forward Reggie Evans is having his own success, averaging 7.7 points and 9.3 rebounds while shooting 60% from the field. Thomas presents a favorable matchup for the Sonics undersized power forwards, Evans and Fortson.
C E N T E R
	After a surprising rookie season saw him come out of nowhere to almost claim Rookie of the Year, Marc Jackson's career hasn't gone quite as planned, largely because of injuries. Last year, Jackson got in just 22 games because of a fractured finger and a stress reaction in his left foot. The Temple grad quickly impressed O'Brien and has scored well this season, averaging 13.0 points on 47.8% shooting. However, he's a liability on the boards (9.3 per 48 minutes) and not well-regarded on defense. Jerome James has done some good things on defense this season and stopped Pau Gasol after checking into Sunday's game to defend Gasol when Nick Collison fouled out.
B E N C H
	The Sixers have done a fine job of amassing NBA-rotation-caliber talent and can comfortably go deep into their bench. Kyle Korver has been phenomenal so far in his second season, averaging 11.6 points and shooting 45.5% from downtown. A remarkable 44 of Korver's 50 shots have been threes, making him the only regular attempting more than 3/4 of his shots from beyond the arc. (Korver is also 6-for-6 when he's stepped inside the line.) Simply, the Sonics cannot give the Ashton Kutcher look-alike an open look. John Salmons has been phenomenal since being activated from the injured list, averaging 10.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists. Corliss Williamson, perhaps Philly's best post scorer, is averaging 9.3 points. Dalembert has been bothered by injuries but leads the 76ers in blocks and is second in rebounding. Antonio Daniels picked up his scoring last week, averaging 18.5 points per game, topped by a season-high 28 against Memphis. With Fortson back in the lineup, Vladimir Radmanovic slides back to small forward, but Collison should continue to see more action after his best NBA game Sunday.

TEAM LEADERS ALLEN IVERSON Allen 26.0 PPG Iverson 26.4 Evans 9.3 RPG Thomas 8.0 Ridnour 6.3 APG Iverson 8.1 Ridnour 1.9 SPG Iverson/Iguodala 1.7 James 1.7 BPG Dalembert 1.3 Lewis 39.3 MPG Iverson 42.7