Sixers end camp, take classroom overseas

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Sixers training camp, the first under new head coach Brett Brown, is complete.

Players seemed relieved that the eight practices over the past five days were in the books.

“It went well,” Thaddeus Young said. “It is an unfortunate situation us having so many guys down as far as the bigs, but for the most part each guy came out here having something to prove and they showed what they can do and had great impression of all the coaches.”

Spencer Hawes is among the frontcourt players ailing for the Sixers. However, the center’s sore knee is progressing each day.

“It feels good,” Hawes said. “I went through non-contact drills today and I had no restrictions there. I am going to keep at it and hopefully be full-go when we get over there.”

Hawes was referring to the Sixers’ upcoming trip overseas. The team departs for Bilbao, Spain on Thursday morning. The Sixers will play a Spanish professional team on Sunday before facing the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday in Manchester, England.

Brown thinks his team is where it should be for this overseas portion of the preseason given all the new faces from management to coaches to players.

“We have a side out-of-bounds play, underneath out-of-bounds [play]. We have a semblance of running. We have a little bit of defensive principles in place,” Brown explained. “At this stage, I think they have done a remarkable job of absorbing a lot in a short period of time.”

That said, there are still youthful mistakes that Brown is demanding be diminished.

“I am always trying to walk that line, avoiding talking all the time. You want to cut to the chase and get to the point, but you want to teach,” Brown said. ‘“Hey, that’s not the way we do it. We just got done telling you this. We showed you on the tape, we showed you on the floor. At what point is this enough for me to give you for you to do it right?’ There is a responsibility on their part to pick it up, too.

“You could stop at every play with us and say something that is crucial. These are the kinds of assessments you make between every practice and when you go to bed. How do I make things a little bit better?”

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