ANALYST	PREDICTION
J.A. Adande ESPN.com	ATLANTIC: 5 | EAST: 15  Bad sign: when you're more impressed by the playing skills of the coaching staff (Maurice Cheeks, Henry Bibby, Moses Malone, Aaron McKie) than of the guys on the roster.
Greg Anthony ESPN.com	ATLANTIC: 5 | EAST: 14  The emergence of Andre Iguodala is a positive, and it will help Kyle Korver and Samuel Dalembert. Still, this is a team that will struggle to win games.
Jon Barry ESPN.com	ATLANTIC: 5 | EAST: 15  Brutal, just brutal. Young team, trying to build. The main question is if Andre Iguodala is the man capable of building the future around.
Chris Broussard ESPN Mag	ATLANTIC: 5 | EAST: 15  Last season's late surge sans AI was fool's gold. The Sixers will be bad. Real bad. The only suspense will be waiting to see if Larry Brown replaces buddy and protégé Maurice Cheeks on the bench.
Ric Bucher ESPN Mag	ATLANTIC: 4 | EAST: 10  They're 4th only because I'm a believer in chemistry and I like theirs more than the Knicks'. Besides, if they falter, they can turn to a Larry Brown dying to prove he can still coach.
Chad Ford ESPN.com	ATLANTIC: 5 | EAST: 15  I can envision projections nine to 14 as potential playoff teams if everything goes right. Philly? I can't see the Sixers making a serious run at 30 wins, let alone the playoffs. Andre Iguodala is good. Everyone else? Decent at best.
Jemele Hill ESPN.com	ATLANTIC: 5 | EAST: 15  The split with AI was necessary, but this next couple of years will be painful to watch. Unless this team is running, they're stuck -- it'll be a miracle when they score in a half-court set.
John Hollinger ESPN.com	ATLANTIC: 5 | EAST: 15  Had a great run to end last season, but that will mean little when the new one starts. Sixers are working their way out of cap hell and have some nice young pieces, but don't have nearly enough talent.
Chris Sheridan ESPN.com	ATLANTIC: 5 | EAST: 14  The only person on the Sixers we expect to exceed expectations this season is Louis Williams. Billy King's No. 1 priority should be to try to move Samuel Dalembert by midseason. Hard to see them overachieving as much as they did at the end of last season.
Marc Stein ESPN.com	ATLANTIC: 5 | EAST: 15  No one's calling it the Titanic Division any more, but the Sixers aren't exactly at the heart of the Atlantic's renaissance. The first full season AAI (After Allen Iverson) is going to be rough with no big changes, no real stars and seemingly everyone else moving and shaking.
	TOTAL             ATLANTIC: 4.9 | Standings             EAST: 14.3 | Standings

Team Strength: Athleticism

They're young and raw, but the Sixers are building a track team here. Iguodala is clearly the centerpiece, one of the best athletes in the league and a highlight-film dunker when he gets space, but what makes the club intriguing are the other guys joining the scene.

Louis Williams, for instance, is insanely quick and only needs to refine his skills to be a killer in the open court. Rodney Carney glides effortlessly for dunks and has outstanding speed as well. Andre Miller, chunky though he might seem, is a great transition point guard who can get opportunities for all these wing players. And Samuel Dalembert gets up and down the floor unusually well for a 6-11 center.

The rookies should bring something to this department as well. Thaddeus Young isn't quite on Andre Iguodala's scale athletically, but he can get up and down, too, while Jason Smith is one of the more athletic 7-footers you'll see -- which is why he became a first-rounder despite less-than-dominating collegiate numbers.

• John Hollinger's complete 76ers forecast

STARTERS	ANALYSIS
Andre Miller Point Guard 6-2 | 200	Has played 366 straight games, but running this unit will test his perseverance.
Andre Iguodala Shooting Guard 6-6 | 207	Do-it-all wing has to start doing it better.
Rodney Carney Small Forward 6-7 | 205	He can run and jump and … sit, once Kyle Korver rises off the bench.
Reggie Evans Power Forward 6-8 | 245	Owns offensive glass, which is nice on a team that won't hit a thing.
Samuel Dalembert Center 6-11 | 250	Slowed by stress fracture, stopped by total lack of post moves.

ESPN The Magazine's NBA Preview hits newsstands October 24.

Louis Williams Player efficiency rating projection: 14.29 vs. NBA avg.: -0.71 76ers profiles

Scouting report: A thin guard with blazing quickness, Williams has a scorer's instincts and tends to get out of control, but was able to harness his worst instincts last season. He's tremendously fast in transition and is likely to be among the league's leaders in free-throw attempts as soon as he becomes a starter -- something that seems only a matter of time. He'll have to improve his work from the stripe, though, and still has plenty to learn about running the point.

Defensively, Williams' quickness allows him to apply great ball pressure, but he seems to have a magnetic attraction toward anyone setting a screen. At 175 pounds, he can't keep getting nailed like this, especially with all the hits he takes on drives to the basket, but one presumes a combination of experience and self-preservation instinct will cure the problem.

2007-08 outlook: Williams should see more action this season, taking over for Kevin Ollie as the backup point guard and probably also seeing some minutes in small backcourts with Andre Miller. The projections are cautious because his rookie year numbers were so poor, but I don't think anyone would be terribly shocked if he became this year's Monta Ellis.