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**Coatesvillain** · 12-14-2004, 11:19 AM

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"We’re nowhere near where we need to be or where we can get with the talent level in what we have," he said Monday after the team went through an hour-long practice at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. "We’re not even scratching the surface, not even remotely near where we need to be."

At least one of his players wouldn’t disagree with that. When a reporter paused during a question on the defense, Aaron McKie filled in the blank.

"Sucks," the veteran guard said.

The problems are many for the 8-12 Sixers who take on Denver tonight at the Wachovia Center (7 p.m., CSN).

"We have a lot of young guys, we have a new coach," O’Brien said. "We have six or seven new players on the basketball team and it takes some time to put a new group together, to put a new system in, to get guys comfortable. Guys’ performances have been up and down.

"We do not understand our defensive schemes well enough to perform on a regular basis. We do not execute what we want always on offense and defense. We have been a sporadic rebounding team. We have been a sporadic team from the standpoint of turnovers. But it is a team that tries to improve every day and they improved Monday."

Even the wins aren’t always cause for celebration. After reviewing the tape of Sunday’s 107-101 win over Milwaukee, O’Brien was stunned that they’d won the game.

"We defended the last six minutes well," he said. "The first three quarters we challenged less than 30 percent of the shots. How we won that basketball game with the defensive effort we had for the first three quarters I’ll never know. I watched the DVD again and I can’t... To make up for our defensive deficiencies it took season-highs from three players to squeak out a game."

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