Well, training camp opened today at Penn State and everyone was present and accounted for.

Whether they’re in shape or not remains to be seen. According to Mo Cheeks, you can’t tell that after just a couple of hours in the gym.

“The first day is always very enthusiastic and I thought for the most part our guys were ready to get out there,” he said. “There are a lot of new additions and the guys that were here before were anxious to play with those guys.”

The pressure is on Cheeks and his guys this season. Adding a star veteran like Elton Brand ratchets up the pressure. Maybe that’s why most of the players were already reciting the one-day-a-time mantra and talking about how it takes time to work in new players.

But Cheeks knows that this team is by far more competitive than the one he took into last season. (Lou Amundson, anyone?)

“Certainly everybody wants to think that their team is improved,” the coach said. “Only time will tell. Certainly we have some additions that on paper looks like we have a very good team. I think we just have to wait and put all the pieces together and see how that plays out. When you add the people that we’ve added that improves your team right away on paper but we have to get out on the floor and prove it. That’s what training camp is for, that’s what preseason is for.”

The Sixers had a second session Tuesday night and Cheeks hinted that they might even play a little bit rather than just go through drills as they did all morning. In fact, he’s said he’ll be spending a lot more time this camp going five-on-five than he has in the past.

That, again, might be because with this group there’s no excuse for a slow start and Cheeks wants to get them acclimated to one another as quickly as possible.

When Andre Miller left the Sixers last spring he didn’t sound eager to talk about an extension to his contract, which expires at the end of this season.

On Monday, when the team convened at the Wachovia Center for Media Day, he was more upbeat. While Miller said he wasn’t sure if his new agent, Andy Miller, and president Ed Stefanski haven’t talked about an extension, Miller didn’t seem to mind.

“I’m not in a hurry,” he said. “I’m going to be here. I’m happy here. So I’ll keep doing what I’m doing.”

The addition of Elton Brand no doubt played a role in Miller’s improved attitude toward the Sixers.

“Every player wants to experience a good team, playoffs, and eventually get to that championship level,” Miller said. “I think in my time here, the team and the players I’ve played with have gotten better. The practice habits carried over to games. A couple of veterans are professionals and they’re experienced. It definitely rubs off on the young guys.”


And Miller didn’t seem surprised that Brand chose the Sixers.

“ I didn’t know it was going to happen like that, that fast,” he said of the July signing. “I think he saw the talent level here and he weighed his options. For me, as a point guard, it’s going to make my job easier, and he’s going to push guys and make guys around him better. We want him to ease in there.”

The 76ers held what has become an annual media lunch with head coach Maurice Cheeks on Thursday, then later in the day announced five additions to their training camp roster.

In addition to the 14 players under contract, the Sixers will take Andre Emmett, Justin Reed, Jared Reiner, Maureece Rice and Antywane Robinson to Penn State with them when training camp opens next week.

Robinson played his college ball at Temple and Rice is a graduate of Strawberry Mansion High School who played his college ball at George Washington University.

Emmett, Reed and Reiner have previous NBA experience.

Next up is media day on Monday, then the first of two-a-days at the Bryce Jordan Center on Tuesday morning.

The first preseason game is Oct. 8.

The Sixers signed Donyell Marshall, a native of Reading, on Tuesday.

“I just want to say how excited I am to be part of an organization that I grew up rooting for,” Marshall said a day later. “It gives my family a chance to see me play more and to play for a team that’s up and coming. I think earlier in my career I’m not sure I would have been able to handle playing for the Sixers being that close to my family, but being a seasoned vet I think I’m very prepared for it and excited to come to a team that’s made plenty of moves to move in the right direction and have a good chance of winning.”

Marshall is and always has been a fan of the Sixers and the other Philly sports teams, with one exception. He abandoned the Eagles long ago in favor of the Steelers.

“When I grew up that’s when the Steelers won the four Super Bowls, and I like Lynn Swann and Terry Bradshaw and Franco Harris and guys like that,” he said. “The funny thing is I tried so hard to root for the Eagles and it always seemed like every time they had a good team something happened that they would get there and just never pulled it through. They’d always break your heart.”

Can you really argue with that?

Marshall’s signing brings the Sixers roster to 14. They’ll likely take a few more to camp, which begins at Penn State on Sept. 30, but those players will most likely be for practice purposes only, not serious candidates for a roster spot.