Philadelphia had even made up ground on the New York Knicks despite their trade for Carmelo Anthony.

Forward Elton Brand attributed the team’s turnaround to tremendous coaching and the growth of the younger players.

The team did not make any moves before the trade deadline, but Brand said that the Sixers are in a good place with their current roster.

Philadelphia will be a fun team to watch in the second half of the season and could give some of the top teams fits in the postseason.

The Philadelphia 76ers know that the NBA season lasts 82 games. They hope after a difficult first half-dozen games, Sunday is the start of something good.

Facing the Knicks at Madison Square Garden to open a five-game road trip, Philly ran out to a strong 33-25 lead after one quarter en route to a 106-96 victory.

The win marked Philly’s second triumph of the season. The 76ers endured a four-game losing streak to start the season, ending that stumble with a 101-75 rout of Indiana on Wednesday.

Now Philly heads west for road games at Oklahoma City, at Dallas and at San Antonio before a road game at Cleveland Nov. 16 concludes the trip.

Sunday, Elton Brand paced Philly with 20 points. Jrue Holiday and Lou Williams each added 19 points. Evan Turner scored 14 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in the victory.

—30—

For Thorn, the new job is not so different or far from the old one. Thorn held the same position with the New Jersey Nets.

He decided to leave the Nets when the new Russian ownership group took over, but wanted to still be involved with the NBA.

Thorn will move above general manager Ed Stefanski, who he worked with for six seasons in New Jersey.

Stefanski is an old friend of Thorn’s but finds himself on the hot seat, which could lead to an awkward situation.

Turner showcased bad body language, looked out of shape and simply didn’t make many good plays.

However, the 76ers are not concerned given the amount of time Turner spent away from the game following the end of the season.

Turner played very little basketball for the three month period between the end of his team’s NCAA tournament run and the start of the NBA summer league.

Head coach Doug Collins said he hopes Turner isn’t frustrated and simply learned what it takes to be a great player in the NBA.

It was unknown what the 76ers would do with his pick, and speculation raged on for several weeks.

Some felt the Sixers were determined to trade out of the spot while others saw Derrick Favors as the obvious choice.

In the end, new head coach Doug Collins was scared off by Favors’ poor workouts and took the more sure thing.

Turner might not have the high ceiling of other draft prospects, but he is the most polished player coming out of college.

Dalembert was unhappy with his role last year and asked to be traded, so it looks like he got his wish.

The center was always on the verge of becoming a significant player but never quite reached that level.

The 76ers had hopes that the shot-blocker would become a better offensive player and one of the better centers in the league.

Maybe Dalembert will benefit from a change of scenery. Meanwhile, the 76ers pick up two gritty low-post players.

A lot of reports have the 76ers favoring big man Derrick Favors or even possibly trading away the pick.

Favors would give the 76ers an inside presence and a player who many compare to Dwight Howard.

If the Sixers trade the pick, they would want the team to take Elton Brand’s hefty contract off their hands.

That’s likely a major hangup in any trade negotiations, as Brand has gone from All-Star to dud after undergoing surgery.

Collins has spent a lot of time working as a basketball analyst and has not coached in the NBA since 1998.

He spent time as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls in the late 80’s and with the Detroit Pistons in the mid 90’s.

Philadelphia fired head coach Eddie Jordan after just one season at the helm as the team fell well short of expectations.

There is some hope in Philadelphia and for Collins after the Sixers unexpectedly received the No. 2 overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.

They didn’t quite make it all the way to No. 1, but being in the top two is the key in this draft.

The Sixers could certainly use a point guard in John Wall, but it’s likely he will be the top pick.

The team also already has Jrue Holliday and is hoping that he is the future at the point guard position.

That means Evan Turner would end up with the Sixers, and he would certainly help them out.

The Sixers have already interviewed Collins for the position and are also meeting with other candidates.

The team just recently interviewed Avery Johnson, who had some good years in Dallas before he was let go.

Collins is a great basketball mind but has not guided an NBA team to the playoffs in more than 20 years.

That alone has to cause some concern, but the Sixers have other candidates they like as well.