Andre Iguodala

DENVER - Seven months removed from the trade that sent him to Denver, Andre Iguodala still has nothing but good things to say about his former 76ers teammates. "I try to look forward," said Iguodala, who was sent to Denver in the four-team trade that brought injured center Andrew Bynum to Philadelphia. "I don't live with regrets. I still talk to the guys in Philly. But we talk mostly about things outside of basketball. I talk to Jrue [Holiday] about getting married. . . . And I talk with Evan [Turner]

Andre Iguodala tried to remain stoic about his much anticipated return to face his former 76ers team in Wednesday's opener at the Wells Fargo Center against the Denver Nuggets. Yet while speaking to reporters following this morning's shootaround, Iguodala alternated between being nostalgic and concentrating on the matter at hand. "I am trying to figure out where we are as a team, and really there is too much going on in my mind to think about it," he said about his comeback. Yet before coming, he posted a note on his personal website  thanking the Sixers fans and the organization with which he spent his first eight NBA seasons.

This was not the successful return to Philadelphia that Andre Iguodala might have envisioned when he was dealt by the 76ers to Denver in August in a four-team blockbuster. Not only did he struggle to find his way on offense but so did his teammates during Wednesday's 84-75 loss to the Sixers in the NBA opener for both teams at the Wells Fargo Center. Iguodala had 11 points, shooting 5 of 13 from the field, missing all four three-pointers, and shooting 1 for 3 from the line. He had four rebounds, four assists, two steals, four turnovers, and one blocked shot.

Andre Iguodala is a first-time all-star, a selection in which winning trumped individual scoring statistics. The Sixers are 18-8 and entered Thursday as the No. 3 team in the Eastern Conference. Iguodala, 28, was among the seven Eastern Conference reserves named Thursday night. The NBA All-Star Game is scheduled for Feb. 26 in Orlando. Last week, the starters - selected by the fans - were announced. The Eastern Conference head coaches picked the reserves. The coaches had to select two guards, two forwards, a center, and two wild cards; they could not vote for their own players.

With the keystone - Elton Brand - locked in as the 76ers' power forward for the next five years, attention has turned to the futures of Andre Iguodala and Lou Williams, both restricted free agents and both integral pieces of last season's playoff team. On Sunday, Brand said he had been assured by the team's management that the Sixers would match any offer made to Iguodala, a guard-forward who last season averaged 19.9 points per game. Yesterday, Williams' agent, Merle Scott, said that although a number of teams have shown interest in his client, none has made a formal offer, and both parties - Williams and the Sixers - intend to make a deal that keeps the guard in Philadelphia.

The 76ers traded Andre Iguodala to Denver in the middle of the Summer Olympics as part of the massive four-team trade that landed the Sixers center Andrew Bynum and shooting guard Jason Richardson. On Wednesday, Iguodala and the Nuggets are scheduled to open the regular season at the Wells Fargo Center. "I really haven't thought about" returning to Philadelphia, Iguodala told Ben Hochman of the Denver Post on Monday. "I'm really trying to focus on what I can control, and that's our mind-set.

For too much of last night's 91-87 victory by the 76ers at the Wachovia Center, the Memphis Grizzlies hung around like a bad house guest: unwelcomed and oblivious. A four-quarter tussle was not what the 76ers (27-24) had planned for their final game before the all-star break, their last contest in a seven-game homestand. The Sixers wanted to literally run Memphis from the court. But there were the Grizzlies (15-37), with their second-leading scorer, Rudy Gay, in street clothes, ahead by three points with only a handful of possessions left.

About one hour and 15 minutes before officially starting his NBA career last night, Andre Iguodala sat by his locker munching grapes, apparently oblivious to the enormity of the event. The frazzled nerves that are supposed to accompany rookies before their first NBA game weren't apparent. The 76ers' first-round draft choice, talked calmly before the game, insisting he was ready. Then he went out and backed up that assertion. Iguodala enjoyed a scintillating first quarter during an improbable 98-95 win over the Boston Celtics at the FleetCenter.

A riddle from the road: Who is the only member of the 76ers to start every one of the team's 27 games this season? Hint: His initials are A.I. Gotcha. It's not Allen Iverson. It's Andre Iguodala, the 20-year-old rookie who, instead of taking on a third year of college basketball at Arizona, is getting a crash course in the NBA while nightly taking on the opponent's best player at the defensive end. Iguodala, who ranks second on the team to Iverson in minutes played, has found himself matched up against some of the NBA's best, including Boston's Paul Pierce, Houston's Tracy McGrady, Seattle's Ray Allen, Orlando's Grant Hill and Denver's Carmelo Anthony.

Andre Iguodala returned to the court for the first time in more than two weeks, but the key question is whether the 76ers swingman will be able to stay. Iguodala said he went through about half of Monday's practice at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, including a 12-minute full-court session. It was his first action since playing 40 minutes in a 95-89 win at Denver on Dec. 26. In that game, Iguodala had nine points, eight rebounds and five assists. Iguodala has been sidelined with Achilles tendinitis for 12 games this season - or twice as many as he missed in his first six seasons in the league.

Andre Iguodala brought the energy and the Denver Nuggets rediscovered their toughness in time to stave off elimination Tuesday night with a 107-100 win over the visiting Golden State Warriors. The Nuggets slowed down Golden State's guards, jump-started their transition game, and got under Andrew Bogut's skin in Game 5, jumping out to a 22-point lead before weathering a Warriors rally. Game 6 is Thursday night in Oakland. Golden State leads the series, three games to two. Iguodala had 25 points and 12 rebounds.

Andre Iguodala brought the energy and the Denver Nuggets rediscovered their toughness in time to stave off elimination Tuesday night with a 107-100 win over the visiting Golden State Warriors. The Nuggets slowed down Golden State's guards, jump-started their transition game and got under Andrew Bogut's skin in Game 5, jumping out to a 22-point lead before weathering a Warriors' rally. Game 6 is Thursday night in Oakland. Golden State leads the series, 3-2. Iguodala had 25 points and 12 rebounds.

Chris Bosh scored 23 points, including a winning three-pointer with 1.9 seconds remaining, and the Miami Heat beat the Spurs, 88-86, on Sunday night in San Antonio with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Mario Chalmers sitting out with injuries. The Heat essentially have a four-game cushion with nine remaining for the league's best record and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. Elsewhere: Carmelo Anthony had 24 points and 10 rebounds, and the New York Knicks extended their winning streak to eight games and moved closer to ending Boston's hold on the Atlantic Division title with a 108-89 victory in New York.

DENVER - Seven months removed from the trade that sent him to Denver, Andre Iguodala still has nothing but good things to say about his former 76ers teammates. "I try to look forward," said Iguodala, who was sent to Denver in the four-team trade that brought injured center Andrew Bynum to Philadelphia. "I don't live with regrets. I still talk to the guys in Philly. But we talk mostly about things outside of basketball. I talk to Jrue [Holiday] about getting married. . . . And I talk with Evan [Turner]

DENVER - Just as the 76ers started playing some really good basketball, along comes this hellacious road trip. After a nice home win Monday against the Portland Trail Blazers, the team boarded a flight the next morning for Los Angeles, had a quick practice and faced a Clippers team that had played poorly the night before. The result was a somewhat predictable 101-72 stomping. Immediately after, the Sixers jumped a plane to Denver, arrived in the wee hours of the morning (losing an hour in the process)

LOS ANGELES - Having lost three times to the Heat during Miami's historic 24-game winning streak, the 76ers will get a chance to play another streaking team on Thursday. Denver (47-22) will play host to the Sixers on Thursday night as it tries to extend its winning streak to 14 games. "I think with all of the hoopla around the Heat, a lot of teams are sleeping on Denver," Sixers forward Thaddeus Young said Wednesday as the team prepared to face the Pacific Division-leading Los Angeles Clippers.

LOS ANGELES – During a four-game homestand that saw them play some of the better basketball of the season, the 76ers put together some impressive wins against teams like Indiana, Brooklyn and Portland, But the brutal reality of where they stand in the NBA pecking order reared its ugly face again as the Los Angeles Clippers completed a season sweep of them at the Staples Center on Wednesday, easily beating the Sixers 101-72. The Sixers loss extended their road losing streak to 14 games.

There is no doubt that the theme of this season for the 76ers is "What Could Have Been. " In August, after Andrew Bynum was acquired in the now infamous four-team trade that plucked Andre Iguodala, Nikola Vucevic, Maurice Harkless and a protected first-round pick from the team, the speculation was that the Sixers could contend for the Eastern Conference title. The talk wasn't so much of exactly how many wins they could pile up with a roster that included a bunch of sharpshooters on the perimeter to benefit from the double-teams Bynum would command, but, rather, how many more than 50 wins would they get. Remember those days?

As recently as one week ago, 76ers general manager Tony DiLeo reiterated that Andrew Bynum was still at the forefront of the 76ers' plans. Bynum "is Plan A," DiLeo said. "Until we get the answers, until we make a decision, it's a calculated decision or a risk-management decision, that's something we'll have to make at the end of the year, going into free agency. " By now, we are well past the team's good intentions of last August, when the Sixers moved pieces young (Nikola Vucevic and Maurice Harkless and a lottery-protected first-round draft pick)

THEIR SEASON lies in wreckage around them, reduced to rubble by the knees of one player and the hearts of a dozen others. If the Sixers are to salvage anything from this ruined effort, they must solve problems of their own creation. They need to solve the Bynum Paradox, and they need to start playing hard. Andrew Bynum, accountable to no one, appears unlikely to play a game for the Sixers this season. Most of the rest of the team, seeing the treatment afforded Bynum, has quit.