Spencer Hawes

CHICAGO - The Chicago Bulls probably aren't the only team that will be throwing out a different starting lineup when they meet the 76ers in Game 2 on Tuesday at the United Center, as Derrick Rose is out with the knee injury he suffered toward the end of Game 1. It would be hard to imagine that Sixers coach Doug Collins won't adjust his beginning five as he got virtually no production from starter Jodie Meeks in Saturday's 103-91 loss. Evan Turner played 29 minutes, 30 seconds in place of Meeks and scored 12 points and dished five assists.

CLEVELAND - With Sixers center Spencer Hawes skipping this three-game road trip to rest his strained left Achilles tendon, Sixers coach Doug Collins said that he would most likely start rookie Lavoy Allen at center over the next three games and bring fellow rookie Nik Vucevic in with the second unit. "We'll give Lavoy a look tonight and then play Nik with Thad [Young] and those guys," Collins said before Saturday's game against Cleveland. Collins said that his coaching staff thought that it might be better if Vucevic comes in with the reserves.

PLAYERS TO WATCH SIXERS: Evan Turner: It looks like Turner will be in the starting lineup. And it seems that that he will be assigned to guard point guard C.J. Watson. If he can do a good job, play tight offensively and lend some rebounding help, it could go a long way in helping the Sixers entertain thoughts of an upset. BULLS: Rip Hamilton: Hamilton scored 19 points on just seven shots in Game 1 by running around and through a myriad of picks set by teammates. Jrue Holiday will have the defensive assignment at the start, and he'll have to make it harder for Hamilton to get where he wants.

Coach Doug Collins gave a one-word reply when asked whether he was surprised at the way rookie center Nikola Vucevic had performed in the 76ers' last three games. "No," Collins said. Then he elaborated. "I fell in love with him the first time I saw the kid," Collins said of the 7-foot, 240-pounder whom the Sixers drafted with the 16th overall pick last year. "He's really ball-friendly. He knows how to play, and the guys on the team like him and trust him. The coaches like him and trust him. "That's why Rod Thorn and I were praying on draft night that that guy was going to be there for us," Collins said.

Spencer Hawes missed the 76ers game Friday against the Atlanta Hawks with a left Achilles strain, and he also won't play Saturday in Miami against the Heat. Sixers coach Doug Collins said before Friday's game at the Wells Fargo Center that Hawes would be out against Miami. Friday was the second consecutive game Hawes missed with the injury. "We've got to be very careful with this," Collins said. "This is an injury that if you come back too soon, you can be right back to where you were.

According to a 76ers source with knowledge of the situation, there have been no talks, preliminary or otherwise, between the Sixers and the New York Knicks regarding a potential trade for New York Knicks forward Amar'e Stoudemire. "No, that's completely false," the source, speaking under conditions of anonymity, said. "There have been no conversations with them about Amar'e. " The source was referring to a report that surfaced over the weekend on CSNPhilly.com. The report said that the 76ers had asked the Knicks about Stoudemire's availability, adding that the Sixers were just doing their due diligence.

Before NBA free agency began on July 1, 76ers president and general manager Rod Thorn said that the team's first order of business would be to re-sign unrestricted free agents Spencer Hawes and Lou Williams. On Wednesday, the 76ers made good on part of that equation, agreeing in principle on a two-year, $13 million deal with Hawes, a center. Hawes can't officially sign the deal, which was first reported by Yahoo Sports, until the league lifts the moratorium on signing contracts on July 11. The Sixers have had conversations with Williams, a shooting guard and the team's leading scorer last season.

The 76ers on Thursday got center Kwame Brown's signature on a contract that will pay him $6 million over the next two seasons, his agent said. "It's done. We signed today," Chicago-based Mark Bartelstein said when asked about the status of the deal that Brown and the Sixers agreed to last Friday Brown, the first high school player taken with the No. 1 overall pick, in 2001, has averaged just 6.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per game over an 11-year career. Last season, he appeared in just nine games before suffering a torn pectoral muscle that required season-ending surgery.

IF THERE is anything that was known before this shortened NBA season, it was the unknown. How would the schedule give a true indication of who the best teams are? Would there be teams with extreme advantages or disadvantages? How will the scheduled affect the players physically? The answer to the last question is; not very well. A look throughout the league of the injured resembles a M*A*S*H unit, and the 76ers are no different with starting center Spencer Hawes sidelined last night for the fourth straight game with a strained left Achilles' and backup center Nikola Vucevic sidelined with a strained left quad suffered in Saturday's loss in Miami.