Brian Skinner said this group is hungry, maybe a little more so after hearing that ESPN.com had ranked it 23rd in the NBA in its preseason power rankings.

"I think that’s a big motivating point right there," he said. "We’ve got the kind of guys that are really hungry and really want to go out and try to win some ball games."

New coach Jim O’Brien is looking at tonight’s game as a chance to see how far the team has come in learning the system he’s installed.

"I think we’ll be aggressive defensively," O’Brien said. "I would hope to be able to turn things over and I think we should be fairly solid on the glass. I think our offense is good when we move the basketball. What I’m looking for is good shot selection, low turnovers, a lot of deflections defensively and make sure we understand the importance of challenging shots."

It will be more a learning experience than anything else, and no player is likely to see more than 20 minutes of playing time.

"(Tonight’s) good just to get our stuff on tape and start building a video library of what we want to do," O’Brien said. "It’ll be good. Our guys are tired of playing against each other."

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After nine practice sessions, the Sixers had no injuries to report.

O’Brien said he’s never been through an NBA camp like this.

"And I would guess it’s never been done before in the NBA," he said. "And it’s not even not having an injury, it’s not having a guy miss one drill."

Part of that can be attributed to offseason conditioning, O’Brien said, but part of it comes down to attitude and competition.

"I think our guys are fairly mentally tough," he said. "It’s also a great deal of competition for jobs and playing time, and if you sit out I guess there’s a concern you’re gonna get behind someone you’re competing with for playing time. More than that, I think it’s the start of a good attitude that practice is important."

Luck also plays a role.

"Injuries are like freak things," McKie said. "It can be an unfortunate thing where you have four or five guys go down and it’s not because they’re not in shape, it’s just when you’re playing a sport where everybody’s moving fast, cutting and jumping and rebounding, guys are gonna get hurt. Fortunately for us nobody got hurt."

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One of the referees for the Sixers’ scrimmage Monday morning was Scott Smith, son of former University of North Carolina coach Dean Smith.

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The 76ers will open their shootaround Oct. 23 to the general public.

The session, which begins at 10 a.m. at the Wachovia Center, is free, as is parking at the complex.