"Injured Sixers Spencer Hawes and Nik Vucevic were working with assistant coach Jeff Capel at the end of what Doug Collins called a meeting, not a practice. There is improvement, but it is unlikely either will play Friday when the 3-16 Bobcats come to town.

Meanwhile, the next time the Sixers practice where they actually get on the court and work on basketball plays will be March 11. The NBA's lockout-shortened schedule is just that grueling.

"We put a couple things in at shoot around that we tried to run in games, but because we haven't practiced our guys don't have any timing yet," Collins said."