Editor's note: Over the next 23 days, ESPN.com will visit all 29 NBA training camps. Our tour begins in the City of Brotherly Love.

PHILADELPHIA -- In the Sixers' practice facility, where Allen Iverson spoke for the first time since his famed PRACTICE news conference, Monday's scene was another surprise.

Granted, it wasn't a shocker on the scale of Answer Unplugged last May, and not the kind you play over and over to count how many times someone yells PRACTICE. It was nonetheless the last sort of scene you expected at the Sixers' season-starting media session.

	Allen Iverson talked about a new season, not practice, at the Sixers' media day.

That's because there was no scene. If anything, the scene was serene.

The Sixers and many locals were braced for a circus atmosphere. After all, Iverson was in the presence of reporters for the first time since his July arrest, when newsfolk from every conceivable outlet staked out his mansion. It was also widely assumed that Iverson, so angry with the aforementioned coverage, wouldn't take questions. Maybe for the entire season.

Instead, things couldn't have been calmer. The news-side types -- no longer interested in AI with all 14 charges dismissed or dropped in his domestic dispute -- didn't join an audience that quietly filed into its seats. Iverson, meanwhile, was subdued throughout his address, even as he was detailing plans for "shutting a whole lot of people up."

How lasting this serenity is, no one could or would dare predict. The lone certainty is that the Sixers, especially coach Larry Brown, embraced the happy tone and optimistic words as omens for a season of rebounding in Philly. Rebounding as in bouncing back.

Brown used the word "juiced" to describe how he feels after getting assurances from Iverson, Derrick Coleman, Aaron McKie and Eric Snow about upholding unity in a locker room that has so much potential for volatility. Keith Van Horn is the new guy and doesn't try to duck the notion that more than a hint of skepticism greets his new life as a No. 2 option behind Iverson.

"People are going to be watching us," Van Horn said. "People are going to be questioning us. It's not just Allen."

Scrutiny and questions abound after a fall like last season's, when the Sixers tumbled from an NBA Finals appearance to a 43-39 record and first-round playoff exit. Injuries, of course, were a considerable factor in the slide, but Brown responded as Brown does -- with considerable changes. Dikembe Mutombo and Matt Harpring were let go to make room for (among others) Van Horn, Greg Buckner, the returning Todd MacCulloch and Monty Williams.

As MacCulloch sagely noted, the core of the team really hasn't changed since Philly's Finals trip in 2001. The ball still runs through Iverson, with Snow and McKie permitted to touch it occasionally. That's why, even with DC anointed by Brown a leader along with those other three veterans, MacCulloch says he feels as though he's returning to the same Sixers who prevented the Lakers from the first 15-0 postseason in history.

Feel aside, though, the Sixers have tons to do over the next 28 days. Forging some dependable chemistry would be a good start. "Chemistry" is the word Van Horn kept throwing out, admitting that Philly can't claim to have any yet. Tied into that is Iverson's ball distribution and penchant for showing up less than prompt for practice. Brown remarked before his Hall of Fame induction that Iverson was "trying to play like a point guard this summer," but Van Horn (again) said more than once Monday that you can't overstate the importance of pickup games.

Another primary goal is re-establishing the tenacious defense that defined the Sixers who went to the Finals. Which could prove difficult without Mutombo (and Theo Ratliff before Deke) lurking near the rim to cover up gambles by Iverson and Co. MacCulloch, DC, Samuel Dalembert -- they're who'll try to give Philly a representative presence in the post, at both ends. Given that Van Horn is no defensive ace, either, the whole project might be as tough as the chemistry stuff.

"We've got a lot to prove," Brown said. "We have to get back to playing like we played two years ago, where everywhere I went after the season people told me they loved our team, they loved our heart, that we were a credit to the NBA.

"It was just one of those years. We were fighting an uphill battle all year. (But) I think we all learned from that. I feel pretty darn good about what lies ahead for this team. I've said this before -- I think Allen's going to have his best year. After what he went through this summer, I think there's a tremendous commitment and a tremendous opportunity for him there."

Yet Brown still couldn't resist seeking out Coleman, Snow and McKie, and, as DC shared, told each of them that "you guys didn't help me as much as you should have." Brown does believe that the Sixers are deeper and more versatile than they were even in the Finals season, but it's all meaningless Day 1 spin unless Van Horn -- heck, the whole franchise -- builds back some confidence.

"I felt I had an extremely good playoffs up until the Finals, but I was obviously disappointed with the way I played in the Finals," Van Horn said. "It really drove me this summer. I really want to get back to the Finals. But I'm not really concerned with what was said (by Kenyon Martin and other Nets). I definitely am my own toughest critic."

	“	I don't want y'all to have a ball with that, so I'm going to make sure I don't even get involved with that," Iverson said of "practice?" "I'm not even going to put a smile on y'alls face by getting into some spat with coach. You won't get that out of me. ”
		— Allen Iverson

Said Iverson: "I think I can play this game better than anybody in the world. I can adjust (my game)."

At the very least, Iverson reported for camp in prime condition, fortified by some rare weightlifting and with his battered body given full clearance by team doctors. Thus, without overblowing all the happy talk too much, it's not much of a stretch to suggest that one calm media day represents more October production than the Sixers saw over a full month this time last year.

A year ago, Iverson and McKie showed up at camp needing surgeries. Snow and Coleman joined them with the injuries and the season's theme was set in plaster.

A year later, McKie's shoulder should be cleared for full contact in two weeks, and Coleman is recovering from offseason knee surgery. Throw in the recent history that shows Philly doing more when expectations are lowered and you understand why Brown said: "I'm juiced." Regarding Iverson specifically, Brown added: "Let's just wait and watch him."

OK, we're watching. Philly's first PRACTICE is Tuesday morning at Penn State.

"I don't want y'all to have a ball with that, so I'm going to make sure I don't even get involved with that," Iverson said of PRACTICE. "I'm not even going to put a smile on y'alls face by getting into some spat with Coach. You won't get that out of me."

Said Brown: "You guys have been around us long enough. There's going to be silly things that happen. But look at the five years I've been here and all the positive things that have happened to me. They didn't happen by accident. That kid had a lot to do with that and I don't forget about that.

"We'll be fine. I'm not going to tell you we're not going to have our knockdown-dragouts, but when you coach 110 games a year, you're going to have situations where you might not always be eye-to-eye. We have the same goals."

Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. E-mail him at marc.stein@espn3.com.