Allen Iverson's slashing and crashing has earned him a collection of individual awards that mean little each empty off-season. The 76ers guard is known as one of the best active NBA players without a championship.

At 31 and entering his 11th season, there is little reason to think this is the year he'll get that coveted ring. But the former MVP hasn't surrendered hope that he can bring a title back to Philadelphia.

``For 11 years, you know whatever squad I'm out there with, I have to believe in them and believe we can accomplish something,'' Iverson said after Thursday's practice. ``The team is better than it was last year.''

That is the voice of an optimist, not a realist, especially after the Sixers went 38-44 last season and missed the playoffs for the second time in three seasons. They made no significant roster moves and are picked by many to finish at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

This season might be like the last few for Iverson _ an all-star berth, a run at the scoring title and no meaningful games to play in April, May and beyond.

While the Sixers failed to upgrade their roster, they hope something as simple as liking each other a little more will add up to a few more wins, maybe enough to sneak into the playoffs. Last season, some players took advantage of coach Maurice Cheeks' easygoing personality, others grumbled about their roles and the locker room discord affected their play.

``(It was) enough to get us off track, honestly,'' Iverson said. ``I definitely won't get into it and the players involved in some of the things last year, but it wasn't together like it had been in the past and like we are right now.''

Now they believe two weeks of training camp in Europe where the Sixers had no one else to see the sights or grab some food with but themselves has led to a tighter bunch of teammates. Some have talked about a team paintball excursion or maybe watching NFL games together. Others have stayed late in the gym for physical games of 1-on-1.

``For a while last year, I think with the losses and negativity, guys got down a little bit,'' forward Kyle Korver said. ``When you have that mentality, it's harder to play basketball, it's harder to play good basketball.''

With Iverson and Chris Webber pacing the offence, Philadelphia won't have much trouble scoring. But the Sixers were one of the worst defensive teams in the league last season and their frequent fourth-quarter collapses all but knocked them out of the post-season. Cheeks has already worked them harder and with more attention to detail on defence than he did in last year's training camp.

Not since Larry Brown led the Sixers to the NBA final in 2001 have the Sixers stressed defensive accountability like this. Even Iverson is on board with the plan.

``It's going to take me sacrificing a lot of things on the defensive end as far as not gambling as much as I usually gamble and just always try and be in the right spots on defence,'' Iverson said. ``The whole thing's going to start with me.''

The whole thing in Philly always starts _ and usually ends _ with Iverson. Even though he heard his name in endless trade rumours in the off-season, Iverson says there's nowhere else he wants to be, no matter how far away the Sixers are from a championship.

``I always wanted to stay here because of the loyalty, but it's all I know,'' he said. ``For me to go try and win a championship somewhere, if I ever did it, it would probably feel good if I was to contribute to it ... but it wouldn't feel the same as winning one here.''