Sixers managing owner Joshua Harris optimistic ahead of season opener

Right on schedule.

That's how Joshua Harris, 76ers managing owner, views the franchise he purchased in 2011 on the eve of the 2012-13 season.

"When I purchased the team, I said that my goal was to bring a championship team to the city of Philadelphia," Harris said via phone Monday night. "We made some changes and some upgrades in the offseason, and I think we are on track to do that. Obviously this isn't going to happen overnight. But I like the direction we're headed."

Harris extended coach Doug Collins' contract through next season. Along with president of basketball operations Rod Thorn, Collins and Harris concluded that the assembled talent had taken the Sixers, who reached the second round of the playoffs in May, as far as they could go.

So the Sixers returned just five players from last year's team and brought in eight new faces - the most notable being former Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum - in an effort to improve the roster.

"I love the team, love the changes," Harris said. "We added size and shooting. We added a veteran presence in Jason Richardson. And we added a star player in Andrew Bynum. It was hard to lose some of the guys we lost, but I think this team is better than last year's."

Even without Bynum early on because of sore knees?

"Yes," Harris says. "You could see it during the preseason, when we went 6-1 and shot the ball so well, that the team will be better. The job is to make sure that when Andrew is ready to come back he fits right in. I'm confident that will be the case."

While some Sixers fans have expressed a belief that Bynum, still experiencing pain as a result of bone bruise in his right knee, might have been a bad acquisition - he has had surgery on both knees in the past - Harris said that knowing what he does about Bynum's knees, he would make the trade again.

"He got the bone bruise, obviously, but in the scheme of things hopefully that will end up being a minor injury," Harris said. "We had some expectations that that is part of the package. But I would make the trade all over again. It is good having a superstar in Philly. It makes this a more attractive place for future players. The fact that he might miss some games at the start of the season, well, I think it would be better to miss games now than it is later in the season."

Since Harris' group bought the Sixers from Comcast-Spectacor for $287 million in July 2011, the franchise has been on an upward arc both on and off the court.

The Sixers, who haven't made an appearance in the Eastern Conference finals since they reached the Finals in 2001, were one victory shy of reaching the conference finals last season.

With virtually the same roster last season as the year before, the Sixers in 2011-12 saw their attendance make a dramatic jump from 25th overall (14,741) to 15th last season when they drew an average of 17,502 fans for their 33 home dates.

Last season, the Sixers made the in-game experience much more entertaining than it had been in previous seasons. They began every game with American Idol contestant Ayla Brown singing the national anthem; they added confetti showers after every victory.

But Harris knows that will only go so far in a sports crazy city starving for a championship. Philadelphia doesn't want a carnival atmosphere, it wants a winner.

"There is a formula that we know that works," Harris said. "If you have three top-15 players, the odds are that sooner or later you will win a championship. Clearly, we think Andrew is in that category. So we know we have to add another piece. We will be looking."