Questions Mount for Sixers

September 27, 1984

Is Julius Erving happy?

Maybe. Doctor J hasn't forgotten the team's trade discussions with the Los Angeles Clippers. Nor has he forgotten the puzzling, painful way the situation was publicly handled.

He is 34, in the final season of his contract, finally recovered from groin and stomach injuries that debilitated him during the playoffs.

''Is Doc ready?'' Cunningham said, responding to a question. ''In my mind, yes. I know the desire that is inside the man. It was tremendous before we won a title, and it still is. The contractual stuff, whether he wants to play another year after this one, I'm staying out of. I'll leave that to (owner) Harold Katz.''

Will the Erving rumors ever die?



Maybe. Sources suggested during the summer that the Clippers still were interested. The Clippers say they aren't, but it is hardly a secret that they'd like a showpiece other than Terry Cummings.

* Billy, this is Andrew Toney. Andrew, this is Billy. Andrew? Andrewwwww!!!

Where have you heard that before? Cunningham finally admitted after the playoffs that he had a communications problem with his sweet-shooting, occasionally footloose guard.

Has that problem been solved?

''I hope so,'' Cunningham said. ''I know I can't go into the season with a negative attitude. We're both a year older. I think we'll work it out. I know we will.''

See how Cunningham responds the first time Toney unloads from 28 feet when he - or somebody - could have managed a good, selective shot from, say, 18.

Listen for Cunningham's response when Toney explains the moment by saying he was open.

* Speak to us, Moses.

No, no, not just to us. Cunningham has to hope Moses Malone - the 1983 regular season and Championship Series MVP - is talking to the immediate team family, specifically Katz.

Malone was stung by comments made by the owner during a Western trip last season, and later was stung by injuries. He may be over one, but what about the other?

''All I'll say is, we need him healthy,'' Cunningham said. ''If he is, then we need him to be the dominant force he was in '83.''

That's all?

* Is Barkley ready to make a pro effort? Didn't the Auburn coaches have to continually prod him?

''This is different,'' Barkley said. ''In college practices, I never felt there were enough guys who could push me. There's obviously a lot more talent on this team. They won't have any problem with me.''

* Filling in the blanks. As in, what's the guard rotation, can Clemon Johnson be an effective backup center, how soon will Clint Richardson be ready to contribute, how prepared is Maurice Cheeks to assume a leadership role?

''It's a clean slate,'' Cunningham said. ''A lot of people didn't perform last year the way they had the year before. I'm interested in what they can do now.''

Two seasons ago, Toney, Cheeks, Richardson and Edwards formed the league's finest rotation. Now, Richardson is recovering from a medical procedure designed to solve his recurring kidney problems, Edwards is a free agent, and Sedale Threatt is trying to establish himself. Johnson was a force in the championship run, but struggled last season.

* So what does Cunningham really want out of this camp?

''An attitude,'' he said.

''We won a lot of games last season, but we rarely played the type of basketball you could build a program on. We were overconfident, went through too many stretches where we'd be down half-a-dozen points with five or six minutes left, then turn it on. We couldn't keep doing that, and we couldn't apply the necessary pressure from the outset.

''The thing I liked most about the Celtics last season was, they won games they should've lost. That's something we've got to begin to do again.''