Call it the Ish Smith effect.
Since acquiring the point guard from the New Orleans Pelicans on Christmas Eve, the Sixers have been noticeably more competitive. They've even won a few games.
New chairman of basketball operations Jerry Colangelo, who has spent some time with the Sixers during their trip out on the West Coast, has seen a drastic change in the team firsthand.
"There's a different feeling about the team right now," he said during the broadcast of Sixers-Lakers on Comcast SportsNet Friday night. "They really believe they have a chance to win every game they're going out to play now. It's amazing what one addition can make. In this particular case, Ish has been a great, great addition in terms of raising the bar for all the players."
Colangelo has made an immediate impact in his brief tenure with the Sixers. Since being hired in mid-December, he's brought in former Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni as an associate head coach to Brett Brown and made they aforementioned trade for Smith.
There's a plan in place. Colangelo is embracing the team's rebuild and understands more moves have to be made. Just don't expect drastic changes overnight.
"It sounds wrong to say, 'look be patient,'" Colangelo said. "I'm trying to be patient with myself. I've only been around for a few weeks and I'd like to see things done sooner but that's not reality. Again, I would ask [the fan base] for patience."
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It's going to take some heavy lifting to make the Sixers competitive again. Could bringing in Colangelo prove to be a turning point for the franchise? That remains to be seen.
But for the first time in a long time, there's some optimism surrounding the team.
"When people ask, 'how long is that going to take?' I wish I knew that," Colangelo said. "I wish I could look into the crystal ball and say, 'It's going go happen in one year or two years or three years,' but you can't. All you can do is everything you can do to get better as fast as you can but stay with the plan."
To hear more from Colangelo on the Sixers' process and rebuild, watch the video above.