There is a collection of much celebrated powerhouses in the NBA -- the Lakers, Celtics, Spurs, Suns and the like.

One of my favorite things about this season, though, is that various of those "other" teams have gone on magnificent and improbable runs. The Blazers were "it" for a while. The Rockets were on the kind of fire that makes history. The Hornets are some kind of hot streak that seems like it might never end.

Lost, somewhat, in the shuffle, are the Philadelphia 76ers. They are not in the top of the standings. They have not set any records with win streaks.

But it is nonetheless a magnificent time to be in Philadelphia.

I just spent much of the day at the Sixers' practice, and talked to head coach Maurice Cheeks, general manager Ed Stefanski, rookie Thaddeus Young, and star Andre Iguodala.

No one disputes the same basic series of events.

The team was in fairly dire straits. They had done a lot of losing. The few signs of hope were the things bad teams tend to get without even trying -- young players, cap room, and draft picks.

That wasn't enough for Billy King to keep his job running the team, and King was fired in December, when the team had five wins, 12 losses, and little hope.

His replacement, Stefanski, almost instantly did the things that are normally associated with throwing in the towel to kick off a long-term rebuild. He traded away a good player -- Kyle Korver -- who is a shooter in his prime. He said that he would take some time to evaluate the entire organization, which is not the same as saying you love the coaching staff (he later gave Coach Cheeks a contract extension for one more year past the end of this season). And he also talked to coach Maurice Cheeks about playing the youngsters who had been mired on the bench. The reason? "We wanted to see," says Stefanski, "if they could play."

When teams do those things, they are saying that they are ready to lose.

The Sixers did those things, however, and somehow started winning. They beat some bad teams, and slowly more and more good teams. Houston fell. Dallas. Cleveland. Orlando. Things were looking up a little, with younger, more athletic players like Rodney Carney and Thaddeus Young in the mix. Then there were wins against Phoenix, Detroit, San Antonio, Denver, and even at Boston.

The team is now .500, and is likely to be fifth, sixth, or seventh seed when the playoffs start in the East. And since early January, the team is 19-7 and this season they have beaten every team they might face in the first round.

A veteran Philadelphia beat writer just said to me that "if anyone tells you they saw this coming, they're lying."

And here's the thing: if you consider all those "bad team" things: the young players, the cap room, and the draft picks, and put them together with a team that is actually capable of making some noise ... the whole picture changes.

All of a sudden it's a good time to wear a Sixers uniform.

Consider the case of Maurice Cheeks. Not too long ago he was mired in a tough stand-off with Allen Iverson, and was on everybody's coaching hot seat. Even a few months ago he was thought to be short for this job.

"With all that stuff going on," he says, "I just focused on my job. I didn't think about all that other stuff."

Now, however, he is being talked about as a candidate for coach of the year, and if his team can simply maintain what it has done lately, he'll be in position to command a fat raise when his contract is up next year.

The story has long been that Maurice Cheeks was a good guy. But there have long been doubts about his abilities as a strategist. Through it all, Cheeks has never wavered from a certain, understated classiness.

Even today, after talking to the media, Cheeks changed into jeans, then, evidently on his way back out the door on his only day home for a while, he returned to the court to help a Sixers ball boy with his shot.

It's an echo of the time he famously helped a young girl finish singing the national anthem when the words escaped her.

Cheeks swears it is not an act. "It's just the way my mother and father raised me," he says. "I grew up tough ... in a tough neighborhood, and I had good parenting. My parents brought me up the correct way. Despite any hardships. Despite any obstacles. It was always: be respectful of people as best you could. I'm not trying to portray an image. I am who I am."

One thing that occurs to me is that one of the benefits of being a genuinely good person is that people like having you around. The court that we were standing on ... seven years ago Cheeks and I stood on that same spot, as he was an assistant to Larry Brown on that Sixer team that made the Finals.

Almost everyone else who worked for the Sixers then is gone. The PR staff, the coaching staff, and almost all of the players (Kevin Ollie is back!).

But Cheeks is still here, and he could be here for many years to come.

More on the Sixers later this week.

(Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)