SAN ANTONIO - As Monty Williams glumly rolled down the main corridor of San Antonio International Airport early yesterday afternoon, the 76ers could only hope they weren't waving goodbye to their season before it ever starts.

But Williams, who had - at least for the moment - emerged as the starting small forward, knew as soon as he felt the instability in his left knee early in the fourth quarter of Thursday night's preseason victory in Houston that something was terribly wrong.

He limped noticeably out of the Compaq Center and learned through an MRI exam yesterday morning that he had suffered a torn left medial meniscus. Williams had arthroscopic surgery performed by Dr. Jack McPhilemy last night is likely to miss 4 to 6 weeks. He will begin rehabilitation on Monday.

With the season starting Tuesday in Orlando, the Sixers don't have that kind of time. They completed their 3-5 preseason with nine available players in a 103-82 loss last night to San Antonio in the new SBC Center.

"We're tired...we didn't even think about playing like a team," Sixers coach Larry Brown said, noting that the Spurs "were so good, they had a lot to do with it. We've got a lot to accomplish. I hope it was just a tired team. We didn't resemble the team that played the last couple of days, sharing the ball and executing."

Williams wasn't sure exactly how he was injured.

"I just know I went in for a layup, but I don't know if it happened on the way up or when I landed," Williams said before boarding his flight to Philadelphia.

Said Brown: "It didn't look terrible on film, but he said he knew right away, running back down the floor, that the knee didn't feel stable."

Williams already had missed the first four games of the preseason with a small tear in his left shoulder. When he resumed practicing, he had vowed "to do everything the rest of the season."

"It's got to be a blow [for him]," Brown said. "He was starting to play and since he's been back, our team has been much, much better. I'm hopeful this will not be a long process, but I didn't think [backup center Samuel Dalembert's] would be a long one."

Williams will have company during rehab. Dalembert will miss at least 12 weeks - somehow the Sixers feel that sounds less severe than 3 months - after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to repair two chondral defects in his left knee (involving cartilage) that were the source of recurring swelling.

The Sixers are remaining in San Antonio until Monday, getting in as much preparation as possible. When practice convened this afternoon, Brown was hopeful that veteran forward/center Mark Bryant - who missed the entire preseason with a right quadriceps injury - would be ready to participate. There was also the chance that forward/guard Greg Buckner, who sprained his right knee in training camp, would do some limited work. Derrick Coleman, projected as the starting power forward, has been doing some spirited non-contact work, but is expected to start the season on the injured list after offseason left knee surgery.

If it's not one thing, it's another. Rookie guard/forward John Salmons sat out the final two preseason games with bronchitis.

Iverson took a hard blow to his left hip with 37 seconds left last night. Meanwhile, Brown declined interest in forward Lee Nailon, waived earlier in the week by New Orleans.

In a perfect world, the Sixers' rotation would have begun with a starting frontcourt of Coleman, Todd MacCulloch and Keith Van Horn and a backcourt of Allen Iverson and Eric Snow. Behind them would have come, in some order, Aaron McKie, Williams, Buckner and another big man from among Bryant, Art Long, Brian Skinner and Olden Polynice.

"[Williams] would have been a great complement for Keith," Brown said. "He did a lot of things [former Sixer] George Lynch did, things maybe people didn't recognize. Hell, he was starting for us. At least until Derrick comes back, we'd have had a good rotation. And I felt, even with Derrick back, he'd still play starter's minutes; him and Buckner."

For the time being, though, the scope of things has narrowed. Get it? Scope?

Won't this season ever start?