Here's the latest from the Air Canada Centre where the 76ers played the Toronto Raptors at noon today.

1.) The Sixers started a lineup of Jrue Holiday, Lou Williams, Andre Iguodala, Thaddeus Young, and Elton Brand. Usual starting center Samuel Dalembert was out of the lineup for disciplinary reasons. Sixers announced the move after Eddie Jordan's pre-game availability, so specifics about the reason for Dalembert's benching will be asked of Jordan sometime after the game. We do know that the Sixers had a team meeting this morning at 8 a.m., but no word on whether that had anything to do with Dalembert's status. Update: Dalembert was penalized for arriving late to this morning's 8 a.m. meeting. Dalembert said he awoke at 6:30 a.m., but then forgot to re-set his alarm and fell asleep again. Dalembert said he was about 10 minutes late to the meeting. Jordan said the benching would only last that one game, he would return Dalembert to the starting lineup on Tuesday against the Indiana Pacers.

Before today's game, spoke with former Sixer forward Reggie Evans, who was traded to the Toronto Raptors for shooter Jason Kapono this past summer. Here's what Evans said about all things Sixers ... from why the team was good after the All-Star break in the past two seasons, about the leadership while he was there, etc ...

"We just had a great leadership, good work ethic, even with me and Andre Miller there, I thought we were a big help to the team," Evans said. "Now they have a lot of new faces there with the coaching staff and even some of the players. Things just look different over there now, players are so offensive minded, there’s no defensive discipline. When were there, an Andre Miller would be like, ‘OK, Iguodala, you haven’t had the ball, I’m going to give you the ball.’ Or, 'Reggie, you’ve been working too hard, I’m going to give you one of these balls.’ It was a balance out there with defense and offense. We stayed focused, we stayed poised. We never got too high, we never got too low. We had faith and stuff like that.

After last night's blowout loss to the Orlando Magic, 76ers coach Eddie Jordan didn't have a whole lot of nice things to say about his team. If you're looking for the quotes from last night, scroll down a little on the blog and you'll see a post from last night.

This afternoon at practice, Jordan didn't exactly step away from his words. Here's one of Jordan's quotes from this afternoon: "Sometimes you control your emotions and sometimes you try and sometimes there’s temporary insanity along the line. I just felt that with the team we played last night, with the history with that team, and the results were close to being the same way. And I mean the spirit that was lacking …  and [ability] to respond to a good team when they are kicking your butt. It was the same sort of thing and somewhere along the line we all have to stand up and not take a beating anymore and move forward and it was almost like the same thing repeating itself."

Jordan said he wasn't calling anyone out in particular. Here's another Jordan quote from this afternoon: "They’re a better team than we are, but still when you’re getting your butt kicked you have to bring some sort of confrontation back to them, somehow, and we didn’t do it."

We asked Jordan if, when he took the job, he thought this team would have more resolve and a better demeanor. He paused for a second, said he needed to think about the question, and then answered as such: "I think that I try to talk to them in terms of what we need to have to be competitive and maybe sometimes it’s slow to come out, maybe it won’t come out. It certainly hasn’t been as much as I hoped it would be."

Jordan said he addressed the team during today's practice about what he said last night. Asked if the communication was a two-way street, Jordan said, "No, they didn't have anything to say."

As for the players, they seemed much more accepting of Jordan's words one day later. Much of the talk was about Allen Iverson and how his absence might affect the team going forward, but when asked about Jordan's words from after the game, both Iguodala and Williams were diplomatic. You can check out both Iguodala's video and Williams' video in the Deep Sixer video player below on the right. Williams even mentions something about the team still striving for the playoffs ... but we won't go there right now.

Here's the news coming out of practice today: Elton Brand (right Achilles tendinitis) did not travel with the team to Atlanta this afternoon. Brand had an MRI on the injury: The MRI showed no tear and no degeneration in that right Achilles. So, in a way, that's good news. Brand is officially listed as day-to-day ... Jordan was asked if there was any chance Iverson might come back for next season and Jordan said, quite simply, "No." 

--Kate

Poll: Who is most to blame for the 76ers’ losing record? (1034 votes)

Updated: Allen Iverson will not return to the 76ers this season. The Sixers officially confirmed this morning. Here's what General Manager Ed Stefanski said in this morning's press release: "After discussing the situation with Allen, we have come to the conclusion that he will not return to the Sixers for the remainder of the season, as he no longer wishes to be a distraction to the organization and teammates that he loves very deeply," Stefanski said. "It has been very difficult for Allen and the team to maintain any consistency as he tries to balance his career with his personal life."

As if the 76ers on-court performance wasn't enough tonight, tonight became even more disturbing after the game.

Only a few minutes after tonight's 126-105 loss to the Orlando Magic, Sixers coach Eddie Jordan had some pretty harsh words about the character of his team. Here's Jordan's words from tonight's post-game press conference: 

"We just didn’t respond in a passionate way. We lost the passion to compete. We saw some pooor body language and there was a couple of timeouts where we addressed it. And I wasn’t going to have it. I addressed it a couple of times; I addressed it just then, just now. It’s leadership or lack thereof. It’s contagious where misery, just one guy’s miserable and it’s just contagious throughout the team and we just can’t have. Someone has to stand up and try to rally the troops, your teammates. The coaches are certainly trying to do it every timeout, every time we get a chance to. But it doesn't come from the coaches ... We try to address it; we try to get them with some more spirit and some more positive energy. And it’s just hard when you don’t have that sort of internal leadership."

How often has he encountered the problem?

"Maybe once or twice, but certainly tonight was, I didn't want to see the same sort of body language, the same sort of lack of energy. We were right there with it. I don't know if it was worse than last year or about the same, but it was certainly addressed."

More from Jordan: "They just dominated the game. We were dominated. We were dominated. And whether you’re dominated or not, you have to learn how to compete, you have to learn how to rally, you have to learn how to hold your chin up, as individuals, as professionals, you have to learn how to do it. If you've gone through it before, and you went through it again, now is the time you should have learned some lessons and try to get it up. But, obviously, our team hasn’t learned it."

After the game, the Sixers didn't seem overly concerned with Jordan's words.

Said guard Willie Green: "I think that's his opinion and he's entitled to view this team whichever way he wants to."

Andre Iguodala, the guy you would think Jordan was talking about, said it doesn't really frustrate him.

"You start to play the blame game and it really leads to a dead end, it doesn't go anywhere. I'm just going to go out there and keep doing what I've been doing my whole career, which is play basketball the right way."

Iguodala is widely considered the leader of this team. And tonight Jordan said the team has no internal leadership. What makes it odd is that after Firday night's loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, Jordan singled out Iguodala for his in-game leadership that night, specifically saying that he "loved" Iguodala's leadership. Now, tonight, he said the team has no leadership. Iguodala, for what it's worth, did not seem to believe Jordan's words were addressed at him. When asked if he noticed any of this poor body language and attitude, Iguodala said maybe he noticed once in the fourth quarter. Coincidentally, Iguodala did not play the entire fourth quarter, so he clearly did not believe himself the culprit about whom Jordan was speaking.

So, since the Sixers continue to deliver nothing on the court -- they're all but mathematically eliminated from the playoffs -- we're going to have to analyze what Jordan's words mean. First thing that stands out is that Jordan is not taking ownership for this "defect" in his team. His attitude tonight in the postgame was almost as if this has something that has been out of his hands from Day 1, as if it's a problem he walked in on and didn't create. As if it's a problem he's tried his best to remedy, but must surrender the battle. He didn't say "we should have learned this by now," and "we have to learn how to rally," and "we have to keep our chins up." He seems to be saying "you" (aka, them, his players) have to learn how to do it.

Maybe it seems like too much analysis, but it seems if there's a disassociation between "the coaches" and "the players," ("us" and "them"), then this season is about as lost as it can get.

At this point, March 1, the question becomes: How much longer is this going to last? Comcast, Ed Stefanski, and the Sixers in general are maxed out on salaries for a team that has been blown out in three of its last five games. They're not going to make the playoffs and, beyond that, the coach is fed up with his team and his team doesn't seem overly worried about it.

The Sixers have only so many fans, and those fans are dwindling each game.

--Kate

p.s. Elton Brand, who did not play tonight with right Achilles tendinitis, will also not travel to Atlanta for Wednesday's game against the Hawks. Brand ruptured his left Achilles while he was with the Los Angeles Clippers. This current injury was initially being called a right calf strain, but at some point tonight it was changed to Achilles tendinitis.

Join Kate Fagan for a live Sixers chat at 3 p.m. Friday.

The 76ers should officially be done talking about the playoffs. Of course, until they are actually mathematically eliminated, it’s unlikely we’ll stop hearing about a last-gasp push for the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot, which currently belongs to the Milwaukee Bucks.

 The Sixers are now 22-35, which means they’ll need to finish around 19-6 to contend for that last playoff spot. And considering their next two opponents are the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic, odds are that in two games they’ll need to finish around 19-4.

OK, here's the latest going on with the 76ers here from Oracle Arena in Oakland. Tonight, the Sixers play the Golden State Warriors in the first of a three-game Western swing that continues tomorrow night and the Suns and finishes up on Friday night against the Los Angeles Lakers.

We're all caught up on the Allen Iverson news (definitely out until March 1 at home against the Orlando Magic, but likely longer, and perhaps for good). Just spoke with coach Eddie Jordan and he'll be starting a backcourt of Jrue Holiday and Lou Williams.

Sixers will still be without Willie Green, who's been out with a shoulder injury since Feb. 16 against the Miami heat, and Jason Smith, who sprained his right ankle against the Toronto Raptors on Feb. 10. Green's absence, combined with Iverson's absence, will leave the Sixers with few options at guard. Good thing will be that Jordan and the organization can probably get an early look at Jodie Meeks, which they obviously wanted when trading for Meeks.

Here's the update on Francisco Elson, who joined Meeks in that trade with the Milwaukee Bucks. The Sixers waived his physical and he still hasn't joined the team. One source indicated that he might not be joining the team before this season has ended, but we'll update that as it progresses. Technically he's just filling Primoz Brezec's spot, so there's not a ton of minutes he needs to fill.

So, onto some other stuff. Here's a few thoughts: 

1.) Jrue Holiday needs to play 30-plus minutes a game from here on out. I can't think of any reason why the rookie shouldn't be playing those types of minutes. He played a game-high 45 minutes against the San Antonio Spurs (a victory) and then against the Chicago Bulls played 23 minutes -- and was not in the game in the second quarter when Chicago began their 29-1 run. In no way is this saying that Holiday is pure greatness and doesn't make some bad decisions and take some bad shots, but the Sixers have a chance to give this kid revealing minutes and they need to take advantage of it.

2.) The two blowout losses. When the Sixers lost to the Miami Heat on Feb. 16, a bigtime loss, afterwards both Jordan and the players said, "in the NBA, this happens once or twice a year, you can't dwell on it, you just chalk it up to 'your turn' and move on." You couldn't really argue that point at the time, because it does happen. It was certainly bad timing, but the Sixers aren't known for getting beaten that badly, actually quite the opposite. Now, when it happened again less than a week later -- and with such a good win over the Spurs in between -- now that's when you start to worry that things are about to go downhill quite quickly. And how do you explain it twice in one week except to assume that there are some folks partially checked out?

That second point makes tonight's game against the Warriors especially interesting. The Bulls aren't the Lakers, but they're a playoff team. But the Warriors? The Warriors are second-worst in the Western Conference. If tonight doesn't go smoothly -- and there's that possibility with the way the Warriors are capable of shooting the ball and running in transition -- it could be a long trek back to Philly with stops in Phoenix and Los Angeles.

One more thing about the no-go trade with the Houston Rockets that we reported here on Deep Sixer. Yes, the Sixers could have traded Iguodala and Dalembert to Houston for McGrady and Budinger (that's precisely the trade that the Sixers 100 percent could have made), but, to clarify, it's not as if the Sixers would have entered this off-season with $23 million in cap space (the value of McGrady's expiring contract). Because of the escalating pay scales for players like Elton Brand, Lou Williams, Willie Green, Jason Kapono, and all of the young players' contracts (Thaddeus Young, Speights, Jrue Holiday, Jason Smith) combined with the decreasing salary cap for next season, the Sixers would have cleared approximately $7 million towards summer free agents. In essence, it wouldn't have freed them to compete this summer for a marquee free agent. It would have been a starting point towards clearing space. Just thought I'd clear that up.

--Kate

Jodie Meeks, acquired yesterday from the Milwaukee Bucks, will be in uniform tonight for the 76ers although coach Eddie Jordan insinuated it was unlikely Meeks would play. Meeks worked with assistant coach Aaron McKie for about 15-20 minutes before tonight's game against the San Antonio Spurs.

Yesterday, the Sixers traded guard Royal Ivey, center Primoz Brezec and a 2010 second-round pick, for Meeks and center Francisco Elson. The trade became official today.

Elson isn't here and is on the inactive list for tonight's game -- hernia surgery. Also not playing tonight for the Sixers is guard Willie Green (shoulder) and Jason Smith (ankle). Jordan will start a backcourt of Jrue Holiday and Allen Iverson.

Asked if Meeks would get any run tonight, Jordan said: "I think if we’re up 30, he may get in, that’s probably what I’m looking at right now. I don’t think he’s going to be in the rotation, but you never know."

Asked if Meeks needed a few practices under his belt, Jordan said that would be nice, but the team likely won't practice again until Monday, in San Francisco. Immediately after tonight's game, the Sixers fly to Chicago, where they will play the first game of a 8-day, 4-game road trip.

Here's what Meeks said: "I think I fit in well. I get up and down the court well just like this team is known for. I think I’m a smart player who can make an open shot; I just have to knock them down."

--Kate

Kate Fagan takes your questions, comments, complaints, or anything else about the 76ers' deadline-day trades in a live chat at 3 p.m. Friday.