It's halftime of the Sixers/Nets final game at the Orlando Pro Summer League. With the score 42-35, the Boston Celtics ahead, it looks as if the Sixers/Nets will finish this 5-game league winless. Considering the Sixers only have three players -- Jrue Holiday, Marreese Speights, and Dionte Christmas -- on the roster, the final record of the team has absolutely no bearing on, well, anything really.

Christmas is actually not here for this final game because he is playing with the Los Angeles Clippers in the Vegas summer league, which starts today.

The photo is of Samuel Dalembert (in the white t-shirt) chatting with new Sixers head coach Eddie Jordan at halftime of the game. Dalembert first watched the summer league last night and showed up again today. He talked to Jordan both days.

Heard a rumor posted by the New York Daily News, that the Knicks could be interested in Sixers point guard Andre Miller, but have been unable to confirm its validity. You can read that post here: Daily News.

Not too much new to report from Orlando, but will post anything of interest, specifically about the Sixers in free agency, as soon as it comes up ...

--Kate

Just after the Sixers/Nets held shootaround from 11-12 today at the RDX Sportsplex in Orlando, Sixers General Manager Ed Stefanski talked about the official opening of free agency and what that means for the Sixers, specifically point guard Andre Miller.

Here's Stefanski's answers to questions about what the Sixers might do in the next few weeks: 

The Sixers/Nets Summer League team plays its second game today at 5 p.m., this one against the Utah Jazz. Since these games are tough to really evalute, the only really interesting story line is that Utah's first-round pick is point guard Eric Maynor from VCU. Obviously, Maynor's name was circulating pre-draft as a guy the Sixers might be interested in. The Sixers chose Jrue Holiday. I would think Holiday and Maynor would be matched up for much of tonight's game.

If you have some free time and want to watch an on-line stream of the game, click here: Summer League.

It's still early summer, but another thing to keep an eye on is Marreese Speights. It certainly seems like the minutes of Sixers starting center Samuel Dalembert, which were dwindling even last year, might continue that downward trend. With big-man Jason Smith still not fully recovered from a knee injury, Speights would seem to be the guy to whom a lot of those minutes would fall. In yesterday's game, he spent a lot of time shooting jumpers on the perimeter. I think today the Sixers/Nets will look to get him more touches on the block.

So that's the snapshot of tonight's Summer League game.

And as for the free agent market, which is really the hot ticket, here's a few quick hits:

1.) Mike Bibby has -- as was reported by the Atlanta Journal Constitution -- agreed to a deal returning him to the Hawks. Although it had already seemed unlikely the Sixers would be able to snag Bibby, now that door is officially closed.

2.) Andre Miller and the Sixers seem to be far apart in their demands, with Miller's camp wanting money in the 3-year/$30 million range. The potential sign-and-trade with the Portland Trailblazers, according to one source, is not being discussed. So, for right now, there isn't much developing on this front.

3.) What "role players" will the Sixers sign to fill in the holes left by guys like Kareem Rush, Royal Ivey, Theo Ratliff, etc? Tom Moore out at Phillyburbs has said the Sixers have contacted former Sixer Rodney Carney, who was part of that cap-clearing space during the 2007-08 season, but Carney wants more than the minimum the Sixers would be offering. Ivey, who opted out of his contract, would be open to returning to the Sixers, but has yet to hear from them. Obviously, Rush and Ratliff are goners.

4.) If Miller does not return -- and that is looking less and less likely -- than the Sixers have Lou Williams and Jrue Holiday as their point guards. The Sixers are willing to give Williams a chance to run the show, but would first try to find another point guard for help on the free-agent market. One guy to look at is Juan Dixon, who played for Eddie Jordan with the Washington Wizards. He would be a vet minimum guy, although he's not a traditional PG. Another guy that might be a possibility is Bobcats PG Raymond Felton, who is a restricted free agent.

--Kate

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It's halftime of the first game at the Orlando Pro Summer League. It's the Sixers/Nets vs. the Indiana Pacers. If you want to watch the live on-line stream of the games, click here: Summer League.

The Sixers/Nets team started: G Jrue Holiday, G-F Jason Ellis (Memphis), G-F Terrence Williams (Louisville), F Jason Ellis (Boise State), and F Marreese Speights.

Holiday spent most of the first half at the point guard spot, running the team. He looked a little rusty running point, throwing a couple of bad passes in transition and off pick and rolls, but he looked very quick and aggressive on defense. He also did a solid job getting the team into the offense. For much of the first half, he was guarded by Will Blalock from Indiana. Also, AJ Price spent a little time pressuring Holiday. Holiday took a couple of longer shots off the pick-and-roll. At the half, Holiday is 1 for 4 with 4 points, 1 assist and 3 turnovers.

Here are the final numbers for Holiday: 9 points (3 of 11 shooting), 2 assists, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, 5 turnovers.

Holiday is a very strong defender. He did make a bunch of mistakes at the end, but all of them seemed a combination of fatigue and rust (he hasn't played the point since high school).

Speights started on Roy Hibbert and looked much more aggressive and strong (and confident) on defense. He had a few tip ins (as he usually does) and a nice reverse finish, but also a took (and made a few) 18-footers. He was very aggressive on the offensive glass as he was this season for the Sixers. At the half, Speights has 20 points and 6 rebounds on 7 for 16 shooting.

Final numbers for Speights were 28 points (11 for 26 shooting), 11 rebounds.

Christmas didn't play much in the first half. Had one open look on the left wing that he missed. Christmas is 0 for 1.

Christmas finished 1 for 3 with 2 points in 16 minutes.

Check out the pictures, which give a sense of the Summer League's environment.

--Kate

I know Deep Sixer has been dormant for a few days, but we're back up and running.

So the talk the last week has been about free agent point guard Andre Miller and whether the 76ers will reach an agreement with last year's starting guard, or whether Sixers General Manager Ed Stefanski will execute a sign-and-trade, or whether Miller will just walk. And that's still at the front of this week's news, but since I'm also in Orlando for the Orlando Pro Summer League, I'll try to keep everyone updated on the play of this year's No. 17 pick Jrue Holiday, as well as last season's pick Marreese Speights, and Temple star Dionte Christmas.

The Sixers have combined with the New Jersey Nets to form one team. There are six teams in this Summer League, a much smaller gathering than the Rookie League in Las Vegas. Games start in about an hour, with the Sixers/Nets playing the Indiana Pacers. Here are the teams: Sixers/Nets, Pacers, Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics, Utah Jazz, and Oklahoma City Thunder. Here are some recognizable names playing, all from this year's draft: James Harden, the Thunder's No. 1 pick, B.J. Mullens, also the Thunder's first-round pick, Terrence Williams, the Nets' first-round pick, Tyler Hansbrough, the Pacers' first-round pick, and Eric Maynor, Utah's first-round pick.

Here's the schedule for the League, July 6-10, being held at the RDV Sportsplex just outside of Orlando: 

Today:

3 p.m: Indiana vs. Sixers/Nets

5 p.m: Orlando vs. Oklahoma City

7 p.m: Utah vs. Boston

July 7: 

3 p.m: Orlando vs. Boston

5 p.m: Sixers/Nets vs. Utah

7 p.m: Indiana vs. Oklahoma City

July 8:

3 p.m: Utah vs. Indiana

5 p.m: Boston vs. Oklahoma City

7 p.m: Orlando vs. Sixers/Nets

July 9: 

3 p.m: Sixers/Nets vs. Oklahoma City

5 p.m.: Orlando vs. Utah

7 p.m: Boston vs. Indiana

July 10: 

11 a.m: Oklahoma City vs. Utah

1 p.m: Boston vs. Sixers/Nets

3 p.m.: Orlando vs. Indiana

Unlike the Vegas Summer League, which is open to the public and also broadcast on NBATV, this league is closed to the public. Here's the Sixers/Nets roster: AJ Abrams, Jeff Adrien, Blake Ahearn, Dionte Christmas, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Jason Ellis, Gary Forbes, Jrue Holiday, Chris Johnson, Rob Kurz, Marreese Speights, and Terrence Williams. The team is being coached by Mike O'Koren and Aaron McKie for Philly and Tom Barrise and Roy Rogers for the Nets.

Clearly, the three guys we'll be focusing on are Holiday, Speights, and Christmas.

Holiday: With Miller's contract still up in the air, Holiday's status becomes at least a little more important. I do believe if Miller walks, or if there is a sign and trade that brings a player other than a point guard, the Sixers would consider giving the team to Lou Williams, putting Holiday as a back up. This is Rookie League, so the competition is minimal compared to the season, but last year in Vegas we saw Speights play very well, and he continued that play by contributing during the season. Since you can't watch these games (although I heard a rumor they might be broadcast on-line), I'll try to break down Holiday's play.

Speights: Speights is beyond having to prove his NBA ability, but it will be good to see what kind of improvements can be made in his game. I'm looking for him to shoot the three-pointer a little bit this week. He should be one of the best players here.

Christmas: He has a great chance. It seems he really brings something (outside shooting) that the Sixers still need. Chances are high he'll receive an invite to Sixers training camp, but he'll probably receive other invites as well. The thing with Christmas -- as I'm sure he has faced his entire career -- is the question about whether his game can translate to the professional level. I'm sure people said the same thing when he started in D-I. My bet is he'll shoot the heck out of the ball this week.

Keep checking back, I'll post at halftime of this first game, which now starts in about 30 minutes, to give you an idea of how the Sixers guys are playing. If I'm allowed (and I'm wondering who will tell me I'm not), I'll take some Blackberry photos and be posting them throughout the week.

Also, I know the Andre Miller situation is still in flux, so any updates I'll get on here ASAP.

Be back soon ...

--Kate

Temple's Dionte Christmas has accepted an invitation from the 76ers to join their summer league team in Orlando. Christmas, who was projected as a second-round pick but went undrafted, will join Sixers pick Jrue Holiday and last year's first-round pick Marreese Speights on the summer league roster.

The Sixers are combining with the New Jersey Nets to form a team for the Orlando Pro Summer League, to be played July 6-10 at the RDV Sportsplex in Orlando, Florida.

--Kate

Jrue Holiday was supposed to be long gone by the time the 76ers selected with the 17th pick of the NBA Draft. At one point, Holiday was rumored to be in contention with the Sacramento Kings at the 4th spot of the Draft. But as tonight's draft progressed, Holiday's name went uncalled and as each pick passed he remained the highest-rated player remaining on the board.

Luckily for the Sixers, the highest-rated player left was also a point guard, a position the Sixers needed to fill.

Holiday will be in Philly tomorrow -- Friday -- at 1 p.m. for a press conference at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

We've spent weeks leading up to this draft looking at UNC's Ty Lawson and VCU's Eric Maynor as well as UNC's Wayne Ellington -- mostly because Holiday was projected, by nearly everyone, to be off the board.

Why did he slip? 

For one, he is 19 years old and played one less-than-stellar season at UCLA, averaging only 8.5 points and game and shooting 30.7 percent from the three-point line. For another, there was some concern over an injury that might have scared a few teams away. Tonight, Stefanski said Holiday might have fallen because he was No. 2 on a number of teams' lists. In that one season at UCLA, Holiday played out of position at shooting guard. Word is that Holiday, one of the top high school player in the country coming out of high school, went to UCLA thinking Bruins point guard Darren Collison was leaving for the NBA. Collison stayed in school and Holiday was forced to play out of position.

It's all speculation, but what matters is: What is Holiday's game? Will he play right away? Could he start if Andre Miller doesn't re-sign? 

Only minutes after Holiday was selected, assistant GM Tony DiLeo said the Sixers did not expect Holiday to make an impact this coming season. A few minutes later, on a conference call from Madison Square Garden, Holiday said he disagreed with that, saying he expects to contribute right away.

Of course he does.

We could go on for 1,000 words about Lawson's game, but Holiday remains a little more unknown. What we do know is that Holiday has the size -- 6-foot-4 with a 6-7 wingspan -- to be a dominant point guard, although he didn't have a chance to show GMs his point guard skills at UCLA.

Holiday's strengths appear to be his versatility, his court vision, and his ability to execute, especially off the pick-and-roll. He doesn't seem to be a guy with explosive athleticism and game-changing skills in transition (like Ty Lawson), but as far as strong point guard skills and upside (let's keep in mind this kid is 19), Holiday has plenty of that.

Tonight, Stefanski spoke about Holiday. Reading between the lines, it sounded like Stefanski didn't think Holiday would come in right away and earn all kinds of playing time, but he did say he was impressed with Holiday's defensive abilities and added that defense might be a way for Holiday to find some playing time.

The knocks on Holiday are that he is unproven (and this is very true, with what was seen at UCLA), that he doesn't have a go-to scoring mentality (although that might not be a bad thing on a Sixers roster filled with guys who think they are go-to scorers), that his outside shot needs work (although I heard from a number of people that his form is textbook and he just needs more repetition), and that he has average athleticism and explosiveness (sounds like another Sixers point guard we know well...).

All in all, the Sixers stole one tonight at the 17th spot. It was the 17th spot in a weak draft and they got lottery-pick talent. Going forward, I think it's a stretch to think Holiday will get much playing time this coming season. If the Sixers don't re-sign Andre Miller (free agency opens July 1), expect the Sixers to sign a veteran point guard with the mid-level exception they have. Considering nine point guards were chosen in the first 21 picks (or right around there), there will be a number of solid point guards looking for jobs this summer.

--Kate

With the 17th pick in the NBA Draft, the 76ers selected Jrue Holiday, a point guard from UCLA.

Most mock drafts had Holiday as a Top 10 selection, but he dropped. Sixers General Manager Ed Stefanski had said all along they would take the highest rated player left on the board. And they did. Holiday -- who played only one season at UCLA and averaged 8.5 points a game -- is considered more of a project than UNC's Ty Lawson.

Here's the running copy of tonight's first 15 picks.

The NBA Draft is underway at Madison Square Garden. And each pick influences who the 76ers might draft at the 17th spot. Here's what we know so far: 

1.) Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers: This was expected. Not much more to write.

2.) Hasheem Thabeet, Memphis Grizzlies: Again, this was the guy everyone had penciled in as the Grizzlies' choice, and his selection does not rock the boat.

3.) James Harden, Oklahoma City: A little bit of a surprise at the 3 spot as most folks thought Ricky Rubio would be taken at this spot, but Rubio and Harden would both be gone in the Top 5-6 anyway.

4.) Tyreke Evans, Sacramento: Rubio is slipping, which is surprising, because I think most folks had Rubio at 3 or 4.

5.) Ricky Rubio, Minnesota: So here lands Rubio, probably a spot or two later than expected, but still gone in the Top 5.

So there are the Top 5, really no shocking surprises, and nothing that changes anything the Sixers might do. Just keeping it updated. Check back to this same blog after the 10th pick because I'll just be updating within this blog.

6.) Johnny Flynn, Minnesota: So Flynn worked his way up this Draft. At the start there was speculation he might be available when the Sixers picked, but quickly he worked into the Top 10. And now has worked his way past Stephen Curry in the draft order.

7.) Stephen Curry, Golden State: I think there are a lot of upset Knicks fans in NY, as most folks thought Curry would be their selection at the 8th spot. Still nobody taken that was thought to -- possibly -- slip.

8.) Jordan Hill, New York: So the Knicks take a forward. Reaction seem luke warm in MSG, but still nobody taken that has been in the Sixers core group of guys.

9.) DeMar DeRozan, Toronto: The Raptors always do some wacky stuff on Draft Day, but this was seems like a solid young guy they're taking from USC. So it seems there are plenty of the Sixers guys still on the board: Jeff Teague, Gerald Henderson, Ty Lawson, Eric Maynor, Terrence Williams, Wayne Ellington ... almost enough to get them to their pick with one of their guys still on the board ...

10.) Brandon Jennings, Milwaukee: We could say this impacts the Sixers a little bit because there was some speculation that his stock was dropping and very well could be available at the 17th, leading to discussion if the Sixers would take him even without seeing him in a workout. But he's gone, taking away that speculation. Six picks left before the Sixers.

11.) Terrence Williams, New Jersey Nets: There we go, off the board a guy you would think was in the Sixers' core group. But Williams being gone means little to the Sixers as Williams skills overlapped far too much with the some of the players in their lineup. And his outside shooting is suspect.

12.) Gerald Henderson, Charlotte: Henderson is off the board, too. Although there was only a slim chance that Henderson would be on the board at the 17th spot, there was still an outside chance.

13.) Tyler Hansbrough, Indiana: Well, I think most thought Hansbrough wouldn't be taken until late in the first round, but the Pacers took a flyer on his NBA ability.

14.) Earl Clark, Phoenix: Big guy from Louisville was not on the Sixers radar.

15.) Austin Daye, Detroit: Forward from Gonzaga also wasn't somone the Sixers were supposedly interested in.

Plenty of the Sixers guys still remain on the board. Here are the relevant guys still on the board with only 1 pick before the Sixers: Ty Lawson, Eric Maynor, Jeff Teague, Wayne Ellington ...And, of course, Ohio State center B.J. Mullens ...

We'll be blogging about the Sixers pick as soon as it happens ...

--Kate

We'll be keeping this blog live during tonight's NBA Draft, which begins around 7:30, and in which the 76ers have the 17th selection. Since everything that happens above the Sixers impacts their decision, we'll be analyzing the night as it progresses and what it might mean for the Sixers.

--Kate