The 76ers have announced they have signed first-round draft pick (17th overall) Jrue Holiday. Holiday's signing is no surprise, but it does at least cross off one off-season item from the Sixers' agenda. The Sixers do not comment on salary numbers, but the NBA's sliding pay scale for first-round picks shows that Holiday is slated to make about $1.26 million for the 2009-2010 season.

As has been slowly progressing, the next item for the Sixers and GM Ed Stefanski will be filling out the roster -- specifically the guard position -- for the upcoming season.

--Kate

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