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76ers make trade

Here's the official deal: the 76ers have traded guard Royal Ivey and center Primoz Brezec plus a second-round draft pick to the Milwaukee Bucks for guard Jodie Meeks and center Francisco Elson. It was initially reported that the Sixers would receive a second-round draft pick, but that information was backwards, they have given the second-round pick.

Earlier at Sixers practice, saw Brezec standing against the wall being talked to a lot, didn't see Ivey, but was told he was at the practice. When I asked to talk to Ivey -- a little bit late -- was told he was already gone from the facility.

Here's what Ivey Tweeted earlier: "Well it's done I'm going back to the Mil! It's been real going miss my teammates real rap! It's a business got to get it!"

Here's what Andre Iguodala Tweeted: "Shout out to my man Royal Ivey, one of the best t'mates I ever had. Didn't get to show what he could do this year, but will show and prove: Good Luck!"

According to a source close to situation, the Sixers were most interested in getting Meeks, a 6-foot-4 rookie shooting guard from Kentucky who the Sixers were reportedly interested in drafting this past summer. This season, Meeks is averaging 4.1 points in 11.9 minutes a game. In the 2009 NBA Draft, Meeks was the 41st overall pick by the Bucks. He's 22 years old and, for anyone following college basketball, was a big-time scorer at Kentucky and shot 40.6 percent from three his junior season (he didn't stay for his senior year).

Meeks is making $650,000 this season and has a 3-year deal.

Elson is a 7-foot center-forward in his 7th NBA season. He's played in only 11 games this season, averaging 0.9 points in 5.6 minutes a game.

Again, the heart of this deal was to get Meeks.

Ivey and Brezec have played -- to say the least -- a very limited role this season on the Sixers, with both spending a good deal of time on the inactive list.

Obviously I can already predict the reaction to the news of this deal, especially considering the deals going down around the league right now including names like Boozer, McGrady, etc. It looks like a non-move, non-impact, etc. Agreed that it's not changing anything for this season, but getting a guy with upside like Meeks could help the team in the shooting department, especially going forward. (Read: next season.)

I'd say, going forward, the Sixers picked up a player -- Meeks -- that could fill a void they need filled. A shooting guard who (supposedly) can shoot. Not a starter, but a guy that could potentially be in an 8-man rotation. As the trading deadline of 3 p.m. closes in, we've learned the Sixers/Stefanski believe(s) in the talent on this roster.

So now that the details of the trade are confirmed and the specific are down, let's get to the more important thing: Does it matter? What's this trading deadline say about the Sixers?

The Sixers believe they have the roster/talent to be a playoff team. If they didn't believe they were better, significantly better, than their 20-33 record, they would have made a big-time move. They didn't. They didn't because they believe this season has been a worst-case scenario. What's it mean if the franchise believes in the ability of the players, but is confused about the record? It probably means that a hefty portion of the blame for the record is going on the shoulders of Eddie Jordan.

If you were sitting around talking about the Sixers and their lack of a headline-worthy deal, you'd come to the conclusion that Stefanski doesn't believe the roster is the issue. If he'd made that big-time trade (taking McGrady's expiring), he would essentially be saying that this 20-33 record was because of the roster, nothing else.

Instead, Stefanski kept his roster in tact and gave up a future second-round pick for a guy, Meeks, he thinks could become a contributing member of something better in the future.

Right or wrong, the Sixers are holding tight with their roster. But will they hold tight with everything?

--Kate