IS LEARNING THE PRINCETON OFFENSE
As alluded to in today's Daily News, the Sixers will be bringing in Ohio State 7-footer B.J. Mullens for a predraft workout on Saturday.
Mullens started two of 33 games as a freshman, averaging 8.8 points and 4.7 rebounds in 20.3 minutes. By all accounts, any team drafting him will have to wait at least a year or 2 for him to develop and mature.
Mullens will be joined by Notre Dame's Ryan Ayers, son of former Sixers coach Randy Ayers, but the focus will clearly be on Mullens.
After previous seasons at Duke and Penn State, the 76ers are moving their training camp to Saint Joseph's University.
A source familiar with the situation said the move is not related to the struggling economy.
''Why travel if you don't have to?'' the source said. ''This makes it easier for the fans, the media, everyone.''
Saint Joseph's is scheduled to dedicate its new athletic facility next Friday. By training on Hawk Hill, the players and coaches would also be within a few minutes of their official practice site at Philadelphia College Of Osteopathic Medicine.
This isn't official, because USA Basketball has yet to make a formal annoncement, but sources say the 76ers' Andre Iguodala and Thaddeus Young are on a list of about 24 players to be invited to the U.S. National Team's mini-camp July 22-25 in Las Vegas.
The camp will involve two full days of training and a showcase intra-squad exhibition game at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Toronto raptors coach Jay Triano and NBA assistants Tyrone Corbin, Utah; Dave Cowens, Detroit; Kenny Gattison, New Orleans and Jerry Sichting, Minnesota will work with the players, helping identify talent for future National Team competitions.
Royal Ivey, who appeared in 71 games as a backup guard for the 76ers, has declined his player option for the 2009-10 season.
Keith Glass, Ivey's agent, informed Sixers president/general manager Ed Stefanski of Ivey's decision in a letter late last week.
Ivey, who was listed as earning $854,957 this season, was scheduled to earn the veteran's minimum of $959,111 in '09-10. He originally had until July 2 to make his decision, but agreed to move the date to today.
Ivey, known primarily for his defense and an ability to fill in at both backcourt positions, averaged 3.0 points in 12.1 minutes.
The 76ers will be evaluating another group of NBA draft prospects Sunday morning, including Eric Maynor of Virginia Commonwealth, a two-time Player Of The Year in the Colonial Athletic Association.
The others scheduled include:
Jeff Teague, Wake Forest.
Lester Hudson, Tennessee-Martin.
Stefon Jackson, Texas El-Paso.
Jermaine Taylor, Central Florida.
Greivis Vasquez, Maryland.
The Sixers hold the No. 17 pick in the first round of the June 25 draft. They do not have a second-round pick.
Acquiring Jason Kapono from Toronto in Tuesday's trade for Reggie Evans addresses a need for the 76ers, but it doesn't affect their search for a guard with the No. 17 pick in the first round of the June 25 NBA draft.
''I think we're going to look for the best guard available, which is what we've been talking about all along,'' president/general manager Ed Stefanski said during a telephone conference call today. ''(New coach Eddie Jordan) is more concerned about (getting) the best player at one of those (backcourt) positions.''
But Jordan, Stefanski said, was clearly pleased about adding Kapono, an outstanding three-point shooter, to the roster.
''Eddie had a big smile on his face when we told him we got (Kapono),'' Stefanski said.
Unrelated . . .
The Sixers, via their web site, are letting us know that Jason Smith has been cleared to escalate his rehabilitation from the left knee surgery he underwent Sept. 17, 2008.
President/general manager Ed Stefanski said Smith is ready for ''basketball work without any limitations'' after being examined by Dr. David Altchek, the attending orthopedic surgeon at the Hospital For Special Surgery in New York.
Smith, who will wear a brace for 2-3 months, will begin with individual skill work and shooting drills, taking incremental steps toward resuming 5-on-5 activity. There is no timetable for the progression. After the press conference to introduce new coach Eddie Jordan, Smith said he planned to be ready for training camp in October.
Smith missed all of this season after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament Aug. 6, 2008. Altchek performed successful surgery Sept. 17.
And . . .
The Sixers have also scheduled a second group of prospective draftees for tomorrow morning at Philadelphia College Of Osteopathic Medicine. The group: Dionte Christmas, Temple; Darren Collison, UCLA; Wayne Ellington, North carolina; Jack McClinton, Miami, and Marcus Thornton, LSU.
Temple's Dionte Christmas and North Carolina's Wayne Ellington, from Episcopal Academy, are among the next group of guard prospects that the 76ers will bring in for a pre-draft workout.
UCLA's Darren Collison (6-2 point guard), Miami's Jack McClinton (6-1 shooting guard) and LSU's Marcus Thornton (6-4 shooting guard) will also take part in the session tomorrow at the Sixers' practice site at PCOM.
The Sixers have the 17th pick in the first round of the June 25 draft.
More to come ...
Reggie Evans did exactly what he was asked to do:
Block out around the basket.
Go hard after rebounds.
Provide a defensive presence in the post.
He wasn't going to dazzle anyone with his limited offensive skills, but he could draw fouls and he could create mayhem. When Maurice Cheeks was coaching the 76ers, Evans had the clearance to press and trap at virtually any time and any place on the court. And he often did.
He was also the guy waiting to greet every starter as they were introduced at the beginning of games.
If you want to remember his limitations, feel free. I'll remember May 1, 2008, when the Sixers were eliminated from the first round of the playoffs by the Detroit Pistons. The Sixers had played well down the homestretch of the season to reach the post-season and, to some degree, had caught the imagination of their hard-core fans. None of them were thinking about a championship, but they were appreciative of the team's hustle and grit.
And when that last game in the Wachovia Center ended, Evans--instead of just going directly to the locker-room--impulsively took off his shoes and tossed them into the stands. A bunch of his teammates followed his lead.
''I just wanted to show my appreciation,'' Evans said then. ''They've been wonderful.''
His role was reduced this season, and--with the return of Elton Brand and Jason Smith from injuries--he was suddenly facing a logjam at the power forward/center positions. The Sixers needed a perimeter scorer a lot more than they needed a spare banger, which helped precipitate the trade that has sent Evans to the Toronto Raptors for Jason Kapono.
There will be more about that in tomorrow's Daily News.
The 76ers have acquired shooting forward Jason Kapono from Toronto in return for power forward Reggie Evans.
The deal was announced at 2:30 this afternoon, although it cannot be finalized until both players pass physical examinations with their new teams. That might not happen until sometime next week.
Raptors president/general manager Bryan Colangelo said in a statement: "Reggie Evans will certainly add an element of toughness to our team. He has very good rebounding and defensive instincts, addressing two areas where we have underperformed.''
At the same time, the Sixers addressed a huge need for perimeter scoring. Kapono won the NBA All-Star Weekend three-point contest in 2006 and 2007 and is tied with Steve Kerr for the highest three-point percentage in league history at 45.4.
"We are very excited to add one of the league's most prolific three-point shooters in Jason Kapono,'' Sixers president/general manager Ed Stefanski said in a statement.
Kapono averaged 7.2 points, 2.0 rebounds and a career-best 1.3 assists this season, shooting 43.2 percent from the floor, 42.8 from three-point distance and 81.0 from the foul line for the Raptors this season. He joined them July 11, 2007 as a free agent.
Both players have two seasons remaining on their contracts.
Evans is a seven-season veteran who will provide phsyicality. He was caught in an overload at power forward with the Sixers, where Elton Brand and Jason Smith are returning from injuries and both Marreese Speights and Thaddeus Young have already logged minutes.
Evans averaged 3.3 points and 4.6 rebounds in 79 games this season. He has ranked in the top 10 in rebounds per 48 minutes played in each of the last six seasons.
The Sixers have acquired Jason Kapono from the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Reggie Evans, a league source told the Daily News. An announcement is expected later today.
Kapono is one of the top three-point shooters in the NBA but struggled last season with the Raptors, shooting 42 percent from behind the arc and averaging 8.2 points per game.
More to come ...
Phil Jasner joined the staff of the Daily News in 1972. He has covered the 76ers and the NBA on a full-time basis since 1981. He won the 2004 Curt Gowdy Media Award, presented by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame for outstanding contributions to the sport during his career; he was a finalist for the award in 2001, when he also received a lifetime achievement award from the Professional Basketball Writers Association during the NBA Finals. He is a past president of the Professional Basketball Writers Association and the Philadelphia College Basketball Writers Association. Along the way, he has covered high school sports, the Big 5, the Eagles and the NFL, the World Football League, the North American Soccer League and what was then the Major Indoor Soccer League. He is a proud graduate of Temple University, and spent his early professional days at the Pottstown (Pa.) Mercury, Montgomery Newspapers (Fort Washington, Pa.), the Norristown (Pa.) Times-Herald and the Trentonian.
Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for almost 20 years, working in the sports department the past 12 years. This is his first season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he has been the La Salle beat writer for the past six seasons.
