Young Sixers leaving Las Vegas on an up note

LAS VEGAS - There were many positives for the 76ers during their five-game stint in the Las Vegas summer league, which ended Wednesday.

Point guard Louis Williams averaged 25.2 points and was among the best players as he continued to mature.

Rodney Carney rebounded from two subpar efforts with three consecutive strong games, looking confident shooting from the perimeter and proving to be an accomplished finisher on the fastbreak.

After a less-than-stellar first game, first-round draft picks Thaddeus Young and Jason Smith showed progress.

What most impressed assistant coach Bernard Smith was the way the new players learned the offense.

Smith, who served as the team's head coach in Vegas, said the first-year players had difficulty at first grasping the playbook, which can be expected when so much is thrown at them at one time.

"The biggest positive was the growth in the young players from game one to the end," the coach said. "In the beginning, a couple of guys were coming out of time-outs and not following instructions, getting lost on plays."

So the coaches got the message across.

"We said, 'We know you are young and this is new to you, but you have to pay attention during time-outs,' " Smith said. "And they grew."

One example came in the fourth game, with the Sixers trailing the Los Angeles Lakers, 87-84, late in the fourth quarter. The coaches designed a play for Carney to get free and shoot a three-pointer. And, according to plan, Carney got the open shot and made the trey with 10.3 seconds remaining, sending the game into overtime.

"We needed a three, drew up the play, and the players executed it," Smith said. "It showed how much they progressed."

The players had been together in a minicamp for only five days before heading to Las Vegas.

"In the beginning, they weren't as comfortable with learning the plays, and as time went on, it got better," Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said. "That is the maturity of learning how to play the game."

Jason Smith, the 7-foot rookie from Colorado State, said grasping the plays had been a challenge.

"It is tough, because you can do so many things off the plays," Smith said. "Just getting the basics down for each play and then going out and executing is difficult."

That is why it was important that the Sixers scheduled so many games this summer. They went 3-2 in Las Vegas and will play six in Utah's Rocky Mountain Revue, which begins tonight with a game against the San Antonio Spurs.

Williams will not turn 21 until October, but the players - many of whom are older - looked up to him.

"It was difficult for them coming into this thing with a few days of practice and trying to have the offense stick in their head," said Williams, who is entering his third season with the Sixers. "As time went on, those guys got better and better."

There is more to be learned in Utah.

"You can't measure what a game does for these guys, to watch them in game situations," Cheeks said. "That is the reason why we are continuing in Utah, to give them a lot of game experience."