He spotted 76ers coach Maurice Cheeks.

"Coach Cheeks!" Speights called. "Your popcorn," he said, giving the contents of each hand to his new coach.

"Look at this little thing," Cheeks said of the popcorn. "You're going to have to go back at halftime."

The newest Sixer shrugged - unsure of Cheeks' seriousness - then went out and scored 26 points in Wednesday night's NBA Summer League victory over the Washington Wizards at Cox Pavilion on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

After the game, Speights said he has "adjusted to this level real fast."

"I'm coming out there with a lot of confidence," he said. "This is the best I've played."

The Sixers played their final game of the summer league last night against the Toronto Raptors. Speights averaged 19.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game in the first four contests.

The 76ers drafted the 6-foot-10 Speights, a forward-center from Florida, with the 16th overall selection in the 2008 NBA draft.

Speights, who presumably will play behind center Samuel Dalembert and newly acquired all-star power forward Elton Brand, adds depth to what is shaping up to be a formidable frontcourt of Thaddeus Young, Brand, Speights, Dalembert and Jason Smith.

"He's a skilled kid," Sixers general manager Ed Stefanski said of Speights. "There's a definite upside for this guy.

"We thought his strengths were on the offensive end. We thought his weakness would be defensively, learning the pace of the game because the defensive end moves faster."

Speights said that has not been a problem.

"I think that college was faster than this, but this is summer league," Speights said. "I don't know about the actual league."

"He's not tentative at all," Smith said. "He's been aggressive and played really well. He'll be just fine."

Dalembert's departure. Marc Cornstein, Dalembert's agent, said his client remained overseas. On Wednesday, Dalembert parted ways with the Canadian national team at an Olympic qualifying tournament in Athens, Greece.

Leo Rautins, the Canadian coach, said via e-mail that he was "very disappointed" over the falling out with Dalembert, who shot 1 for 8 in his final game with Canada on Tuesday.

"We invested a great deal of time, heart, and money in Sam, and this decision was supported by all of the coaches and his teammates," Rautins said.

Cornstein had a different view.

"They can't get any of their NBA players to show up, and here's a guy who went through the entire process to become a Canadian citizen," he said. "Until 10 days ago, you would have thought he was God coming down: 'He does everything we ask, all the public relations, everything.'