Hollis Thompson showing what he's got

THERE ARE certain things that make 76ers coach Brett Brown's eyes sparkle. In this young season, which has produced six wins in 15 games, there has been much for the first-year coach to be happy about.

To his core, Brown is a developer of young players, having relished that role and prospered in it with the San Antonio Spurs for so many years. It is a huge reason why general manager Sam Hinkie targeted Brown to be the first head coach of the organization under his watch. And as much as veterans Spencer Hawes and Evan Turner are producing some of the most consistent play of their careers, you get the feeling Brown gets maybe a little more satisfaction in watching the progression of young, unknown players.

In training camp, while he was trying to not only establish relationships with his new players and develop offensive and defensive schemes that best suited those assembled, Brown also spent many hours working with the young players, specifically Hollis Thompson. The Georgetown swingman was familiar to Brown, as he had played for the Spurs in the 2013 Las Vegas Summer League. There was an athleticism and smoothness to Thompson's game that stuck with Brown, leading to Thompson's signing just before training camp.

An early-season afterthought for any type of contribution and not getting any playing time in two of the first seven games, Thompson has now become a key sub for Brown on a team that has already been hit by injury and off-court issues, making for a short roster on many nights. Over the past six games, Thompson has averaged slightly more than 20 minutes, including a season-high 31 minutes in Saturday's 106-98 loss in Indiana to the 11-1 Pacers. He scored 10 in that game, a night after a career-high 16, to go with seven rebounds in an improbable overtime win against the Milwaukee Bucks.

"You look at Hollis Thompson and all the work that he has put in," Brown said. "He is maybe our hardest worker and I think it's a statement to the development program we're trying to implement and [player development] coach Billy Lange, who spends countless hours with Hollis, and Hollis backing himself.

"Just putting in the time, that's the plan. You hear me talking about a good day's work and that will add up, and he's done that. Having been in that role that Billy is in, many years ago, when you watch a player that you have spent so much time with deliver on the court, you live and die with him, you bleed with him. You want him to do well. He's hitting threes, lob plays, put-backs. He's a blue-collar kid that's come in and is scratching and clawing and doing anything he can to find NBA minutes and [on Friday] his total package, all those things that people have been working with him on, he was able to show them all in a game that was a great win for us."

To even know Thompson is around takes work. He is very quiet in the locker room, instead preferring to let his game be his verbiage. He is on the court hours before games and for more minutes after practices. After not getting drafted in 2012 following his junior season at Georgetown, when he averaged 12.8 points and 5.5 rebounds and was the school's all-time three-point percentage leader (44 percent), the 6-8, 210-pounder has a burning desire to find a home in the world's greatest basketball league.

"I've been working out with the coaches as much as possible and trying to get ready for when I get in the game," Thompson said. "I've been working on everything, from defensive principles to coming off screens to shooting the ball. Pretty much everything."

It hasn't gone unnoticed. It helps that he has a coach who has a keen eye toward younger players and a ton of interest in being there to help develop them. It is just as important that Thompson has an unquenchable desire to get better.

The team had off yesterday and will practice today and tomorrow, then play in Orlando on Wednesday. The Sixers will host former teammate Jrue Holiday and the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday . . . More about the status of Spencer Hawes (knee), Tony Wroten (back) and Thaddeus Young (personal reasons) will be known today. They all were out in Saturday's loss.