Sixers Notes: Sixers' Brown: Wing Bowl an 'eye-opener'

Brett Brown called it surreal.

The 76ers coach attended Wing Bowl 22 Friday morning at Wells Fargo Center as a guest of WIP host and Wing Bowl creator Angelo Cataldi.

"You are walking and you see the tailgating and like 6:20 [in the morning], and the place is rolling," Brown said. "It's got a hell of an atmosphere, and people go 'Let's go Sixers' and welcoming and hospitable."

And that is in the parking lot.

The NBA rookie head coach said there were 18,000 to 20,000 people "really having a good time at that time of the morning" inside the arena.

"You just see it's a fun event for the city," Brown said. "It's a real sort of eye-opener for me that something can build up as it has. And it just looked like a lot of fun for the people there."

No all-star invite, no problem for Thaddeus Young.

"It's not going to break my career," the Sixers power forward said of not being among the players named to the Eastern Conference all-star reserves on Thursday. "It can definitely help it.

"When it's my time, then it's my time. When it's not, hey, you just move on to the next thing."

Young went into Friday's game against the Atlanta Hawks averaging career highs in scoring (17.3 points), steals (2.0), and assists (1.9) in addition to 6.3 rebounds this season.

The Sixers have a decision to make on center Dewayne Dedmon, whose second 10-day contract expires on Sunday. The franchise must decide whether to sign him for the remainder of the season or release him.

"I think he's been great," Brown said. "To take a 23-year-old who's never started playing basketball until he's 19 and have him be 7-foot and run the way he runs, how could you not love that energy and potential? So I'm thrilled with what he's done so far."

Dedmon averaged 2.2 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 9.3 minutes heading into Friday's game.