The 76ers have signed reserve guard Royal Ivey to a 2-year contract. The 26-year old Ivey should be able to give the Sixers 15-20 decent minutes per night. He played in 75 games (20 starts) for the Bucks last season and he averaged 19.2 minutes, 5.6 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. Don’t expect big numbers out of Ivey but he is a solid bench player and he should be worth what the Sixers are paying him (league minimum). Ivey has now played in 263 games (109 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 14.3 minutes, 4.0 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.

The Philadelphia 76ers have signed power forward Elton Brand to a 5-year, $82 million dollar contract. The 29-year old Brand missed most of last season recovering from a torn ACL but he’s healthy right now. Brand played in 8 games (6 starts) with the Clippers last season and he averaged 34.3 minutes, 17.6 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.9 blocked shots per game. The Sixers expect Brand to give them a huge boost on offense as he will likely be the go to man down low. Brand has now played in 614 games (609 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 38.3 minutes, 20.3 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.1 blocked shots. This was a great signing for the Sixers as Brand will help them big time on both ends of the basketball court.

The Philadelphia 76ers wanted to clear salary cap space so that they could sign free agent forward Elton Brand. With that in mind they traded G/F Rodney Carney, C Calvin Booth and a future 1st round pick to the T-Wolves for a future 2nd round pick. The 76ers weren’t happy with Carney’s development so they agreed to part with him. Carney played in 70 games (6 starts) for the 76ers last season and he averaged 14.8 minutes, 6.6 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. Carney finishes his career with the Sixers having played in 137 games (41 starts) and he averaged 16.1 minutes, 6.2 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. 32-year old center Calvin Booth won’t be missed much by the Sixers. He played in 31 games (0 starts) for the Sixers last season and he averaged 6.6 minutes, 0.8 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game. The Sixers also exchanged a future first round pick to the Timberwolves for a future 2nd round pick. But, to get Elton Brand this was a small price to pay.

The 76ers figured that you can’t go wrong with a Gator and that’s part of the reason they selected Speights. Speights is a power player all the way as he stands 6′10″, 245 pounds with attitude. He played in 69 games (36 starts) in his career at Florida and he averaged 9.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game. Speights also made an amazing 63.3% of his attempted FGs at Florida. This was a solid pick for the Sixers.

The 76ers are happy with the rookies that brought in last June. Forward Thaddeus Young is an outstanding player who will probably move into the starting lineup full time as early as the start of next season. He played in 74 games (22 starts) this season and he averaged 21.0 minutes, 8.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 1.0 steal per game. Young also chose his shots well as he hit 53.9% from the floor this year. Young has the look of a future star for the Sixers.

F/C Jason Smith also could be a starter in the future for the Sixers as he was a solid sub for them as a rookie. Smith played in 76 games (1 start) for the 76ers this year and he averaged 14.6 minutes, 4.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. Look for him to improve in 2008-09.

F/C Herbert Hill missed all of last season due to injury but the Sixers like him.