The Philadelphia 76ers selected 19-year old point guard Jrue Holliday with the 17th pick in the NBA Draft last night. Holliday played in 35 games in his only season at UCLA and he averaged 8.5 points, 3,8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.6 steals per game. Holliday has a lot of learning to do before he’s ready for prime time. The hope here is that the Sixers re-sign Andre Miller and let Holliday learn behind him.

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 have acquired Herbert Hill from the Utah Jazz for center Kyrylo Fesenko. Hill is a 6′10″, 240 pound power forward from Providence. Hill played in 99 games for Providence and he averaged 9.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.8 steals and 1.9 blocked shots per game. He shot 61.4% from the floor and only 56.6% from the free throw line. Hill will likely backup Jason Smith as a rookie for the Sixers. This was a good move for the Sixers because Fesenko might not come to the U.S. for a while.

The Portland Trailblazers really wanted guard Petteri Koponen after the Sixers drafted him. So they sent the Sixers shooting guard Derrick Byars and cash for him. Byars played 2 seasons for both Virginia and Vanderbilt in college. Byars was projected to be drafted in the first round by most draft experts so the Sixers look like they made a nice trade with the Blazers. Byars is 6′7″,220 pounds so he will give the Sixers nice size when he gives Iguodala a break. Byars has played in 126 games in college and he averaged 11.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 0.9 steals per game. He’s a good shooter as he hit 46.3% from the floor, 39.7% from three point range and 69.8% from the free throw line.

Jason Smith was a player the Sixers really wanted but the Miami Heat snagged him right before their pick. So the 76ers traded Daequan Cook, a 2009 second round pick and cash to Miami for Smith. Smith will likely get a chance to start as a rookie at power forward for the 76ers and he should team up well with Samuel Dalembert on defense. Smith is a big guy at 7′0″, 240 pounds at he used that size to his advantage at Colorado State. Smith played 87 games there and he averaged 14.7 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.5 steals and 1.7 blocked shots per game. Smith hit 54.8% of his shots from the floor, 30.8% from three point range and 75.1% from the free throw line. The Sixers were smart to trade for Smith and they will likely benefit right away in his rookie season.