21-year old small forward Thaddeus Young needs to take the next step for the 76ers to improve as a team. He played in 67 games (45 starts) for the Sixers last season and he averaged 32.0 minutes, 13.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Young has now played in 216 games (138 starts) in his three years with the Sixers and he has averaged 29.1 minutes, 12.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Young is a good player but the Sixers need him to step up a bit in 2010-11.

The 76ers have five free agents hitting the open market this summer. Actually they might only have three as Jason Kapono is likely to exercise his player option and Willie Green might decide not to opt out of his contract. It won’t hurt the Sixers to have both of those guys back for 2010-11. Rodney Carney is probably another player the Sixers wouldn’t mind bringing back as long as the price is right. Francisco Elson and Allen Iverson are goners for sure this summer.

The 76ers have signed 57-year old Doug Collins to be the new head coach. Collins last coached in 2002-03 with the Wizards and he led them to a 37-45 (45.1%) record missing the playoffs. He has 8 years of head coaching experience in the NBA and he has compiled a 332-287 (53.6%) record during the regular season and he is 15-23 (39.5%) in the post season. He is famous for being Michael Jordan’s first coach in Chicago before he was replaced by the now legendary Phil Jackson. Collins will likely be a huge improvement over Eddie Jordan but that won’t be too hard to do.

26-year old SG/SF Andre Iguodala is the most dependable player on the 76ers as he almost never misses a game. He started all 82 games for the Sixers last season and he averaged 38.9 minutes, 17.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.7 steals per game. I can definitely see why teams like the Cavs were trying to trade for Iguodala near the deadline. He has now played in 486 games (all starts) in his six years with the Sixers and he has averaged 38.1 minutes, 15.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.8 steals per game. So Iguodala has only missed six games in six years which makes him a player the Sixers will be building around.

19-year old point guard Jrue Holiday took over as the starting point guard when Lou Williams went down to injury early in the year and Allen Iverson essentially quit the team. He played in 73 games (51 starts) for the 76ers this season and he averaged 24.2 minutes, 8.0 points, 2.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game. He will likely enter next season as the starting point guard for the 76ers and that is a good thing as he improved as the year rolled on. 22-year old shooting guard Jodie Meeks came over at the trade deadline in a deal with the Bucks. He played in 19 games for the Sixers averaging 12.3 minutes, 5.9 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. But, in his last five games with the Sixers he averaged 21.8 minutes, 12.4 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. He also shot 50% from three point range over those last five games. Meeks played in 59 games (0 starts) overall for the Bucks & Sixers last season and he averaged 11.7 minutes, 4.6 points, 1.6 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game. Meeks has a nice upside and the Sixers didn’t give up much to get him at all.