(Courtesy: Memphis)

The Sixers signed 21-year-old swingman Adonis Thomas to a 10-day contract, the team announced.

The contract of James Nunnally, who had exhausted his share of 10-day deals, had expired Saturday night, leaving the Sixers’ roster with a vacancy.

The 6-7, 240-pounder spent most of his season with the D-League’s Springfield Armor. Sandwiched between D-League stints was a four-game stint Thomas played in Orlando on a pair of 10-day deals, the last of which expired March 14. While with the Magic, Thomas averaged 1.8 points, 0.8 rebounds and 0.5 assists.

Thomas went undrafted last summer out of Memphis, where he played two seasons.

Friday’s game at Memphis should feel like a homecoming for Thomas, who was born there. Thomas is the Sixers’ fourth player with Memphis roots. Thaddeus Young, Elliot Williams and Arnett Moultrie all went to high school in the Tennessee town.

Thomas will be the eighth rookie and the 23^rd player overall to have appeared in uniform this season for the Sixers, and the 28^th to occupy a spot on their 15-man roster.

(AP)

BOSTON – Maybe the 76ers circulated a memo throughout the locker room. Maybe they convened before Friday’s game, a 111-102 win over the Boston Celtics, and agreed upon a singular word to best describe Henry Sims.

“Aggressive,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said, carefully selecting the identical adjective that two others in the locker room had used in regard to Sims.

The Sixers big man scored a career-high 24 points and added nine rebounds in the team’s victory, their second in four games. Tonight, against visiting Brooklyn, they’ll go for their first winning streak since claiming four straight from Dec. 29 through Jan. 4.

The most-telling stat for Sims, beyond his point total, were his attempts from the foul line. The 6-10, 248-pounder went 14-for-18 at the foul line, including a 6-for-6 effort in the fourth quarter.

“He was in a bull mode, a really aggressive attack mode,” Brown said of Sims, who came to the Sixers as part of the trade-deadline deal that cast off Spencer Hawes. “He’d bury his head and try to get to the rim at all costs. In the first half, I thought he’d rush things when he was at a block. When he turns and faces things, he can catch and go, and play out of a dribble-handoff game at the top of the key area. He has a surprising first step and a fantastic mentality. With that it produced an aggression attack.”

Sims has been on a roll of late. He’s had a double-figure scoring total in seven of his last eight games, during which he’s also had two 20-point games. He’s also been a 77.3-percent shooter from the free-throw line. Not bad for a guy who shot 57.1 percent while with Cleveland.

When asked whether he’d ever had 18 attempts from the foul line in a single game at any level, Sims said no. (“If I did, I’d have had 40 (points),” he said.)

“Better opportunity here. More shots going up, more opportunities to get to the line,” Sims said. “I feel like I’m playing my game and Coach notices it. I’m still coming in every day, defensively and rebounding. Those are the two big things for me. Everything else is just extra.”

Thaddeus Young is seeing what Sims is doing.

“Very aggressive,” Young said, electing to use the operative word. “He went out there and played really, really aggressive. That’s the Henry I like to see all the time. When he’s aggressive, he’s always in attack mode. I encourage him all of the time to just continue to stay aggressive and be confident within yourself.”

Another standout from the win over the Celtics was Elliot Williams.

The reserve guard scored 15 points on 5-for-7 shooting overall and a 2-for-3 effort from 3-point range in 26 minutes. In his last 10 outings, Williams has shined. He’s averaged 8.4 points in 21.1 minutes per game, while shooting .484 from the field. Then compare those numbers against his season totals: 61 appearances, 5.6 points, 16.5 minutes, .396 field-goal percentage.

(Associated Press)

In the 76ers’ win Saturday, everything had to go right for them to break out of their two-month slump.

It wasn’t just a matter of making shots, which they did. Or the Detroit Pistons rolling over, which they did. Looking at the box score and speaking with players from both sides revealed just how imbalanced the game was, in the Sixers’ favor.

Granted, the Pistons were on tired legs after getting thrashed a night earlier by visiting Miami. But fatigue was not the sole reason behind the Sixers’ ability to snap a 26-game losing streak that matched the NBA record. Listless play from Detroit was another.

“There was no effort tonight, absolutely no effort,” Pistons big man Greg Monroe said.

“They wanted it more than we did,” added Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey.

When Sixers reserves Casper Ware and Elliot Williams are able to run a fastbreak alley-oop connection between one another, outrunning two Pistons in the process … yeah, that’s usually a solid indicator that the other team got outhustled and outworked. When Detroit’s second-leading scorer, Brandon Jennings, gets tossed in the first quarter with two technical for arguing a lack of foul calls … yep, another good indicator for the Sixers.

Here are a few numbers from the stat sheet, which went a long way toward assuring the Sixers of their first victory in two months:

• The Sixers scored 123 points. Their season average is 99.
• They held Detroit to 98 points. Their season average is a league-worst 110.
• They shot 52.2 percent. Their season average is 43.0 percent, second-worst in the league.
• They shot 57.1 percent from 3-point range. Their season average is a league-worst 31.0 percent.
• Reserve big man Jarvis Varnado established career-highs with 9 points and 6 blocked shots.

The Sixers played their best game in 60 days, yes. They caught a break with Jennings’ meltdown, for sure. And the Pistons’ lack of effort took care of the rest, helping the Sixers stave off infamy.

“It’s not something I want to be a part of, so it’s great we got this win,” Sixers rookie Michael Carter-Williams said.

(Associated Press)

Tony Wroten said he “ain’t rushing” back from the sprained right ankle that caused him to miss Monday’s game.

That means, when Michael Carter-Williams is off the floor, Evan Turner will be handling point guard responsibilities for the 76ers for the foreseeable future.

In his first crack at playing the point, things didn’t go well for Turner (pictured), in Monday’s 107-99 loss at Washington. Turner played 28 minutes against the Wizards, during which he shot 3-for-10 and finished with 11 points, two turnovers and one assist.

Wroten, who sprained his ankle Saturday at Chicago, is in an ankle boot. He didn’t offer a grade on his ankle sprain, but said it’s a low sprain, and not a high sprain. Since Wroten did not offer a timetable for his return, Turner represents the Sixers’ next-best option to play on the ball, whenever Carter-Williams has to check out of the game.

“I actually get the ball. That’s cool,” said Turner, the fourth-year swingman. “That’s what you want. Get me the rock, you feel me?”

Sixers coach Brett Brown said Turner does not always get into the flow of the offense when he doesn’t feel as though he’s actively involved at that end of the floor. Brown, for that reason, did not hesitate to insert Turner at the one-guard spot.

“I’m going to give Evan the ball,” Brown said. “We’re going to try him a little bit at some point, try that a little bit. We have Lorenzo (Brown), who’s a good backup legitimate point guard. He, too, I expect, will see minutes. And Elliot (Williams) had shown over the course of his collegiate career that he could be a ball-carrier. At times, when Evan isn’t as involved offensively as I wish he were, it’s a good vehicle just to give him the ball. He’s a big capable player and we’ll convert him into what we did with (San Antonio guard Manu) Ginobili at my old job.”

(AP)

DENVER – In the thin air of the Mile High City, 76ers coach Brett Brown ran Evan Turner and Thaddeus Young ragged. Both played 40 minutes Wednesday, in the Sixers’ 114-102 win over the Nuggets, the first game of a back-to-back nights scenario.

Brown likely will have to get creative tonight in Sacramento and Saturday in Portland, with how he doles out minutes as his team concludes its West Coast road trip. The coach got a sampling of that against the Nuggets, when he had to juggle rotations with Michael Carter-Williams and Spencer Hawes in foul trouble throughout the night.

The result: some good stuff.

Lavoy Allen, pictured, with 12 points, turned in a season-best scoring effort. James Anderson, who had 12 points and four boards, was big in the fastbreak game and on the defensive end. Even Elliot Williams, who only flashed onto the court for seven-plus minutes, provided pleasant play.

“We have some depth,” Brown said. “I was nervous. I was going too long with Spencer, even with two fouls, and that’s a dangerous decision. We persevered with that. I couldn’t get him out sooner, and Lavoy came in. Then you start looking around at who was tired. I ran Thaddeus and Evan into the ground in the first period. … Elliot came in and gave us a burst. James came in and continued to play really well. I feel, what I learned is, we have depth. We’re cultivating depth. We’re growing young players who are able to come in and play NBA games and do well.”

*****

Two editorial notes here: 1. I won’t be following the Sixers on their final two stops on the road trip. Instead, I’ll be in Denver tonight and Phoenix Saturday, for the Flyers’ games out this way. 2. My apologies for the look of the blog. The smart, computer people tell me the site is getting a redesign of sorts, and it’ll be back to normal soon.