(Associated Press)

Thaddeus Young said he has not given too much thought to the trade rumors that surfaced over the weekend.

The Sixers were listed as a potential landing spot for Houston forward Omer Asik, an ESPN.com report by Marc Stein said. The Rockets, according to multiple reports, are trying to move Asik by Dec. 19, and Stein’s report said Young would be the return in any deal involving Asik.

“It is what it is. Just taking it day by day,” Young said, after the Sixers’ morning shootaround Monday. “I’m not worried about a trade or anything like that. It’s a business. If it happens, it happens. I just have to live with it, keep moving on it. At the end of the day, I’m here. I’m ready. I’m focused. I’m ready to go out here and think about the game tonight.”

“Not hard to keep focused. It’s basketball. It’s our job. It’s how we make our living. It’s how we make our money. It’s how we feed our families. At the end of the day, it is what it is if it happens. There’s nothing I can do about it. I definitely love Philly and want to continue being here. If they see fit to trade me, hey, my time is up. I have to move on.”

Young is in his seventh season with the Sixers, who drafted him 12th overall in 2007. Averaging 15.8 points and 6.8 rebounds, the 6-8, 230-pound forward is making $8.6 million this season. He’s slotted to earn $9.1 million in 2014-15, with a player option of $9.7 million for the 2015-16 season.

Read more »

(AP)

The league’s third-leading scorer will be at Wells Fargo Center Wednesday night, and the 76ers say they’re ready for him.

Sixers coach Brett Brown said his team is aware of Houston’s James Harden and what he does well.  Brown, a former assistant at San Antonio, said he first learned of Harden’s abilities while the 6-5, 220-pound shooting guard was with Oklahoma City.

“I was always paying attention to Oklahoma City and James Harden coming off the bench,” Brown said of Harden, the Thunder’s sixth man from 2009-12. “You see the evolution of him being a starter, we’ve coached him in All-Star Games and you get to see him. You’re always amazed with how big he is – physically and height-wise. He’s such a force downhill. He gets to the rim and draws fouls like not many. He’s always coming at you with the ability to rise up and hit a 3 or dip his head and reach out and bait fouls. He’s a great guard and a great offensive player.”

Brown’s not embellishing, either: Harden, who averages 24.9 points, knows how to get to the line.

Only his former OKC teammate Kevin Durant has made more than his 59 free throws this season, and only Durant and Harden’s Rockets teammate Dwight Howard have gotten to the line more than Harden’s 70 attempts. Last season, Harden ranked first in free throws and second in free throw attempts (674-for-792). To put his 2012-13 numbers in perspective, the Sixers last season made 1,004 foul shots collectively.

Harden, who’s nursing a bum foot, scored 26 points in 48 minutes of the Rockets’ double-overtime win over Toronto Monday night. That’s not enough for the Sixers to turn their focus to someone else, Michael Carter-Williams said.

“I think, clearly, we’ll try to make him go right. He’s great going left,” the Sixers rookie said. “He’s great using the Euro step and he’s a great shooter. (I) just have to play him to the best of my ability.”

INJURY REPORT: The Sixers rested Michael Carter-Williams, keeping the rookie point guard out of Tuesday's practice for precautionary reasons. Carter-Williams said he has a sore left foot after stepping on someone during the Sixers' loss to San Antonio Monday. Also, Arnett Moultrie was seen dribbling on the PCOM court after Monday's practice, a sign that the second-year forward might be closing in on a return. Moultrie, who had ankle surgery in late September, has said he thinks he can be a full-capacity member of practice by Thanksgiving.

Getting younger and trimming their spending have been the prevailing trends of the 76ers’ offseason, and they continued that trend Friday night when they traded with Houston for second-year forward Royce White.

In the move, which was first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the Sixers surrendered “future considerations”, which would probably end up being either a second-round draft pick or an overseas prospect.

In other words, the Sixers did the Rockets a favor – and here’s why.

White, a 6-8, 270-pounder who was the 16th overall pick in the 2012 draft, has yet to make his NBA debut. He did not play a single game for the Rockets last season. Instead, he suited up for their Development League team. At first, he refused the D-League assignment and picked up a suspension because of a “refusal to provide services” laid out in his contract. It’s also been reported that White battles anxiety issues and a persistent fear of flying.

Due to make $1.71 million this season, White posted per-game averages of 11.4 points and 5.7 rebounds in 16 games with Rio Grande, the Rockets’ D-League affiliate.

White joins a revamped Sixers roster that includes Kentucky’s Nerlens Noel, for whom they traded on draft day, as well as draft picks Michael Carter-Williams and Arsalan Kazemi.

The Sixers launch their Orlando Summer League slate Sunday.

(Associated Press)

Saturday night, the Sixers gave up 100 points. More importantly, they scored 107. And out the door went their five-game slide.

They didn't have Swag, but that didn't matter.

Afterward, the Sixers could have patted themselves on the back for a job well done – having snapped a losing streak, having reached triple digits on the scoreboard, having broken out of a stretch in which the opponent beat them embarrassingly by 18 or more points.

Instead, the Sixers spoke glowingly of their defense. And justifiably so.

The Sixers – despite James Harden's 10-for-19 shooting display – clamped down on Houston's hot-handed guard in the biggest situations. Sixers coach Doug Collins tried just about everybody on Harden, from Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner to Jason Richardson and deep sub Damien Wilkins.

“On defense, that's really where we got it done,” Holiday said. “When it came down to it, we tried to get the ball out of (Harden's) hands in big moments and I think we did that.”

Giving Wilkins 11 minutes meant taking time from elsewhere – like sitting otherwise-healthy guard Nick Young. The guy they call Swaggy P was absent in a high-scoring affair. Seems unjust, right? Not for a team that needed a win desperately.

“We've got to get some defensive identity,” Collins said.

Whatever it takes to right the ship, right?

(Associated Press)

HOUSTON -- There was no beating around the bush, no sense sugar-coating it. Thad Young made it clear, in the moments following the Sixers' 125-103 loss to the Rockets, what was to blame.

“We didn't play any defense," he said.

Here's how bad things got for the Sixers:

• The Rockets, who shot 56 percent overall and 41 percent from 3-point range, had 29 assists on 42 baskets.
• The Sixers gave up the most points in Doug Collins' three-year tenure. Not since Eddie Jordan's swan song as their coach, April 15, 2009 at Orlando, had the Sixers given up as many points.
• In their last five games, the Sixers rank third-worst in scoring defense, allowing 106.8 points per game.
• The Sixers have allowed their last three opponents to breach the 100-point mark, the longest stretch since Collins' first season, in 2010-11.
• In 25 games, the Sixers' opponents have scored 100-or-more points 10 times. In all of last season, even though it was lockout-shortened, the Sixers gave up 100-or-more 12 times. The Sixers, by the way, ranked second in the NBA a year ago in scoring defense.

So ... where to from here?

"As a team, we can't go out there and score 127, 128 points. One-hundred-anything means we didn't play any defense," Young said. "We just have to go back to the drawing board to figure out how to stop guys and get stops and get back to playing our game."

#       #       #       #       #

A couple injury updates:

Andrew Bynum is visiting his personal physician Thursday in New York and, if David Altchek delivers good news from the follow-up appointment and MRIs, we might have a better idea when Bynum can return.

Jrue Holiday (left foot sprain), who's missed four games, remains day-to-day. Evan Turner (mild left ankle sprain) left Wednesday's game in the third quarter. And X-rays returned negative for rookie Maalik Wayns (right foot pain), who suffered injury in the final minute against the Rockets.

(Associated Press)

HOUSTON – Before Tuesday's game, the first of the Sixers' Texas two-step, Kwame Brown detailed what's been nagging him.

First on that list is playing time. After that, it all kind of blends together: a bum shoulder, a once-torn pec muscle, a strained calf, and a recently tweaked knee.

Brown, who's rode the bench for more minutes than he's played this month, earned his third straight start in Tuesday's loss at Dallas. Wednesday here in Houston, Brown figures to start again. He said he's earned. His numbers indicate he hasn't.

“It's tough to sit 12 games and then come out and start. Nothing prepares you for the game like the game,” Brown said the other day. “I've done the treadmill, weight-lifting and running. I'm getting there. The more game experience I get will be better for me and for the team down the road.”

The Sixers are in a rut. They've lost four in a row for the first time this season, and it's because they've been unable to score the way coach Doug Collins would like.

Because they don't have Andrew Bynum, they can't play out of the half-court because it doesn't free up nearly enough 3-point opportunities. They also can't play out of the post, either, with Brown and Lavoy Allen teaming to post offensively anemic numbers out of the center spot. The Sixers were outscored in the paint, 16-2, in the first quarter at Dallas and never recovered from it.

Here's what the Sixers are getting out of their starting centers: An average of 21.7 minutes, 5.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and less than a steal, a block and an assist per game.

That's not good, by the way.

By comparison, Bynum averaged 35.2 minutes, 18.7 points and 11.8 rebounds per game last season, when he was healthy. This season, some of the league's most-dominant centers are posting similar numbers. The Lakers' Dwight Howard is averaging 36.7/18.1/12.2; the Cavaliers' Anderson Varejao is averaging 36.0/14.1/14.4; and the Grizzlies' Zach Randolph is averaging 36.2/17.2/12.7.

The production – if you want to call it that – the Sixers are getting from their centers is not even in the same realm.

Allen's been a shadow of the guy who turned heads as a rookie in the postseason a year ago, upstaging Boston's Kevin Garnett at times. Allen got five minutes in end-of-the-quarter scenarios against the Mavericks. And in Brown, the Sixers weren't counting on much from the 12-year veteran. They expected him to play solid defense and rebound. And, for the most part, he's done that. Brown had seven boards against the Mavs, and seems to take pride in his defending.

“I can do whatever they need me to do. I'll figure it out,” Brown said. “I've played long enough. I'm not going to let a guy beat me. If you take it personally, you'll figure something out.”

The Sixers have to figure out what they can do to generate offense in the paint until Bynum returns, because Brown and Allen simply aren't cutting it.