(AP)

Never in his career has Thaddeus Young attempted and made more 3-pointers in a single season – and he’d like to keep it that way.

While dealing with so much change – like five coaches in his seven pro seasons – Young would like one thing to stay the same. Namely, he’d appreciate Sixers coach Brett Brown continuing to give him the freedom to roam near the 3-point line.

“I think I was capable of it before,” Young said after Tuesday’s practice. “It was just one of those things where I’ve always been a player where, when a coach needs something or asks me to do something, I go out there and do it. I fulfill a job. 

“With Coach (Doug) Collins, he didn’t want me shooting a lot of 3s. He wanted me in the paint, getting extra possessions, hustling, make open shots. He told me actually, ‘Treat the 3-point line like a barbed-wire fence.’ I didn’t like that at all, but I went out there and fulfilled the job. This year, Brett said to me he wanted me to step out and shoot 3s, to put the ball on the floor, get to the basket, and do everything. I was like, ‘Perfect. I can get back to playing how I was before Coach Collins, before Eddie Jordan.’ My first two years in the league were free-flowing.”

Young is shooting 32.1 percent (83-for-258) from beyond the arc, with his makes and attempts from the 3-point line representing career-high figures. In the three seasons prior, under Collins, Young collectively shot 8-for-34 from the arc.

In his second and third seasons, Young had shown an ability to take and make shots from long range, before having to reel it in under Collins. During the 2008-09 season, with Maurice Cheeks and Tony DiLeo splitting the season, Young shot 56-for-164. A season later, under Jordan, Young went 48-for-138 from the 3-point line.

(Boston University)

While the 76ers’ game Wednesday night against the host Boston Celtics is sure to be a treat for Sixers rookie and Hamilton, Mass., native Michael Carter-Williams, as well as for injured rookie Nerlens Noel, of Malden, Mass., it’s fair to assume the Sixers’ first-year coach will have a few familiar faces in the arena, too.

The native of South Portland, Maine, who routinely took trips with his parents into Boston as a youth to watch the Celtics, Brett Brown spoke glowingly Tuesday after the Sixers’ practice about his links to Boston: the games he’d seen there and the games he’d played there, as an undergrad at Boston University.

Here’s what Brown had to say:

On Boston Garden’s charm:

“In the seats I had, you’d look up five feet to the roof and see the moss and the stalagmites or stalactites. I don’t remember which one goes up or down. You’re in an old, dingy building that had so much character.”

On the parquet floor’s unforgiving squares:

“I played there a few times during my Boston University days,” he said. “You’d play in Christmas tournaments – BC, Northeastern, UMass. You’d be flying up the court, dribbling and you’d hit one of the dead squares and you’re upset because it’s a turnover with nobody around and (the ball) just wouldn’t come up. It’s funny. You started learning, as a point guard, where you could go for steals. Sometimes, with other point guards you were guarding were going to have trouble with the floor. You’d try to manipulate it and try to take it as an advantage.”

On the Sixers/Celtics games from back in the day:

“I can still hear the music, the introduction, to the NBA Game of the Week. You hear it and you think immediately, ‘NBA.’ To travel down to the Garden, and to see back in my day it was (George) McGinnis and Julius Erving and Bobby Jones and Andrew Toney and Mo Cheeks and Doug (Collins) and so on. I couldn’t believe how Toney would kick the Celtics’ tail. He was so unguardable. … It was such a big part of my upbringing.”

(Associated Press)

His phone cut out once. When it cut out a second time, he apologized.

“I’m driving through the mountains,” 76ers president Rod Thorn said with a chuckle. “If I lose you again, you can blame that on me.”

Thorn was in a great frame of mind Friday night, after the Sixers announced that they had promoted the guy they expect to take Thorn’s place.

The Sixers made senior vice president Tony DiLeo the team’s general manager, the 12th in franchise history. The Sixers fully expect DiLeo to use the upcoming season to glean as much from Thorn as possible before Thorn leaves his post for a more-cozy consultant’s role with the team.

“Tony’s capable enough to do the job without me meddling too much,” Thorn said.

DiLeo, 57, who enters his 23rd season with the Sixers, has been with the team since 1990 and has served in a variety of capacities in the front office. A former assistant coach, he took over for coach Maurice Cheeks when the Sixers fired him after opening the 2008-09 season with nine wins in 23 games. DiLeo led the Sixers to the playoffs that season, after which he withdrew his name from consideration as full-time coach and returned to a role in management.

Thorn didn’t confirm particular names of guys the Sixers called in for interviews for the general manager post, but a few have been widely reported. According to a CBS Sports report, they interviewed Tom Penn, a former executive with the Trail Blazers, and Jeff Bower, an ex-Hornets exec, but instead returned to DiLeo. It's also believed the team tried to sit down with Nuggets general manager Masai Ujiri, but Denver's brass nixed those bids by the Sixers.

“In terms of the interview process, we interviewed a number of people and got different perspectives,” Thorn said. “We always felt Tony was a strong candidate because of his experience. With his experience, he knows what he's doing. ... At the end of the day, he was going to be our guy."

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On an editorial note:

This is the first of what will be many posts throughout the Sixers' season -- and beyond. So make sure to bookmark the blog and check back regularly for observations, musings, news and notes. Thanks for stopping by.