Holiday, whose first name is pronounced "Drew" - it's a long story - becomes the first member of the team to be born in the decade of the 1990s. If that makes you feel a little old, at least you can understand how the Sixers might not want to rush him further.
"We weren't looking at him to really come in and make an impact for next season," DiLeo said. "We're looking at the future with him. We think we got a good one."
This is what they do for a living, so we'll have to take their word for it now. There just isn't much paper on Holiday, who played only one out-of-position season at UCLA. He didn't seem that impressive at the Wachovia Center when the Bruins barely sneaked past Virginia Commonwealth in the first round of the tournament and lost by 20 to Villanova in the second.
For his part, Holiday believes he can play and contribute right away. That's good and that's what you want to hear, but the Sixers think Holiday will be worked in slowly, the same way the team has worked in Thaddeus Young and Marreese Speights, their top picks in the previous two drafts.
Which leaves - still leaves - the question of who will mostly be playing the point this season. It also leaves the question of when exactly this future of which they speak will actually morph into the present.
If nothing else, the Sixers sent a clear message last night that the 2009-10 season will be all about laying another row of bricks in the wall, but not the top row. Not yet.
They can begin to negotiate with Andre Miller next week, but Miller is typically enigmatic at this time of year, and that's if you can find him. Last year, when the same dance was taking place, even Miller's agent couldn't locate him and - by waiting to sign until the economy fell apart late in the summer - Andre cost himself a lot of money.
