Royal Ivey

Although it seemed that Doug Collins was trying to place more of the blame for his slumping 76ers on the players, the fact is that nothing the coach said after the Sixers' loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday was a reach. The 110-102 defeat was the Sixers' 19th loss in their last 26 games. Once again, they failed to get to the foul line and were unable to start the game with any purpose. Their 7-of-23 shooting from the field left them looking at a 28-18 deficit at the end of the first quarter.

PORTLAND - Over the last two games, 76ers coach Doug Collins has turned to veteran point guard Royal Ivey with more consistency. In the Sixers' win at Memphis the day after Christmas, Collins counted on Ivey to fill in for Jrue Holiday, and Ivey responded with six points, making both of his three-point shots in almost 11 minutes. In a 96-89 loss to Golden State on Friday, Ivey logged more than 25 minutes. And while he scored just five points, Collins said that foes are going to see more of Ivey as the coach tightens his rotation.

LOS ANGELES - The rotation is the biggest question that 76ers coach Doug Collins still has about his team. Before the Sixers' 89-85 loss at Portland on Saturday, Collins said that Royal Ivey will become a steady member in his rotation. He likes the toughness Ivey brings at the defensive end, particularly guarding the point guard the complete length of the floor. What that means is that someone in the trio of Jason Richardson, Dorell Wright and Nick Young probably is going to see a dip in playing time.

"DEFENSIVE identity" is what coach Doug Collins looks for from his 76ers, and the ones who appear to match his desire are Damien Wilkins and Royal Ivey. In Saturday's win over the Houston Rockets, which snapped a seasonlong five-game losing streak, both saw significant minutes off the bench, while regular sub Nick Young didn't see any action. During the losing streak, the Sixers gave up an average of 102.4 points a game. In giving up 100 to Houston on Saturday, they held the league's top-scoring team to close to six points below its average, 44 percent shooting and forced it into 17 turnovers.

It's appropriate that in the city that produced R&B super group Boyz II Men, Jrue Holiday, the youngest 76er in franchise history to be named an all-star, is making that same transformation right before our eyes. The transformation on the public stage is obvious. It began with the Sixers selecting an 18-year-old Holiday with the 17th overall pick in the 2009 draft following his freshman season at UCLA. In the three years since, Holiday has gone from a player who sometimes didn't even dress for games as a rookie to where he is now - appearing Sunday in his first NBA All-Star Game in Houston.

The 76ers on Friday officially signed veteran point guard Royal Ivey to a one-year veteran minimum deal ($1.23 million). Ivey, 30, an eight-year veteran, spent the last two seasons in Oklahoma City. During his career, Ivey has started 109 games and averaged 3.4 points and 1.1 assists per game. This is his second stint with the Sixers, who signed him in 2008 as a free agent and later traded him along with Primoz Brezec and a second-round pick to Milwaukee in exchange for Francisco Elson and Jodie Meeks on Feb. 18, 2010.

76ers guard Royal Ivey, currently a free agent, posted the following message yesterday on Twitter: "Going back to Philly!" The message left some Sixers fans with the impression that Ivey was announcing his return to the team. Ivey played the 2008-09 season with the Sixers, averaging 3.0 points in a backup role before opting out of the second year of his contract in mid-June. Ivey's agent, Keith Glass, said he has discussed with the Sixers a new contract for his client. But he said that nothing has been finalized and that Ivey's message was intended to mean he was physically returning to Philadelphia and was not meant as an update on his contract.

76ers reserve guard Royal Ivey yesterday declined the player option on his contract for the 2009-10 season, joining point guard Andre Miller as an unrestricted free agent. Sixers president and general manager Ed Stefanski announced Ivey's decision in a news release but did not respond to a request for further comment. Ivey's agent, Keith Glass, did not immediately return calls. Ivey's decision means both he and Miller can sign with any team when NBA free agency begins July 1. Stefanski has said the team would attempt to re-sign Miller but would have no indication of the team's chances until the opening of free agency.

When the Sixers convene training camp in October, Villanova and Roman Catholic point guard Maalik Wayns will be among the hopefuls vying for a spot on the roster. While terms of the deal were not announced, Wayns' agent, Andy Miller, confirmed that Wayns had indeed signed the contract Monday morning. Wayns, a 6-foot-11/2 point guard who left school after his junior season, averaged 17.4 points per game on 41.4 percent shooting. He also averaged 4.6 assists per game. While the Sixers signed veteran point guard Royal Ivey to back up starting point guard Jrue Holiday, Wayns conceivably could make the team as a third point guard.

On the day the 76ers unveiled a new floor for their home court at the Wachovia Center, team president and general manager Ed Stefanski also took care of some other business - when he officially added Royal Ivey to the roster yesterday after the veteran guard passed a physical. The 6-foot-4 Ivey, who agreed to terms with the Sixers earlier this month, is believed to have signed a one-year deal that will pay him around $1 million. Ivey, a 27-year-old five-year pro, played for the Sixers last season before opting out of the second-year of his contract.

The 76ers won their final home game of the season on a day when the franchise celebrated the 30-year anniversary of its 1982-83 NBA championship team. Yawn. That's what a wearying disappointment of a season will do to an organization. The present-day reality mutes even the greatest moments in franchise history. Someday the Sixers may once again establish themselves as NBA contenders. But it's hard to say if Sunday's 91-77 win over equally struggling Cleveland at the Wells Fargo Center was something to build on. Yahoo Sports reported late Sunday that Doug Collins plans to resign as Sixers coach at the end of the season.

Jrue Holiday wanted to finish strong. Like his 76ers teammates, Holiday had been in the huddle midway through the fourth quarter when coach Doug Collins admonished them about their inability to win the second game of back-to-backs. So Holiday, who had struggled to score just three points through three quarters, ratcheted his game up in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 of his 14 points to lead the 76ers to a 100-92 victory over the lowly Charlotte Hornets in front of 16,764 Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

MIAMI - The 76ers, in search of an effective rotation all season, went with Charles Jenkins beside Jrue Holiday in the starting lineup on Friday. It marked Jenkins' first start since the Sixers acquired the 6-foot-3 guard from Golden State last month, along with cash considerations, in exchange for a protected, future second-round pick. Jenkins, who had appeared in just two games before Friday, said that it is his job to be ready when coach Doug Collins called on him, even if he happened to be getting the call against the defending champions.

ATLANTA - While trying to snap a 10-game road losing streak had to be at the forefront of the 76ers' minds, playing defense appeared to be an afterthought for much of Wednesday night against the Atlanta Hawks. Extremely tired legs didn't help, either. After a 5-minute beginning to the game during which Atlanta missed all six of its shots and turned the ball over four times, lending to an 8-0 start by the Sixers, the Hawks shook off the cobwebs that a six-game road trip can gather and stormed to a 107-96 win, ending their three-game losing streak and handing the Sixers their 10th loss in 11 games and 10th straight on the road.

THE MIAMI HEAT is the talk of the NBA, on a 15-game winning streak that has separated them from everyone in the Eastern Conference. But the 16-game stretch that the Boston Celtics have put together has to be just as impressive, maybe even more so. That's because Boston has done its damage in those games without Rajon Rondo, who is among the few elite point guards in the NBA. Credit it to coaching, or to veteran leadership or just the know-how of...

When Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers was the coach in Orlando, the Magic and the Detroit Pistons completed a sign-and-trade deal that sent Grant Hill to the Magic for Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins in August 2000. The Magic planned on pairing Hill, a star, with the emerging Tracy McGrady. But a severe ankle injury that ultimately required surgery limited Hill to just 47 games in his first three seasons in Orlando. Rivers was fired 11 games into the 2002-03 season. On Tuesday before the Celtics played the 76ers, Rivers recalled Hill's struggles as being similar to those the Sixers are going through with injured center Andrew Bynum.

It's good that 76ers rookie Arnett Moultrie is on a bit of roll. However, it's not good at all that his play was the most noteworthy element of the team's latest effort, a 109-101 loss to the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center. Buried on the bench for most of the season, Moultrie scored 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting on a night when the Sixers fell 71/2 games off the pace for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The playoffs seem more unlikely every time the Sixers (23-36)

It's appropriate that in the city that produced R&B super group Boyz II Men, Jrue Holiday, the youngest 76er in franchise history to be named an all-star, is making that same transformation right before our eyes. The transformation on the public stage is obvious. It began with the Sixers selecting an 18-year-old Holiday with the 17th overall pick in the 2009 draft following his freshman season at UCLA. In the three years since, Holiday has gone from a player who sometimes didn't even dress for games as a rookie to where he is now - appearing Sunday in his first NBA All-Star Game in Houston.

MILWAUKEE - Through the first 51 games of the season that have taken the injury-riddled 76ers to the All-Star break, the overriding themes in their 22-29 start have been their inconsistent play and the shuffling of rotations by coach Doug Collins. What is clear is that the margin for error, and what often becomes the difference between winning and losing, is about as thin as it gets. The team's last game before the All-Star break, a 94-92 loss in Milwaukee on Wednesday, was a perfect example of what has happened this season.