Royal Ivey

Lavoy Allen 6-foot-9, 255, F-C, Temple, second NBA season, age 23. Allen came on strong late in his rookie season and averaged 6.3 points and 4.9 rebounds in 19.7 minutes during the postseason. He might be the strongest player on the team and can keep defenses honest with a solid medium-range game. Allen is expected to start at center while Andrew Bynum recovers from knee problems. Kwame Brown 6-11, 290, C, Glynn Academy (H.S.), 12th NBA season, age 30. Injuries limited Brown to nine games with Golden State, but he figures to get backup minutes at center.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The 76ers tidied up a near-perfect preseason on Monday night and just as quickly tucked it behind them. Jason Richardson popped in 23 points - including six three-pointers - and Thaddeus Young added 22 as the Sixers topped the New York Knicks, 98-90, in an exhibition contest at Syracuse University's Carrier Dome. The contest put a bow on the Sixers' preseason games, a series of tests that the team easily passed with a 6-1 mark. "I mean, we had a good preseason," said Sixers guard Royal Ivey.

With players such as Andre Iguodala and Lou Williams gone, the 76ers will put the ball in Jrue Holiday's hands a lot more than they did last season. "Last year we had three or four guys who could handle the ball," Sixers coach Doug Collins said after the team's practice Friday afternoon at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. "In many instances, Jrue would give the ball up and get off the ball. Then maybe Lou might handle it, or 'Dre, or Evan [Turner] might handle it. " But Collins wants Holiday, who scored 27 points in the Sixers' preseason-opening, 102-95 victory in Orlando on Thursday, to be the primary ball handler this season because he believes the Sixers are better when he has the ball.

ATLANTIC CITY - It's time for certain members of the 76ers to get their conditioning up. This was the message Sixers coach Doug Collins issued outside the team's locker room after the Sixers dropped a 108-105 overtime decision to the Brooklyn Nets at Boardwalk Hall on Saturday. The Sixers are 1-1 in the preseason. "Our team, we've got to be in a little bit better condition," Collins said. "I've been worried about pushing the guys in camp. We've got some older guys in camp that you worry about getting injuries.

Just the other day, 76ers coach Doug Collins and associate head coach Michael Curry were having a conversation about team depth. It's always a good conversation to have - especially if you have depth - when preparing for another season. However, for the Sixers, the good news is that the conversation wasn't about the top eight spots as they see it. Instead, Curry and Collins were talking about players nine through 14. Specifically, they were discussing what they had seen out of the two rookies in camp, 6-foot-1 guard Maalik Wayns and 6-10 power forward Arnett Moultrie.

WHILE MUCH of the talk surrounding the 76ers has centered on Andrew Bynum and Evan Turner and the departure of Andre Iguodala, there was another topic that raised many players' eyebrows and voices when brought up at media day on Monday. The cause of all the excitement is Roman Catholic/Villanova product Maalik Wayns. Signed as a free agent at the end of July, Wayns has impressed his new teammates during their workouts together for the past few weeks, heading into Tuesday's start of training camp.

With all the additions on a 76ers team that will enter the season with heightened expectations, a player who has caught the eye of the veterans is free-agent rookie point guard Maalik Wayns. Electing to bypass his senior season at Villanova, the Roman Catholic High School product was not selected in the NBA draft. But he made a favorable impression playing for the Orlando Magic summer-league team, averaging 11.7 points before signing with the Sixers. "At first I thought it was just a training-camp invite, but I then signed two years with a partial guarantee," Wayns, 21, said during media day on Monday.

If the NBA championship were determined by what teams do during the offseason, the 76ers, with their impressive moves, would have the look of a contender. The reality, though, is that the pieces must fit together; growing pains must occur. For the Sixers, who return just one-third of the players from a team that came within just one victory of reaching the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 11 seasons, that process begins on Tuesday, when the revamped Sixers open training camp at St. Joseph's University in preparation for the 2012-13 season.

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.

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.