76ers host nine draft prospects

Despite the uncertainty clouding the business side of the 76ers' franchise, on Wednesday the basketball operations continued with business as usual.

One day after news broke that Comcast-Spectacor is in serious discussions to sell the team to a group of investors led by New York billionaire Joshua Harris, the Sixers' front office and coaching staff moved forward with two previously scheduled draft workouts.

The Sixers hold the No. 16 and No. 50 picks in the upcoming NBA Draft, scheduled for June 23.

Sources have insisted that business negotiations will not interfere with basketball operations. Finalization and approval of any potential deal is still at least a week away, and during that time the team's basketball operations will have full control of basketball decisions.

On Wednesday at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, the Sixers held back-to-back workouts: the first with four draft prospects, the second with five.

The discussion, despite the elephant in the room of a potential franchise sale, remained strictly basketball.

The morning workout included four big men: Keith Benson (Oakland), Justin Harper (Richmond), Nikola Vucevic (USC), and Jordan Williams. The afternoon workout included five forwards and guards: Jordan Hamilton (Texas), Scotty Hopson (Tennessee), Malcolm Lee (UCLA), Josh Selby (Kansas), and Chris Singleton (Florida State).

Wednesday's workouts were the team's third and fourth of this pre-draft process. But they were also the most promising. The afternoon workout featured the highest-ranking prospects the team has hosted: Singleton (No. 10 on ESPN.com's prospect board), Hamilton (No. 13), and Selby (No. 18).

But considering the Sixers are almost certainly in the market for a big man, the most important prospect present might have been Vucevic, a 6-foot-10 big man originally from Montenegro by way of the University of Southern California.

The Sixers also interviewed Vucevic at the NBA Draft combine in Chicago.

"They say they need size and presence inside," Vucevic said after Wednesday's workout. "They say they have interest in me, so I was just coming here and trying to show what I can do and help this team. We had a good meeting, twice. So it's been good."

Iguodala's take. For the last half decade, Sixers swingman Andre Iguodala has been the face of the franchise. And in one small way, he's had something in common with owner Ed Snider: he's always caught a significant amount of flak from fans.

After hearing the news that Snider had started the process of selling the team, Iguodala characterized his relationship with Snider as "really good actually."

He recounted the moments after the final home game of the 2009-10 season-a year in which the Sixers finished 27-55 and failed to make the playoffs-when he walked over to Snider after the final buzzer and apologized for the dismal season.

"I personally apologized to him about the season and told him next year we would have a better season and make the playoffs," explained Iguodala.

The Sixers did, finishing 41-41 last season.

"That's something he and I spoke about . . . that's never put out in the open, that's never in the paper," said Iguodala. "But I try to stay in the loop."

Iguodala called the potential change in ownership another "variable" that the team will have to address this off-season, included on that list is also his future as a Sixer.

"Being in Philly, they're going to take certain things and magnify it," said Iguodala. "I'm not upset about it; I know that's how it works some times."