PHILADELPHIA - Having lost more games than they'd won in the last week, the 76ers decided to turn loose their rookies.
Forward Arnett Moultrie and point guard Maalik Wayns were added to the Sixers' rotation for their game Sunday against the Phoenix Suns, the back end of a two-game, two-day set at Wells Fargo Center.
Forget about tired legs as his motivation for sending in the kids. Sixers coach Doug Collins said he wanted, and the team needed, to see what his greenest guys could give him. And justifiably so.
Moultrie, the Mississippi State product who went 27th in the last draft, hadn't played in five games, before checking in with 1:53 left in the first quarter. He had gotten only 18 minutes between four games.
Wayns, who went undrafted out of Villanova, got into consecutive games by getting subbed on to start the second quarter. He even established a career-best scoring total, after having played only 27 minutes in six previous contests.
"We've got to let them play through mistakes," Collins said in pregame. "I want them to be aggressive mistakes, not the ones where they're on their heels. Maalik has to be on attack mode and Arnett has to active and doing the things we need him to do."
Wayns played six minutes Saturday night, most of which came in the second quarter against Oklahoma City. That's a far cry from the usual garbage-time call to which he had grown accustomed.
"Just a part of this business. You've got to stay ready," said Wayns, who added that he's gotten a better handle of the Sixers' playbook in recent weeks.
"You're learning different things, a different way to play. At Villanova, everything was through me. Now I have to get the guys shots. If I can get in the game and change the tempo - I don't even have to take a shot - I did my job. I'm getting acclimated to it."
In Moultrie, the Sixers are looking for help on their front line. Rebounding and defending off the bench will be essential for the 6-10, 245-pounder.
"We've got to get a little livelier on the front line, bounce around a little bit and see if (Moultrie) can rebound," Collins said. "I'm sure he's going to get tired, probably going to be nervous. ... We've got to see what he can do. Got to get him out there. He was a first-round pick. We've got to get him out there and see if he'll add any energy to our front line."
Collins' rotation had a walking-wounded feel to it.
Shooting guard Jason Richardson started the game, despite spraining his left ankle Saturday for the second time this month. He had been a game-time decision, but Collins said Richardson "got his treatment" and was a go.
Spencer Hawes, who twisted his left knee late Saturday, entered with 5:58 gone in the first quarter. Hawes said he twisted it when, with his foot planted, he had to switch off his man to defend Oklahoma City's speedy Russell Westbrook.
Speaking of Oklahoma City, Collins used the Thunder's two stars, Westbrook and Kevin Durant, in answering a question about fatigue.
The Sixers, playing the Suns Sunday, were embroiled in one of their 22 back-to-back scheduling scenarios this season. And after watching Westbrook and Durant torch the Sixers the night after a game in Boston, Collins didn't take to the assertion that his guys might be a bit fatigued because of it.
"Durant. Westbrook. Boston. Flight. Early morning. Back-to-back. Ninety minutes. Sixty-seven points. Don't talk to me about fatigue," Collins said. "I'm not going to talk about fatigue. If you're tired ... I saw two guys (Saturday) night that weren't very tired, two guys that played all summer after they went to the Finals."
Visit Christopher A. Vito's Sixers blog at delcotimes.com for more coverage.