Philadelphia 76ers President Billy King announced today that the team has signed restricted free agent guard Willie Green to a contract. Per team policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed. With the transaction, the Sixers roster now stands at 14.

“The main thing is just to get him back where he’s playing basketball," said King "There’s no timetable as to get him action for games. It’s more for him mentally to get himself confident. We’re hopeful that he can get back and help us and his mindset is right. It’s nice to see him back.”

Green rejoins the Sixers after missing the majority of this season rehabilitating from arthroscopic left knee surgery done in August of 2005.

“It feels pretty good just to come back and be able to play," said Green after his first practice with the team on March 23. "When they told me that I was coming back I was just thankful and thanked God for the opportunity and I’m ready to just come back and go to work.”

For his career, the 6-foot-4, 200-pound guard has averaged 7.3 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 16.7 minutes per game in 110 games (21 starts). He logged time in all five of the Sixers First Round Playoff games last season against the Detroit Pistons, averaging 5.4 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.6 assists in 12.6 minutes per game.

“It’s great having Willie back," said Sixers forward Kyle Korver, who played the last two seasons with Green. "He was downstairs and he was asking how it was different between this year and last year and we were kind of talking about it, and he’s out there. He’s not quite where he wants to be I don’t think but you know Willie, he’s going to work hard and he’s going to be ready soon I think.”

“He’s a pretty good one-on-one player, he’s a pretty good defender," said Sixers Head Coach Maurice Cheeks about the signing. "We’re just trying to get him back in the fold, get him some practice time. I don’t think he’s going to help us a lot over the last 15 games, but he’s a competitive player and we’ll just get him used to the some of the things that we’re doing and see where it goes from there.”

Green was originally selected in the second round (41st pick overall) of the 2003 NBA Draft by the Seattle Supersonics. He was acquired by Philadelphia from Seattle in a draft night trade for the draft rights to Paccelis Morlende (50th pick overall) and an undisclosed amount of cash.

During his collegiate career, Green played four seasons at the University of Detroit Mercy where he was named Honorable Mention All-America by the Associated Press during his senior year, and won 2003 Horizon League Player of the Year honors. Over his career at Detroit Mercy, Green averaged 14.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game in 114 games.

Sixers Audio - March 23, 2006
Maurice Cheeks Audio	Billy King Audio	Willie Green Audio	Kyle Korver Audio