Philadelphia 76ers President and General Manager Ed Stefanski announced today that the team has signed free agent center Primoz Brezec.
“We feel that Primoz will provide us with additional size and depth in the front court, but just as beneficial is the wealth of experience he brings to the team not only on the NBA level, but internationally as well,” Stefanski said.
Brezec (7-1, 255) has appeared in 321 games with 214 starts across seven NBA seasons with Indiana, Charlotte, Detroit and Toronto. For his career, he has averaged 7.6 points and 4.1 rebounds in 19.0 minutes per game while shooting 50.0% from the floor and 70.6% from the line.
Last season, Brezec played for Lottomatica Virtus Roma of the Italian League. He started the 2007-08 season with the Bobcats before being traded to the Pistons and then the Raptors.
Originally the 27th overall pick in the first round of the 2000 NBA Draft by Indiana, Brezec played three seasons with the Pacers before being selected by Charlotte in the 2004 expansion draft.
Brezec’s best season came during the Bobcats inaugural campaign in 2004-05. He averaged career highs of 13.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.2 and 0.76 blocks in 31.6 minutes per game while ranking 13th in the league with 3.1 offensive boards per game.
A member of the Slovenian National Team, Brezec has competed in the 2003 and 2005 FIBA European Championships and the 2006 FIBA World Championship.
InsideHoops.com editor says: The 76ers adding Primoz Brezec is like the Celtics adding Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, or Larry Bird and Kevin McHale. OK, but seriously, Brezec is a solid backup and he’s good enough to have stayed in the league this whole time, instead of going overseas like he did. He’s also a very good interview and is totally outspoken about just about anything.
