Sixers third year forward/center Marreese Speights is apparently dedicating this season to getting better and not ending up in new coach Doug Collins’ doghouse.

You have to love when a new coach comes in to any siutation. Every guy talks about how he wants to improve and sees it as a new beginning, a new lease on a basketball career.

Speights, however, appears to be backing up his words with actions. According to an article in today’s Daily News, the Florida product has already participated n the Impact Basketball program in Las Vegas, which has helped a number of big time NBA players such as Kevin Garnett and Dwight Howard.

If Marreese Speights wants more court time, he needs to improve defensively.

A player who demonstrated nice offensive skills around the basket last season, Speights averaged 8.6 points and 4 boards in 16 minutes. However, he had trouble on the defensive end, averging just 2.7 rebounds on hat end of the court. That must improve.

He was often called out, indirectly, by Elton Brand for his soft play defensively. Right or wrong, that is the perception that led to his minutes getting cut at points during the season.

Doug Collins predicates his gameplan on stout defense, so if Speights wants to improve and see more action, he needs to crash the boards more and get better in the paint. Otherwise, it could be another long season for the former Gator.