I'll admit it, Elton Brand's play against the Bobcats has me excited. Yes, it was one game, but he did things in that game that I worried he'd never be able to do again. Forget about the dunks, the guy is 6'8" with a standing reach of like 11 feet, he should be able to dunk when he's 60-years-old, the thing that most impressed me was that ability he showed to get off the floor quickly for blocked shots. That's explosiveness and timing, two vital pieces of the puzzle for a guy like Brand.
Tonight's game is crucial for EB in my mind. Wednesday could've been a blip. It could've been a hyper-motivated guy digging deeper than ever before to come up with a huge game after his coach essentially said he had no faith in him to the press. We need to see two things at this point:
(1) Elton to continue to trust his body. If he's hesitant out there, bad things happen. He doesn't get up for blocks, he doesn't push his man off the blocks, he doesn't clear out space for rebounds, he doesn't attack the rim. A hesitant Brand is an ineffective Brand, and we need much more than that.
(2) Elton desperately needs to get his touch back. Even if injuries are a concern, and they've lessened his ability to muscle guys when he has the ball in the low post, there's no reason to think his struggles when he's facing the basket, on short jumpers, stem from anything other than rust. Take a look at these two graphics from
NBA.com's hot spots.
The first is EB's shot chart from the 2006-2007 season (his last full season):
Now take a look at the same chart for this season:
The vintage EB scored a ton of points on jumpers, and he hit them at a high rate. This season, that shot hasn't been falling. He doesn't seem to be putting enough arc on the shot, for the first five or six games he left nearly every attempt short and didn't seem to be shooting with any confidence at all. Over the past couple of games, the jumper has looked better, he's had a better rhythm, but still the shots haven't been falling. It's coming, you can see it's coming and one thing this offense will create is open looks for bigs from within 15 feet. Williams and Iguodala can get to the rack, and each will dish to a big (either Speights or Brand) for an easy look.
The impact of the apparent erosion of Elton's physical skills, which hopefully were overblown through the first handful of games, would've been much less alarming had he been hitting his jumper at his usual rate. The level of athleticism may or may not come all the way back. My feeling today is it will be back to a decent level, if it isn't already there. If that's the case, and you couple it with his typical shooting percentages on short jumpers, Elton is going to be more than fine.
Of course, this leads us to a bigger question, one John proposed to me via e-mail yesterday. If Brand is back, if he continues to knock the rust over the next 10-20 games and returns to a difference-maker on both sides of the ball, in what way does this help the Sixers the most? With Brand on the floor, contributing for this team, or as a trade chip? If he appears to be worth his contract, and the Sixers can get equal value for him in a trade, should they move him?
I'll leave that up to you guys to discuss in the comments, I'll chime in later.
By the by, Elton's competition tonight is Zach Randolph, so he'll have every opportunity to follow up Wednesday's performance with another solid showing, albeit against a sub-par, uninterested defender.
Rodney Carney is a go for tonight's game, updated from the Sixers via Twitter.
The explosiveness was excellent the other night, something that I was most worried about. Although the jumper is worrying, it's easier to see him getting it back. That takes the offense to another level if that shot is going down. Z-Bo presents a chance for a monster night offensively. His real test will be defensively against him. BTW, the help defense might work tonight!! Gay, Mayo, Randolph aren't known as good passers and that's putting it lightly.
Yeah, the ball definitely sticks with three of their starters (Randolph, Mayo, Gay). Gasol has been their best player so far, only they don't seem to realize it.
Here is my issue with this team moving forward. In the PO, from what I understand of it, EB functions best as the C. Gets him more touches in more dangerous spots. The complication is that Speights functions best in the same spot in this offense.
In most other offenses, having 2 players the caliber of EB & M16 would be a good thing. However, given EJ's love affair with the PO, this can be an issue. Ironically, given the skillsets of EB, M16, Thad and Andre, they'd be better off running more Triangle than PO, especially since the Triangle better lends itself to wing postups and hi-low action between the bigs, both options actually use the Sixers personnel much better, while allowing that free-flowing action EJ likes.
If Brand can become a difference-maker on both ends, then the line-up should be Lou, Dre, Thad, EB, Speights, with Brand acting as defensive anchor/enforcer(like Duncan & Robinson).
I'd prefer Jrue in this lineup, since he defends like a demon, doesn't need to score to stay engaged and has a better looking shot from deep, but he is not quite ready yet. I'd keep Brand if he is an impact player and tweak the offense to take advantage of both him and Speights playing at a high level at the same time.
Don't you think they'd be better off with EB at the 5 and Speights at the four? I see Speights as more of a perimeter big than EB, and he could possibly extend his range out to three.
I would think so, but I am not sure I like where the 4-spot tends to end up in this offense. Speights could start hitting 3s, so that could end up as a good thing
I would hope Marreese and Elton could coexist offensively by alternating positions offensively by matchup or level of hotness game to game. The thought of replacing Sam with Marreese is similar to me to replacing Reggie with Elton this year, it could be a thing of beauty offensively if our outside shooting gets better.
Agreed.
Boy, Lebron and Brand are the same size.....they move a little different, huh?
...that being said, he's got to try and play center...unless he can conjure more games like the other night. Keep your fingers crossed that his game will round into shape...remember he's played 42 out of 162 games over the last 24 months.
What I am going to say probably won!t happen but if Elton can look terrible for 2 weeks and play like he did last game,maybe getting all the way back IS possible.D.Wilkens did it, and he depended more on quickness and athletism than a p.f. and Elton seems to be a guy that won!t take no for an answer as far as working to get back to that.And that last game, other than missing his jumper, what could he have been better at 3 years ago.Brian, you can count on one hand the bigs willing to defend so no,if he is near his old form we can!t trade him, plus E.S. needs something besides draft picks on his resume.
This was my gut reaction as well, but when you think about it, you have to factor in the team's direction. Right now, I don't have any confidence that Jordan's system is compatible with competing for a title. I also think Jordan is hampering Jrue's development, and I don't think this team's window really opens until Jrue starts at the point and we can field a team that can defend at a high level, as a unit (which simply does not happen with Lou on the floor).
Taking those two things into account, I see their window opening maybe 2 years from now. If that's the case, then the question isn't whether Brand will bounce back and be a difference maker now, it's whether he'll still be a difference maker two years down the road when the coaching staff and the rest of the roster is ready to compete. If the answer is yes, he'll be viable and worth $17M a year, then you hold on to him. If the answer is no, then you have to consider moving him when his value is high.
Brian, if you read your statement again, it sounds like the RIGHT move, if Elton is back,is to get rid of Jordan, start Jrue and hire Thebedoux, but would E.S. have the balls.Elton,if healthy,over Jordan any day of the week.
In 3 years I expect the only E still here will be E. Snider.
I expect these E's to be no longer with the organization:
E. Stefanski
E. Brand
E. Jordan
E. Pinkney
Although you can't spell mediocre without E.
Two e's actually mEdiocrE
Yes. 2 E's. It all starts with Ed SnidEr.
I don't think it's realistic to think Eddie Jordan is going anywhere for the next two years. I believe they're paying Cheeks for this year and next, plus Jordan. No way do they pay 3 coaches at once.
No way do they pay 3 coaches at once. But weren't they paying four coaches at once in the not-too-distant past? (Ayers, Ford, O'Brien, Cheeks) If it wasn't at once, it was something close to that ...
Can't remember how many they were paying, whatever the number is, though, it got BK fired, right?
call me crazy, but Bill Green does have some good moments out there......
crazy.