Free Ballin’

I’m for the 3s, myself.  This trade is fun and Toronto’s half is amusing.  I won’t get into salaries because…I don’t feel it.  Suffice to say, they have comparably bad contracts: too big, too long.  So what’s worth discussing?

Toronto gets Evans: I find this amusing because it’s a deal to help facilitate Andrea Bargnani’s development.  I haven’t seen much of Bargnani and don’t feel like I can opine on his upside, but it does actually seem like he might become a real scorer.  However, he also must be the worst inch-for-inch rebounder in the game.  Evans, on the other hand, is as good a rebounder as anyone in the NBA.  And he can’t do anything else.  I really love mix-n-match trades.

Philly gets Kapono: This deal is entirely about Elton Brand.  I was totally in favor of the Brand signing, and though it doesn’t look good, so far, I think it could still work out.

I didn’t see a lot of the 76ers with Brand, but then, nobody else did either.  The guy played 29 games before his injury, but from all accounts he seemed like an awful fit for the team.  Bill Simmons even named him the least valuable player in the NBA (his contract being a major factor.)  Eh, I think it’s just way too early to call the move a failure.

As for the fit, it’s on the team to create a roster around the qualities of their franchise player, and to get a coach whose system compliments him.  And yet, I’m not suggesting that the roster is unsuited to compliment Brand’s talents.  29 games and a coach who has almost been fired almost every year of his coaching career?  You have to give it a chance to work.  And, well, they will, because Brand is signed for a long, long time.

One thing I’m curious about was hearing that a major conflict was that the 76ers had a lot of runners and jumpers (without jumpers) and Brand was strictly a half-court guy.  This surprised me because Brand used to be plenty capable of running and jumping.  Hell, you have to be pretty damn athletic to block so many shots at his height.  The only other guys (I can think of) his height who block so many shots are super-freaky athletes Josh Smith and Andrei Kirilenko.  But hey, Simmons has a good eye, and he’s had Clippers season tickets for a while, so maybe he’s right; maybe Brand can’t run like he used to.  Or maybe Bill’s just used to seeing him coached by Mike Dunleavy.

Anyway, I still think Brand could work out well.  New coach Eddie Jordan should help, nicely.  In DC, Jordan had a few very talented scorers who weren’t all that into passing or playing defense, and not much else.  With those pieces he eked out a winning record; now he has some serious talent, and I think he’s a solid choice to figure out how to put the pieces together.

Oh, Kapono.  He got traded, right?  He’s there to shoot, what else?  He can shoot the lights out, pass, and nothing else.  But creating space for Brand and pulling up for transition three pointers is really all he has to do to contribute.