Free Ballin’

Continuing my NBA VIEW

Philadelphia 76ers:

Aw hell, I liked the Elton Brand signing.  Tells you what I know.  Well, really, it tells you what I knew.  Prime Brand would be a very solid match for this team.  I just wasn’t up on the latest dope on him—i.e. that I hadn’t paid attention to the Clippers for a year-and-a-half.  Apparently he sucks now.  Who knew?  I didn’t read many articles bashing the signing, until the season started.  I hadn’t seen him since the Achilles tear.  I had just read that his recovery was way ahead of schedule, and that in those eight games he played at the end of the season, he seemed healed, and looked good.  Since he blocked 2 shots per in those eight games, I figured that those reports were probably true, and that he still had his hops and his quickness.  That’s key, because it’s only because of his hops and his quickness that Brand is not an undersized power-forward.  If he can’t move like he used to move, he’s not even a starter in the league, much less a star.  Still, I don’t think it’s certain that he has lost it for good.  Has he really had enough time on the floor, given two injuries, with this new team, and now a new couch, to really know that this is it for his A game?  It’s appropriate to be skeptical, and were he a free agent, I wouldn’t take a chance on him for more than a two year mid-level, at most.  But he’s 30 not 34, and his first few months with the Sixers, when everyone said he wasn’t meshing with the team, he was still doing about 17-10, with a block-and-a-half.  He’s got a shot.

Other than Brand, Philly is set to be good this year, but not more than good.  And for the future, I don’t know if they’re more than good.  Samuel Dalembert and Jason Kapono are the only guys other than Brand who are paid way too much, and both have only one year left after this one.  Iguodala will be worth his fat contract as long as he continues to defend exceptionally well.  And he’s young enough to keep that up through the length of his contract.  Louis Williams looks a lot like Devin Harris to me, except he’s younger, and a little smaller, but cheaper.  Thaddeus Young seems like he’s still figuring it out because he can go in a number of different directions; it looks like he’s testing them all out at once.  He’s good upside, but I haven’t seen enough to know what it is.  As for Speights, Holiday, Smith, eh, I don’t know yet.  I’ll let you know when I do.