After all, there’s no financial risk, and if at some point they change their minds and decide that Iverson is messing up their…well, that’s it, what do they have to mess up, really?  Philly’s season is almost screwed.  Teams that start the season 4–15 do not make the playoffs unless they only sucked because their big time superstar was out injured and comes back 100%.  Well, the 76ers don’t have any superstar to come back from injury, so they’ve hired a former superstar and hope he still has it.

I’m talking myself into this.

Iverson’s a tough fit on almost any team, but the Princeton offense doesn’t really require a point guard, just someone to bring the ball up the floor.  After that, it’s all about passing and off-the-ball movement.  Well, AI’s game has been all about ball monopoly for several years, but once upon a time, Larry Brown had Iverson moving around screens as well as Reggie Miller ever did.  And although AI shoots a ton, I never thought it was selfish; it’s just how he knows to play.  Furthermore, though he’s not a drive and kick guy, and it’s kind of hard for me to remember him ever catching a pass and then immediately passing to someone else, he’s always been a nifty interior passer on the way to the hoop.  And now instead of having George Lynch and Dikembe Mutombo to pass to, he can dish off to Elton Brand near the basket and a bunch of high-fliers who can get at the rim pretty quickly.  (Yes, I know he had Carmelo, J.R. Smith, and some other jumpers in Denver, but it was more of an every man for himself, offense.)

The one other angle I’m considering is Bill Simmons’ whole Elton Brand is a “second banana” thing.  I’ve never really given much thought about the wolf pack mentality on teams the way Simmons does, but maybe he’s right; maybe it’s really important for a team to have an alpha dog.  Lou Williams being out for two months definitely decreased the talent level in Philly, but it’s not like he was top dog, team leader; he’s a young guy figuring out his way like the rest of their roster.  Elton Brand can’t play that role if he can’t bring it on the floor.  And either way I get the impression that neither he, nor Andre Iguodala have the personality for it anyway.  Maybe that’s what the 76ers have missed most from Andre Miller, a guy whose moxie was as important (or more so) than his talents.  I don’t know if I’d ever call AI a leader, but he sure as hell has moxie, and plays with a fervor that borders on desperation: like he needs the ball to go in.  Maybe he flexes superior, throws his body at the defenders, and the rest of the team falls into place behind him

OK, yeah, I’ve just about talked myself into it, that the AI signing is the right way to go.  I needed a third favorite-team-to-watch this year, anyway.  Now, when the Rockets aren’t on, I can flip back and forth between Oklahoma City and Philly games.  Starting Monday.

AI is one of my favorite players ever and I love watching the guy on the court—as long as he doesn’t play for my team.  It’s nothing against AI and it doesn’t have anything to do with off-the-court stuff; I never paid much attention to that.  Rather, having big-contract players with oddball blends of gifts and detriments can be huge commitments in this trade-restrictive, salary-capped league.  And Iverson is an extreme case.  As I wrote last year, getting the most out of AI’s sui generis package requires fully customizing a roster around him.

Remember, AI needs a backcourt mate who can play point guard but also ably defend shooting guards.  How many of those are there in the NBA?  How many are starter-quality players?  How much money do they make?  And can they shoot well from three?  Because, do you want to spend a third of your payroll on a backcourt that can’t shoot?  You’re talking what, Chauncey Billups, Jason Kidd, and…who?  That’s just the start.  Basically, Hall-of-Famer or not, Iverson’s addition to a roster still creates as many personnel problems as it solves.  Just look at the roster of the team he took to the Finals: bar none the least likely Finals roster of the last 25 years.  (Is this a stronger argument for Iverson’s Hall of Fame inclusion or Larry Brown’s?)

So now Philly comes along…  Remember, we don’t even know how good Iverson is at this point.  That he didn’t work in Detroit doesn’t mean that his abilities suddenly deteriorated.  He didn’t fit, he got injured, etc.  He only played 67 unhappy minutes in Memphis, was injured, released.  The present state of his abilities is unknowable.  The only way we’ll find out if he still has it is to get him signed and out on the court.  But in Philly?  The only reason it’s worth considering is because AI doesn’t make big money anymore, and it would be a one-year contract.

OK, then three (among many) questions for Philly:

1. Elton Brand was injured, and then played, and didn’t fit in, and was still rusty and then was injured, and then was rusty…  Now, finally, Brand looks like he might, might, be close to being 80% of the guy Philly thought they were signing to a max deal.  You’ve got him for years to come and are hoping like crazy that he won’t be an albatross.  You want to throw AI into the mix, too?  Really?  Two guys who monopolize the ball, while you’re also trying to develop young players on the roster?

2. What happens when Lou Williams comes back?  How are those minutes split?  Neither Williams nor Iverson is over 6-feet tall.  It’s hard for me to imagine the two spending much time on the court together unless it’s at Rucker Park.

3. Really?

That said, could it work out?  Well I for one think that Iverson might still have it; I haven’t seen strong suggestions to the contrary, and I don’t bet against him.  I think this could be really good for him, just by proving he’s still got the chops.  Could this work out for Philly?  Ummm, sure: I’m a romantic.  And since I don’t have an emotional stake (or $) in the 76ers, I say go for it!  Roll the dice!  You’re nuts but good for you!

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.

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.

I’m not talking Eric Stoltz in Mask but Stuckey’s head is really quite big, big enough that they should put an asterisk next to his listed height. I noticed this while watching Detroit beat the Spurs, last night, and it made me think of the useful height discussion Jerry Krause unintentionally began, ten years back, defending his decision to draft Elton Brand. Some questioned Brand’s upside, since his 6’8″ was an inch or two shorter than ideal, for a power-forward. Jerry Krause, however pointed out that Brand had a very short neck, and the world proceeded to have a good chuckle.

[I wonder if "ah, but he has a very short neck," had previously been used as a counter-argument in a debate that didn't involve fashion.]

I generally think it’s a good idea to make fun of Krause and would pay almost all of my money ($6) to hear him say, “Jabba no bargain,” but his comment isn’t without insight. I’m no kinesiologist, but surely an inch of inseam is more valuable to a basketball player than an inch of scarf-space. Similarly, having a big-ass head is not particularly advantageous for an NBA player, since headbutting has been prohibited since the 70s.

I guess I was just thinking about this because the idea of the Pistons backcourt is for Stuckey to play the point and guard SGs while Allen Iverson plays SG and guards PGs. I just wonder whether Stuckey can guard shooting-guards effectively, because neck down, he’s probablly no taller than AI. That might be exaggeration, but not by much. Stuckey doesn’t quite have dwarf proportions, but he’s rather broad and not particularly long-limbed, just kind of…well, I don’t think it would be inappropriate to start referring to him as Stocky Stuckey.

He also plays basketball pretty well. He can’t shoot a lick, but otherwise he did whatever he needed to, on the court, getting to the rim, finishing, and running the offense with aplomb. The downside to Stuckey’s progression is that we’ll likely see less of Tayshaun Prince bring the ball up the court, which is a shame, because it’s a lot of fun to watch. Prince has a fairly good handle, but he’s left-hand dominant and not very elusive. Still, his arms are so long that he keeps the ball very close to the floor and far away from grasping hands, so none of the Spurs defenders’ pressure gave him any difficulty. In fact, Prince, neckless, all arms and legs, and with an average-sized-at-most head, is the anti Stuckey. I really like the Pistons. I don’t know if they’ll be good, but if they get on the same page, they’ll be pretty fun to watch.