With this being the first topic I'm posting. I have to start off honest, as I promised. I really don't see the "plus" in the move. I'm not talking from the 76ers point of view. Any team in the NBA would benefit from a Elton Brand. He is a 20-10 guy night in and night out. But what is he thinking leaving the Clippers after the acquisition of Baron Davis? The Sixers do not have a player of that caliber. Period. A player like Baron Davis makes just about any team an automatic playoff contender. The best player on Philadelphia's roster is Igudala. And unless he develops a jump shot over the summer his potential to be a very good player will fizzle into nothing more than the potential to create ESPN dunks highlights.
Now before I go too far on a tangent bashing Brand... Let me say that the Clippers and Elton's agent David Falk also played a significant roles. First, the Clippers were wrong to only extend 70 million as an initial offer. Falk has stated that the franchise placed this offer on the table as a 'take is or leave it' deal. Their reason being, "We came up with a plan to basically give Elton $70 million and Baron $65 million," explained Clippers president Andy Roeser. I guess that makes sense, but you have to give a player of Brand's talent an option not an ultimatum. Contrarily, it has been long suspected that Falk was trying to get Brand out of LA. In 2003, when the Heat signed Brand to a $82 million offer sheet. Falk tried everything in his power to persuade the Clippers not to match. This theory is supported by Roeser's statement saying they ended up offering Elton $81 million, but he still left for the $78.9 million offered by Philly.
Needless to say the Clippers are bitter (see vidoes below). So what do they do now. The only thing they can do at this point... move on. The are reportedly actively persuing free agent Josh Smith of the Hawks. They better do something, because with the additional loss of Corey Maggette. Baron Davis in a position were he is in dire need of help. A position that he knows all too well.
Here are some video links related to this topic:
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3480923&categoryId=2459788
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3482615&categoryId=2459788&n8pe6c=2
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8 comments:
I think you are dramaticlly overstating Baron Davis's value. He has never been on a team that's won 50 games, has never been passed the 2nd round, has made 3rd team all nba one time, and has played 70 games 4 times in nine seasons... The sixers have much better playoff possibilities with Brand than LA would, Not a great start to a blog called "The Truth"
The Sixers beat the Clippers by 21 and 26 points in their two meetings last year. You obviously weren't watching if you think LA has more potential.
Get at you??? Do you understand what assist/turnover ratio is? 4.6 is WAY better than 2.6. Davis is actually near the bottom of the league among starting pg's in that category, Do you want your PG to be 29th in the NBA in that stat? HIS OWN COACH, called your "X-Factor, game-changer, THE WORST player on the floor during their failed stretch run last year. Also, the list of elite players in the league nine yrs never to get past round 2 starts and ends with McGrady. We won't get into his terrible career FG% or his long history of questionable injuries... That's "The Truth"
PG better than B Davis
1 Chris Paul
2 Deron Williams
3 Steve Nash
4 Gil Arenas (technically a pg)
5 Jose Calderon
6 Jason Kidd
7 Tony Parker
8 Chauncey Billups
9 Derrick Rose
Andre Miller is very close- manages a game better
Lol.. Edub.. I like you. I hope you become a frequent visitor to this blog, as I plan to have many more debatable topics. But I do have a question... Do you not think TMac is a valuable player? And maybe you didn't check his FG% before you made that statement. He has a career average of .437. I mean what do you consider good. As for you 'list'. I would agree with your top 3. My fourth would have been Tony Parker, 5th BD. You could make an agrument for Billups or Kidd to be in that spot. But Gilbert? Dont get me wrong... I love Agent 0. I live right outside of DC and go to as many games as I can. But I dont think he is a better PG than BD. First, I wouldn't even include him because I would qualify him as a combo guard. If not, you would have to throw AI in the mix. Second his stats just dont speak to me. No higher than 6 ast per game throughtout his career. To make that stat look worse he averages at least 3 TO a game. In fact the only season he didn't have at least 3 a game he wasn't a starter. Also, I do like Jose. I think he is a rising star, but he is not there yet. Only three seasons.. only one as a starter. And he honestly got the nod because on the TJ Ford situation. And seriously????... Derrick Rose? Cmon you're reaching. There's no doubt in my mind that he is going to be good, but can we see first..lol... Thats like saying Greg Oden is amoung the top 5 centers in the league. In fact, Mario Chalmers made him look like he should have been the 2nd rounder in their summer league game.... I'm just saying.
With that being said... in my orginial post I was simply stating that BD would undoubtly make LA better. He almost got the GS back to the playoffs last year... and the year before they road on his back past Dallas. Im sure that we can agree that GS is probably no longer a playoff contender without him, right. And that the addition of him along side Brand would have made for a potential great 1-2 punch, right? Who gives Brand that same opportunity in Philly? Thats all Im saying.
Christian, I don't know where you live at. But Im sure if its not LA or Philly you didnt see those games either. Then again you may be from Philly and are just a fan, which is acceptable. But whats not acceptable is you ignoring the fact that LA was riddled with injuries. Including the absence of Brand in both of those games.
I actually love tmac as a player, but for whatever reason, his teams come up short in the playoffs... and overall I think Davis is better than many of the guys I put on my list... but as a pure point, I'm not sure.... He is best when he takes over... more of a combo guard like Gil and AI.I think Brand is a good fit for Philly, an athletic team that needs a half court presence. If your from the DC area, why not blog about how the wiz spent a fortune to lock up 5th place in the east for the next 5 yrs. Seriously AJ puts up garbage #'s cause he logs min. and spends time around the basket. Gilbert has no conscience, Butler's a player but that team can't win.... Keep putting your opinion out there... even if we don't agree, I like reading an informed opinion.... and I'll be back
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