Question about Elton Brand

Post #1 » by **Miller4ever** » Sat Dec 26, 2009 6:40 am

I know he's a 76er now, but I think this is a valid question here.

I went to some Clippers games back in 2004-05, and Elton Brand really impressed me. He could score and rebound at 6'8", and he could also block shots and grab the occasional steal. My question is, how good was his total defense? I had nosebleed seats and I wasn't as perceptive to the game back then, but I was wondering if he was a good defensive player that could anchor a defense or if he was bad team defender or what?

EDIT: Question is pertaining to his prime years, which were all as a Clipper.

boogizking · Post #2 » by **boogizking** » Sat Dec 26, 2009 1:11 pm

solid defender in his prime without a doubt but i definitely think he's on the decline ... good riddance to players with no loyalty ...

PerkinsFor3 · Post #3 » by **PerkinsFor3** » Sat Dec 26, 2009 2:37 pm

Good defender. One of the best in the league when it came to producing both on defense and offense. If you look at Clipper games now you see so many uncontested layups with the big just looking on 4 feet away, it's disgusting.

mj_shoefanatic · Post #4 » by **mj_shoefanatic** » Sat Dec 26, 2009 4:13 pm

His mid-range game was highly underrated.

RiversideClips · Post #5 » by **RiversideClips** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 4:42 am

Brand w/ his agent, really FALKED the Clipper Nation

ClipperDomination · Post #6 » by **ClipperDomination** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 9:05 pm

He was a pretty decent defender. Not a great "shot blocking, athletic" defender, but more of a body-up fundamental defender. A decent help defender as well, knew when to commit to the open man and when not to. A double digit rebounder too.

So all in all, he was a good defender back in his prime. Not GREAT, but good.

Post #7 » by **mkwest** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 7:56 am

I would say that he was a pretty good post defender. Whereas a player like Camby gets his blocks on the weakside, Brand got his blocks on his own man. We played great team defense in the 05-06 season. Ross, Mobley and Livingston were all adequate defenders on the perimeter, then we had Brand and Kaman in the post. If he were a couple inches taller, he would have really been scary. Any lack of height that he had was more than made up with his ridiculous wingspan.

At his peak he was a top 10 player in the league. Arguably top 5, but probably around 7th. I watched practically every game that was televised, but he still managed to impress me. His mid-range jumper was money. I wish he would have left under better circumstances.