RealGM

Clippers forward Elton Brand took another major step Monday to playing in a game this season when he participated in his first sanctioned full-court scrimmage.

Under the watchful eyes of Coach Mike Dunleavy and the team's athletic trainer Jasen Powell, Brand ran five-on-five for 20 minutes.

Brand said that his lower left leg is fully healthy and that he can run and jump without restriction. As for his game, it is rusty, as expected.

"A little but it wasn't bad,'' Brand said. "I got some blocked shots, I got some rebounds, I got some buckets. I was very comfortable.''

Dunleavy's assessment was that Brand still needs more workouts, similar to Monday's, to get in better game-playing condition.

"There's more conditioning that needs to be done, for sure,'' Dunleavy said. "But it was a good first step.''

"My feelings are, if you didn't know I was out for a while and watching the practice, I fit in pretty well," Brand said, adding that his Achilles' is 100%. "It's totally healed now. Now it's just pushing it and just playing."

Coach Mike Dunleavy gave a target date for Brand's return for the first time, pinning down the last five or six games of the season.

cavsfan_osiris wrote:What would be the purpose of having him return for 5-6 games this season?

mkwest wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



If you know EB, you know that he's going to give it his all. He actually feels that he owes the fans and the organization. He was willing to go and play with the D-League team just to play. He loves the game. His Achilles is 100% now so it's not like he's rushing back. Him playing is not going to have a much of an impact in the win/loss column, but it will give us hope for next season, and at least this lost season will end on a positive note.