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Brand stated on espn the radio 950, that if he were to opt out, that Philly would be at the top of his list of teams he would like to go to.

He said that our cap space, and improving young teams would be the reasons why he would like to come here.

So it seems like Ed has at least two viable options when it comes to improving this team.

And since both deals woudn't be offcial until july 1st, there wouldn't be a rush to choose one before the other

Wow, thats the best news I've heard all day. Lets hope Ed weighs his options properly. I say he should make an offer to Brand, when it seems like the clippers are ready to resign him. We should also try to rework the deal with the Knicks and see if we can get some younger players. If that doesn't work, we then go all out and throw everything we've got at Brand.

As much as I wouldn't want to see a max contract for Brand, that would be preferable to seeing Zbo in a Sixers uniform.

Brand on the Sixers would be totally awesome...hopefully he is not just talking bs and would really like to join Philly.

For the record..he said he would be interested..but he didnt say they would be at the top of his list....he basically implied they are improving and have cap space...so that makes them an option.

The Sixers privately dont think their chances are that great to get him but they do have interest....

Yeah talk about being takin out of context. He said Philly is a team with alot of capspace. Basically Brand can say whatever...he's not going to opt out. He'll mkae more money this year if he doesnt opt out, and he'll make more money as a FA next year.

Ok can somebody set the record straight?

Can Elton Brand opt out this year, would he want to, and could he come to us?

Because I was under the impression that he couldn't opt out until next year.

Elton Brand can opt out this year. We'll officially know whether he has June 20th.

oh boy... elton brand, draft a shooter-> championship? okay it's not that easy.
sign elton brand, draft a shooter, , switch to r/w/b jerseys-> championship? thats about right.

Oh God pls let this happen....

Please don't let this just be another guy using Philly and our cap space as leverage to get an extension out of his current team.

Two interesting things that haven't been mentioned. The guys from 950 didn't ask him about the Hollywood connection and him producing movies and if that factors into his decision and he said that David Falk his agent was shaking the trees to see whether it would be better to opt out or wait till next year. They will probably more suitors next year but also more competition from other FAs. Also why would he come on a Philadelphia Sports radio station if he wasn't interested in coming here? My thought that his appearance was part of his agents plan to gauge interest. The guys from 950 were lobbying hard, which was good.

Wow, Brand would be perfect for you cats.

I'd hope that behind the scenes they have a good sense about whether he's serious or just trying to use the Sixers cap room to his advantage and can make the appropriate decision.

Personally I'd be more thrilled to get Brand than any other semi-reasonable option (Zach + #6) that has been discussed thus far.

Brand would be the perfect fit.

Miller
Iggy
Thad
Brand
Daly

That would be a sweet starting lineup.

CPops57 wrote:I'd hope that behind the scenes they have a good sense about whether he's serious or just trying to use the Sixers cap room to his advantage and can make the appropriate decision.

Personally I'd be more thrilled to get Brand than any other semi-reasonable option (Zach + #6) that has been discussed thus far.

And draft the best shooter or PG prospect at 16.

Assuming Brand doesn't opt-out, I woud still pursue him via trade. With 1 year left, the Clippers could be scared he will walk at the end of the year and they may consider trade options. Any chance they would be interested in a S&T for AI and maybe Jason Smith.

Note: I would only do this if we could re-sign Brand to a 2-3 yr extension as part of the trade. That way we could lock him up for the next 3-4 years. This would eat up some of our cap room for this year since Brand will get 16+ mil and AI + Smith will probably make about 11-12 mil. That would leave us with some cap space to maybe make a run at someone like Childress to fill the AI void.

IMO, a guy like Brand is WAY harder to find than someone like Iguodala. Maybe we find a gem SG at 16...maybe someone like Budinger, Douglas-Roberts or Batum turn out to be better than advertised. Maybe someone like Gordon or Westbrook slips a little bit and we package #16 and that Utah pick to move up a few slots and grab them.

I'd take a lineup of...

PG - Miller/Lou
SG - Childress/Westbrook/Green
SF - Young/Carney
PF - Brand/Evans/Hill
C - Sam/Booth

Hopefully Westbrook matures quick and starts in year 2. If we get someone like Budinger, he could provide the outside shooting that we lack. If Miller doesn't resign, we can apply that to a FA PG or SG (I think Westbrook could play PG in a few years).

Basically, I would not hesitate to S&T AI in a del for Brand. If we can hold onto Smith, even better.

You would have to be crazy to not want Brand here, because he is an amazing player that would help out this team tremendously. He may only be 6'8", but that is meaningless because with his wingspan he plays like he is 6'11". He is a fantastic rebounder and shot-blocker, to go along with great offensive abilities. He can pretty much do it all. Although it seems unlikely to happen, if we were to sign Brand, we would immediately become one of the top teams in the conference, period.

philly262 wrote:Brand stated on espn the radio 950, that if he were to opt out, that Philly would be at the top of his list of teams he would like to go to.

He said that our cap space, and improving young teams would be the reasons why he would like to come here.

So it seems like Ed has at least two viable options when it comes to improving this team.

And since both deals woudn't be offcial until july 1st, there wouldn't be a rush to choose one before the other

This is the man I want. He is my Alexis English. If we shocked the world by getting Brand, it would be imperative to pick up an outside shooter to give Brand that esssntial option to excel. It could be Miller, but I would also like to pick up Speights to back up Brand. Pour it on 76ers.