Elton Brand to Sign $13.5-mil/year Deal with Clips

[GuyverX]

how many brand threads are we going to have?

2?

[NO-KG-AI]

I guess I just feel like a healthy Elton Brand is better than Dirk, when Brand was fully healthy and on a functional team, he put up

24.7 ppg, 10 RPG, 2.6 APG, 2.5 BPG, and only 2.2 TOPG, on 53% shooting, and 77.5% from the line, with excellent defense, a real anchor. They were only 1 game out of the WCF that year too.

He's a true low post threat on offense, an efficient 20ppg threat, an anchor defensively, a good/great passer, and an excellent rebounder, and a dominant offensive rebounder(career 4 ORPG).

I dunno, it's not like Elton has been failing with great teams, he's had a really good team once, and he went pretty deep into the post season.

At the very least, when he's fully healthy, he's at least about on par with Dirk IMO....

[MagicFan32]

If the clips are healthy next year they are going to be really good.

Kaman
Brand
Thornton
Mobley
Davis

with Ross, Thomas and Gordon off the bench, add another good role player and they are lookin strong.

[SA37]

I guess I just feel like a healthy Elton Brand is better than Dirk, when Brand was fully healthy and on a functional team, he put up

24.7 ppg, 10 RPG, 2.6 APG, 2.5 BPG, and only 2.2 TOPG, on 53% shooting, and 77.5% from the line, with excellent defense, a real anchor. They were only 1 game out of the WCF that year too.

He's a true low post threat on offense, an efficient 20ppg threat, an anchor defensively, a good/great passer, and an excellent rebounder, and a dominant offensive rebounder(career 4 ORPG).

I dunno, it's not like Elton has been failing with great teams, he's had a really good team once, and he went pretty deep into the post season.

At the very least, when he's fully healthy, he's at least about on par with Dirk IMO....

I think that is fair. What his value is in terms of dollars per year is up for debate. No matter what, he is getting a massive contract that is as good or better than most players in the league and/or at his position.

Let's be honest, if Brand was 24 and hadn't already signed an $80 million deal, he probably wouldn't have taken the pay cut and he probably would have signed for the most he could have. This deal, even if it is at a small pay cut, puts Brand close to $160 million for his career in basketball. That is unreal.

The reality is, if he wanted to compete for a title, he either needed to take a pay cut to get more talent around him or he had to go elsewhere. He's going to be 30 this coming season and probably has about 3-4 years left of prime ball, so the time was now.

[BROWN]

so is this 100% brand turned down 100 mill to be paid 13.5 mil a season?

[richboy]

If the Clippers can do a sign and trade with Baron involving Maggette is it possible they keep the MLE? Maggette contract only has to come with 75% of Baron contract. I don't think they would need Mobley or another big contract thrown in the deal. The reason that the Warriors do it is they may go after Maggette anyway. They could get a couple of first round picks in the process.

[dockingsched]

Why would they have to trade Magz and Mobley? Mobley makes $9M just himself, I'm sure that Magz isn't looking for a $2.5M per year deal. The Clips could trade Tim Thomas and Eric Gordon, which would allow them to sign a wing defender like Ross. They already have plenty of scoring on that team. Plus with the MLE, they could go after Posey, who would be a great fit in with the other veterans. Hell, the Warriors might throw Stephen Jackson into a trade as well.

There are pros and cons for no matter which way the Clips decide to get Brand and Baron.

thats exactly what doesn't make sense. give up a number 6 pick eric gordon so they can keep the mle?
doesn't make sense

What do you mean? They can S&T for Davis using their cap space much like New Orleans did for Peja Stojakovic two offseasons ago with the Pacers. The Pacers got the rights to Andrew Betts back, and then took on Al Harrington for a 1st rounder.

the whole point is that they can't use capspace because they would want to keep their mle. thats what i'm arguing against.

[sarah42]

I guess I just feel like a healthy Elton Brand is better than Dirk, when Brand was fully healthy and on a functional team, he put up

24.7 ppg, 10 RPG, 2.6 APG, 2.5 BPG, and only 2.2 TOPG, on 53% shooting, and 77.5% from the line, with excellent defense, a real anchor. They were only 1 game out of the WCF that year too.

He's a true low post threat on offense, an efficient 20ppg threat, an anchor defensively, a good/great passer, and an excellent rebounder, and a dominant offensive rebounder(career 4 ORPG).

I dunno, it's not like Elton has been failing with great teams, he's had a really good team once, and he went pretty deep into the post season.

At the very least, when he's fully healthy, he's at least about on par with Dirk IMO....

seriously? does everyone hate dirk now?

seriously? i don't know what to say. a true franchise player gets his team to the playoffs many times over. kg in minny, lebron with the cavs, even tmac back in orlando made their teams go the playoffs - even if half their teammates sucked.

putting up big numbers in a losing team shouldn't be overlooked . say what you will about dirk - but he's a hall of famer, and saying that a 1 time all star is better than him is disservice to a great player like dirk.

[sarah42]

Brand at $13.5m is cheap when, next season, Garnett makes $25m, JO and Duncan make $21m, Shaq makes $20m, Dirk makes $18m, Shard makes $17m, AK47, Yao, Amare, Gasol, Odom all make $15m each, and he opted out of a contract to make $17.6m next season.

Maybe you just had no idea what a big man in the NBA costs.

And, of the players you named, only KG, Duncan, and Dirk are really worth the max.

Last time I checked, AK47 and 'Shard were not big men.

If AK47, Odom, 'Shard, Shaq, JO, and Gasol all became free agents, they would not command anything close to what they're currently getting paid. And for what it's worth, this is what the players you listed got paid their first year of their deals (Estimates):

Jermaine O'Neal: $13.1 million
Gasol: $11 Million
AK47: $11 million
Odom: $9.9 million
'Shard: $14.9 million
Shaq: $20 million
KG: $16 million (his extension will start at about the same)
Duncan: $14.5 million (his extension will pay him $40 million for 2 years)
Nowitzki: $10.1 million (his extension will start at around $18 million)
Yao: $12.5 million
Amare: $12.5 million

Just to add a few guys to the list:

Carlos Boozer: $11 million
Elton Brand (the deal he is coming off of): $11.1 million
Al Jefferson: $11 million
David West: $8 million
Eddy Curry: $9 million
Zach Randolph: $10.5 million
Dwight Howard: $14.5 million
Chris Bosh: $13.5 million

So, now that we have numbers that correlate based on the year of the contract, let's see how Brand's deal, reported to start at $12.5 million, stacks up.. Ah, yes it is only lower than 7 players' deals (J. O'Neal, Shaq, Bosh, Howard, KG, Duncan, and Dirk -- I am excluding Rashard Lewis from this discussion) and is the same as Yao's and Amare's. And I should point out that, of the 7 players making more than Brand, 4 of them signed deals before the new CBA was in place and had contracts that were grandfathered in (Shaq, Duncan, J. O'Neal, and KG).

Now, I don't see how this is a cheap deal, do you? Especially when you consider that Brand hasn't done anything since he signed his deal in 2003 to warrant a massive raise.

great post.