What had come to hurt the Clippers' chances of retaining Brand has been the organization's refusal to offer anything but a "take-it-or-leave-it" deal since Golden State made its $90-plus million offer. People close to Brand say that "it pissed him off," and made him question his original desire to stay a Clipper.
What strikes me on first glance -- wasn't the reported $70 million, five years offer from the Clips the max they could offer after reeling in Baron Davis? There has some dispute over whether the Clippers renounced Brand to sign Davis; if not, the Clippers could have offered a sixth year. However, there were reports last week that Brand wasn't after a sixth year. (There were also reports Brand's agent had set up L.A.'s Davis snatch to help get Brand a good team around him, but obviously that one wasn't so right.)
One more thing strikes me: how can it be about money when Brand takes $8 million less from the Sixers than he would have received from the Warriors? Brand's mad about the Clipper offer, but takes the one from Philly when Golden State is showing it values him more? It doesn't make any sense, unless Brand refused to consider Golden State for other reasons. This story should be fun to follow for a while.
For much of the last week, most basketball fans assumed that Elton Brand was either going to a) re-sign with the Clippers; or b) grab the pile of money that Baron Davis left behind with the Warriors. Instead, he surprised everyone by choosing c) none of the above, leaving behind the Western Conference entirely in favor of the 76ers. From the Los Angeles Times:
Elton Brand has reached a verbal agreement to sign a multiyear contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, according to an NBA source who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak on player movements.
The deal is believed to be in the $80-million range and expected to span five years.
Okay, this wasn't a complete surprise -- there were rumblings last night that this might be a possibility, and Philly's salary dump of a trade earlier today was obviously setting up a larger move -- but it has to feel like a kick in the ribs to Clippers fans dreaming of Brand and B.Dizzle leading the Clips back to the playoffs.
Until the last 48 hours or so, the Sixers were believed to be focusing most of their interest on Hawks restricted free agent Josh Smith, but the addition of Brand, who's much more polished offensively, and the expected return of Andre Iguodala, who's a restricted free agent himself, makes the 76ers instant contenders in the East with an intriguing core of youth and experience. This is a team that gave the Pistons fits in the first round this past year even without a legitimate low-post scoring threat. If Brand regains his All-Star form and Philly's youngsters continue to develop, there's no telling what kind of damage they can do in 2007-08.
Via The700Level, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports a rumored deal between Philadelphia and Minnesota has gone down, sending BeautifulCalvin Booth, Rodney Carney and a pick to the Wolves for nothing but a $2.8 million trade exception. The real prize for Philly general manager Ed Stefanski: even more salary cap breathing room to chase someone like Elton Brand or Josh Smith. Here's Woj:
Getting Carney and Booth off the cap gives the Sixers the chance to offer a starting salary of approximately $14 million a season.
If Atlanta wasn't going to match a contract starting at $11 million for Smith (a disputed rumor), will they even be able to play a straight face if the Sixers offer something like a flat $13 million per year, five-year contract? Or, Philadelphia could go big in year one -- $14.75 million is the max for a four-year veteran, but Stefanski expects to have $14 million as stated above -- and taper the contract down to $12 million by the final year.
For Brand, the 76ers could now offer about five years, $80 million ... which is right in the middle of the Clippers' ($70 million) and Warriors' ($90 million) offers. Watson wrote about the expanded interest in Brand last night; now, that interest has a feasible outlet.
Elton Brand has a generous offer on the table to stay with the Clippers, and an even larger offer on the table to bolt for the Warriors. But while most of the discussion surrounding his options has centered on those two teams, it's at least possible that he might bolt California completely and head back east.
That's crazy talk, right? Probably, but according to ESPN's Marc Stein, the 76ers have officially thrown their hat in the ring. It's true the Sixers have been connected to restricted free agent Josh Smith since the offseason began, but the team wants to do it's due diligence by gauging Brand's interest before tying up their finances by signing Smith to an offer sheet and waiting seven days while the Hawks decide if they're going to match it or not.
I can't say I'm completely surprised -- Smith has all the potential in the world, but Brand is a proven product and (when healthy) one of the most consistent big men in the game today. Smith would make the Sixers a joy to watch; Brand would get the Sixers out of the first round.
Ziller has already covered the fact that Josh Smith's visit to Philadelphia was very impressive. They rolled out the red carpet, they wooed him with limos and they introduced him to the Mayor. Fortunately for us, the media is quite nosy when it comes to things like this, so Comcast got a camera all up in J-Smoove's face to find out what he thought about the Iladelph.
If I were in charge of the Hawks, or were the lone remaining fan that held onto the 07-08 playoffs bandwagon, I would be freaking out right now. Smith did, after all, seem pretty impressed with Philly's spread. And it's not like Atlanta is known for making really great front office decisions.
With the Pacific Coast continues to deal with its arms race, Philadelphia has loudly addressed its desire for a top-drawer power forward of the future. As expected, the 76ers charged vigorously into a wooing of Atlanta's Josh Smith, a restricted free agent. The early indications look pretty good, according to Sekou Smith of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"We had a great meeting and a great time visiting with everyone here [Wednesday], and we'll continue to talk tomorrow," Brian Dyke, one of Smith's agents, said late Wednesday night. "What I can tell you is that we're very impressed with 76ers organization and the city of the Philadelphia."
The AJ-C's Smith also reveals the offer Atlanta made last summer: $45 million over five years. That's a painfully small offer when you consider it will likely take at least $67 million to keep him this year. The Hawks could probably have locked him up for $50 or $55 million. Billy Knight, still haunting the Hawks in exile!
Meanwhile, on the Sixer side, Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Phil Anastastia gets a few NBA scouts to agree Smith would be a good match for the team. Yep. He sure would be.
Aaron McKie has had some recent trouble with the law -- an alleged 2001 attack on his then girlfriend is what got him in trouble recently for attempting to purchase a handgun -- but that does not make him any different from a large portion of America. However, a member of the exclusive Gladwyne community, a suburb of Philadelphia, apparently took umbrage to the idea that McKie would be welcome as a new neighbor. So much so that a flier was distributed anonymously throughout the mailboxes in the community, which read:
"Attention please, read if you care about your neighborhood!!! How can we prevent Aaron McKie from moving into our safe and peaceful neighborhood. His house is almost complete on Youngsford Road. Let's prevent another Iverson from moving in!"
The stereotypical idioms expressed in the flier -- referring to McKie as "another Iverson" -- certainly seem to stem from a racially based prejudice rather than an actual belief that McKie is dangerous. Or, as Matt at the 700 Level said, it's a good guess "that the characteristic [Allen Iverson] and McKie share that is bothering the pamphleteer isn't that they're both professional athletes or possessors of criminal records."
Via Enrico (although reclipped by yours truly), comes this clip of Charles Barkley appearing on NBC10's Sports Final Sunday night. On topic for Chuckles was, of course, the 76ers. Barkley thinks that Ed Stefanski -- who also appears in the clip (1:43) talking about making something 'pop' via free agency or a trade -- is making a mistake by attempting to spend money now, particularly if it's on Josh Smith (2:20).
Chuck's belief, obviously, isn't too far fetched. But odds are pretty good that he and Eddie S. aren't seeing completely eye-to-eye on this one.
Crystal Ballin'takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 26th NBA Draft.
There are two ways to look at the end of Philly's season. On the one hand, the team exceeded expectations by making the playoffs and blew everyone's minds by nearly upsetting the Pistons.
On the other, Andre Iguodala's disappearing act against Detroit should cement the notion that he's better-suited as a sidekick than a leading man. Unfortunately, there will be no leading men available in the middle of the first round, meaning they're going to end up with a sidekick to a sidekick.
Picks: #16 Needs: A scoring big man. Samuel Dalembert and Reggie Evans bring defense and rebounding, but this team lacks an inside presence on the other end of the ball. Playing Thaddeus Young, a natural three, out of position at the four is not the long-term answer.
When Rick Sund took over the Hawks, he told the press he'd do whatever it takes to keep his two restricted free agents, Josh Smith and Josh Childress. If he had only referred to Smith, you could take him seriously. When he indicates he'll give whatever is necessary to keep a guy the Hawks think is not as good as Marvin Williams, a guy who started only one game last season despite being one of the most improved players in the league and far superior to the guy in front of him ... yeah, I'm not believing Sund on that. So why should we believe him about Josh?
ESPN's Chris Broussard is spitting lava this weekend. Following his Carmelo Anthony story, he offers up word Atlanta will go no higher than $11 million a year to keep Josh in town. That's a $55 million contract (same as Kevin Martin, less than Al Jefferson) -- the max is $80 million. Broussard says Philadelphia could and would offer Smith a contract starting at $11 million, which would tease out to a $60 million deal.
The Hawks aren't insane enough to let the Sixers poach Josh for that spread, so the smart move for Atlanta -- if a deal with Josh's camp for these type of dollars can't be reached early in July -- would be to watch Smith sign the offer from Philly and simply match it. The Sixers could only go higher if the begin renouncing rights on their own restricted FAs (Andre Iguodala, Louis Williams), but giving up 'Dala would be silly and Darko'ing Lou wouldn't be of much financial help. (Of course, Atlanta could have locked Smith up for less last summer.)
Also, it would be awesome if Memphis decided to get mixed up in this, just to really confuse things.
In the immediate aftermath of Elton Brand's reported signing with Philadelphia, Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski reports the Clippers had given the forward some sort of ultimatum, a move which might have angered E.B. and sent him into Thaddeus Young's waiting arms (via ClipsNation).
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