Elton Brand off to slow start in Philly
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It hasn’t been a sweet landing so far for Elton Brand in Philadelphia. The ex-Clipper bolted from L.A. during last summer’s free-agent derby to sign a five-year, $79.8-million deal with the young, fast-breaking 76ers, who challenged the Detroit Pistons during the first-round of last spring’s playoffs.
The two-time All-Star power forward was supposed to be the final piece that would push Philadelphia into the elite echelon of Eastern teams.
But if the season ended today, the 76ers, with a 10-14 record, would miss the playoffs. Last weekend the team fired Coach Maurice Cheeks and replaced him with Tony Dileo. In the first game under the new coach, Brand scored a season-high 27 points in a win over Washington.
But in practice this week, the 76ers are trying to speed up their woeful offense and find a way to blend the plodding Brand into their up-tempo game. So far this season Philadelphia is shooting just under 30% from beyond the three-point arc, and teams have been double-teaming Brand in the low post.
The result: the 76ers rank 28th out of 30 NBA teams in scoring with a paltry 93.8 points.
Brand isn’t helping the cause with career lows in scoring (16.4 points) and field goal percentage (44.8%). And he’s reached the 20-plus point plateau in only seven games out of the 22 in which he’s played. Brand still is fighting on the boards and is getting 10 rebounds a game. But he’s also 29 and missed all but eight games last season with the Clippers because of a ruptured Achilles tendon.
Meanwhile, Zach Randoph, his replacement on the Clips (acquired in a trade with the Knicks) clearly is outplaying Brand. The Clippers are 5-5 in the Randolph era, with Randolph averaging 21.1 points, shooting 50.8% and hauling in 10.1 rebounds per game.
-- Barry Stavro
