I searched the forum and didn't seem to find a Brand thread. If there is, mods please close this thread.

Does anyone think that Brand will actually have a healthy season this year? He had freak injuries in the previous year, but do you guys think that he'll be able to overcome the injury prone label? He seems like a bargain in the third round, but is anyone actually going to take him there? Will he regain his lift? He'll probably also need to shake off quite a bit of rust.

If he's healthy he can most likely post mid 50's FG%, mid 70's FT% 17.8 points, 9.5 rebs, 1.8 blocks

What do you guys think?

yes he will return to awesomeness this year.
i'm a huge Brand believer.

for the 76ers sake i hope he turns it on this year.
he could be a huge value pick in the 3rd or 4th round.
i'm staying away, but there is no doubt he could have a great year

I'm also high on him. He has had a LOT of time to recover from his injuries and the Sixers didn't steal him away from the Clipps because he was an average player.

I've drafted him in 3 mock drafts this year.

What round? Third?

Too many question marks too many injuries for me to risk my entire year by taking him with one of my first 4-5 picks..he gets hurt again or is a bust you are playing for middle of the pack.. I dont think you are ever the same after a major achilles surgery like he had..

I've done a couple of mocks and have consistently been able to get him in the third if I wanted to. I guess we'll have to wait to see how he does in preseason.

i just don't know if he is worth it

Not a huge Brand fan. I'd snag him if he fell out of the Top 40 (my league doesn't count FG% so he loses some appeal there)

I say your stat prediction is accurate though if he stays healthy

that's exactly where i'm eyeing on targeting him.

Did anyone get to see Brand play in the preseason? How did he look?

hes probably going to be available for me in the 3rd round of my draft 38th overall when i pick. i should probably go big here with arenas and iggy hops on my team already, so im thinking either brand or camby.

Arenas AND Brand? Those are some brass balls you have there, my friend. Either that or you are a grade-A idiot.

haha, thank you. i have brass balls and i know what im doing. trust me on this one

I am picking 45/46 in a 15 teamer, if he is there would that be about right?

I got him in the 3rd round every time. 5 times: 4 mocks, 1 real draft.

so mid 30's for the pick?

Was watching the Raptors/76ers preseason game on TV yesterday and he looks good. He looks skinner and more fit than he used to. He also had a couple put-back dunks.

Saying that I don't know if I could draft him, I like to take a risk or two in all of my drafts but not that early.

what is it that you guys are exactly afraid of?
and when will you be convinced he's ok to draft?

I, on the other hand, know Elton Brand's career well enough to know that he's not one to pussy out longer than he needs to be.
So he had 1 bad year and a half due to 2 injuries(achilles/shoulder). First real injuries of his career. It's understandable. But now, all indications point that he's completely healed.
Pre-injury(2 years ago), this man was a fantasy basketball monster. Rarely did he have injuries.

So, you can't put him on the same boat as Gilbert Arenas who's constantly been on the injured list over the past 3 or 4 years.

Arenas played 74 games 3 years ago and 80 games the year before that.

To be honest I don't care how healthy he was 3 years ago - that means nothing to me this year. He played 29 games last year and 8 the year before. On top of that, when he was healthy he was TERRIBLE - ranked 172nd over 9-cats.

personally i rather have brand over arenas if i had to pick an injured star in the 3rd round. in terms of injury i think arenas had it much worst than brand. brand had a separated shoulder last year which isn't really considered serious, but it was clear that brand's achilles wasn't 100% so shutting down was perfectly okay. also, last year was brand's first year with the 76ers, coupled with injuries and a new team it's perfectly fine he had a down year. brand's upside is an early 2nd rounder even if he only does 18/10/2 dimes/and 1.7 blocks.

arenas on the other hand has tried to come back numerous times from his knee injuries and never succeeded. the reports are saying "he's back", but i'm a little skeptical considering his scoring abilities are clearly not there at the moment, or he's just waiting for the regular season to blow up. imo the pg position needs the explosiveness alot more than a pf/c. if arenas doesn't feel 100% or if his mind thinks he needs to hold back a little, then fantasy owners aren't getting the 1st round arenas of the past. arenas has the ability to become a 2nd round stud ONLY if he scores 20 pts/2 3's /6 dimes /2 stls and goes to the line 6+ times shooting 80%, if not he's likely to be a 3rd rounder or later. the wiz is much deeper this year too so they'll be extra careful with arenas.

I totally agree. In some ways Brand's shoulder makes me more confident about him. Has anyone in the NBA ever given an achillies injury so long to heal? Brand has probably gone through a rehab process that most NBA trainers would kill for. I think its perfectly reasonable to think he'll put up mid to upper second round numbers so if I can get him in the mid third, I'm going for it.

The pre season has pretty much soured me on Gil.

Nice line tonight in a preseason game... Makes me more confident to take him in the 3rd or 4th round now...

Did you watch him play? The more he plays in preseason the more confident I get in drafting him too.

I agree with you guys.
Brand has had plenty of time for his injuries to heal. Very similar to how Al Jefferson has had a lot of time for his body to heal too.
I really believe this is a bounce-back year for Brand.(and Jefferson!)
And the solid preseason stats show and prove that he can still get it done. even if it's just a preseason game, it's still a good indicator that he's not struggling through any type of pain or team chemistry.
so far, the new coach/system is working just fine for all the Sixers players.
good job, Eddie Jordan!

Here's an excerpt from tonite's game recap:

Brand shot 8 of 12 from the field and scored 10 points in the third quarter, when the 76ers rebounded from an ugly second period to take the lead for good. He also had eight rebounds, following one of them by swinging his elbows and opening a cut that required four stitches over Knicks forward Jared Jeffries’(notes) right eye.

“That’s the way I played when I’m healthy, and I’m healthy, so that’s the way I’m going to play,” Brand said. “Aggressive, get to the line, hit free throws and cause double-teams, and once the double-teams come, we’ve got some prolific scorers, guys that can put up points.”

that sounds damn good to me!

I think I'll be targeting him in both my leagues in the 3rd round... 20-10 with 2 blocks and nice %s in the 3rd seems too good to pass up...

I think he's a great pick as a 3rd-4th rounder in smaller leagues, but using a 3rd round pick on him in leagues with over 12 teams is too risky for my blood.

were his injuries usually ones that linger? im not worried about the shoulder thing, i think thats a fluke, much like amare's eye problem. did he injure his achilles once or twice?

he only injured it once. he has no history of being hit with constant injuries, like a gilbert arenas or t-mac.
brand tried playing last year, and struggled because 1) his achilles wasn't completely healed enough; 2) the team coach/system/chemistry was not a good mix.
this year, Brand has had much more time for his achilles to finally heal at 100%(and his shoulder too), and the team has a new coach and system that specifically caters to Brand's game as the main focus.

i would be very happy if we got 18pts, 9boards, close to 2 blocks, and 80 games played from brand this year.

brand is solid in the 3rd 4th round. he looks good in the preseason. i doubt he'll score 20pts or grab 10 boards since the sixers is pretty deep, but he should be okay with 17/8 and 1.5 blocks. still solid in my book

u guys really think he'll be there in the 3rd rd??? maybe 1st or 2nd pick of the 3rd, but i don't see how he could fall much farther than that...

He is really hard to predict. I've seen him go all over the place but I think early to mid 30's is where you snag him or you lose him. I've rarely seen him go in the 20's but as his pre season looks better and better, I image he could creep in.

Ooops!

I was 10 off.

I meant early to mid 20's and I've rarely seen him go in the teens

I am picking 45/46 out of 15 teams, i was hoping to get him there, but so far, I don't think so. the only thing going for me is sportsline has him ranked like 90, so if the other 14 guys in my league are not paying attention, I think I would take him.

Based on his last few performances in the preseason I'm getting really really lukewarm on Brand.
I think this guy is going to stink it up this year again based on his draft position.
Unless he falls to me in the 6th or 7th I'm not touching him.

6th or 7th round? Are you serious?

I'm going to make a bold prediction here friend that Brand will be terrible this year just like he was last year.
As a matter of fact I'm going to predict that Brand doesn't finish the year ranked in the top 75.
I've seen some of Philly's preseason games and Brand has not inspired a lot of confidence in me.
Let somebody else grab him and reap the benefits...just not me!

Hmm interesting... I'll admit I have no seen any preseason action but I would expect Brand to average 15/8/1.5 no?

So what haven't you liked about him? I have only seen him play one game (against the Raptors) and he looked pretty good. He had some explosive moves and a nice put-back dunk.

I will probably not take him as well because I am sure he will be taken too early. Saying that, if he is available in the 5th I am definitely taking him.

I know it is only preseason but Elton Brand sucks now. I already regret taking him in the 6th round in my 12-teamer.

He is the Larry Johnson of fantasy basketball

i'm gonna watch speights like a hawk from now on....

ok, anybody been watching any of the games? what's up w/ elton, why is he not piling on the stats?

He is a good example of a player who just goes too early in the draft because he gets autopicked or ppl just take him at the default pre-rank. It ticks me off because I know he would slip to me in the 4th round if ppl had to actually use their brains instead of letting ESPN/Yahoo etc. tell them who to pick.

Brand seems off this preseason but I would be shocked if he doesnt put up top 50 value in the long run

So your annoyed that other people are picking him ahead of you because you think he will have top 50 value. But people taking him at the late end of top 50 value....

... what ?

I'm saying he is a guy who would slip in many more drafts if it wasn't for auto-pick and default pre-ranks. His perceived value has a WIDE range in peoples eyes this year. But he just never slips. In one of my private leagues he went at 49 because I know everyone in the league and they use their own pre-rankings.

Get it?

His value is high because people also remember what he did when he wasn't injured which was like 3 years ago.

Any mock draft has him going in the 4th round the latest and that with normal people drafting.

He doesn't slip for the same reason Arenas doesn't slip. Because people knows he could put up top 10 numbers.

You are arguing semantics.... obviously Arenas, Brand, SJax hold uncertainty.

Brand is going in the 3rd round in ESPN drafts because hes default ranked there. Its just one example. You think EVERY Brand owner picked him 3rd round-ish because they know what he did 2 yrs ago, and autopick/default rankings didnt largely skew that #?

Even in drafts where all but 1 person did their draft research, he will still go in the 3rd round because of the 1 guy who takes the default rank at face value. Its a common phenomenon in the draft room.

And a draft where everyone is there and did draft research, I'm willing to assume that someone would grab Brand in the late 3rd or early 4th. Just look at the dozen of mock drafts done, there was even 4 or 5 on this site done. And guess what? Brand was taken around pick 30-45. And those aren't autopicks.