I'd like to see us make a run for him. He put up 15/9 and is 5 years younger than Camby. I'd trade Camby and filler such as Babbit for him. Yes he is overpaid, but salaries would have to come close to matching for next season so there is only the one additional season 2012-13 at $18mil. Brand would give us another low post option besides LaMarcus. When LA is our only low post option he gets worn out, especially evident in this years playoffs. Camby is a great rebounder and defender but limited on offense and is only marginally better than Joel. Brand is still a fine rebounder, yet very good on the offensive end. If Oden comes back we would have a superb 3 man big rotation, if not than Brand would be our full time center. Who knows, maybe Camby gets a buy out and returns here even if we trade him. The Sixers are a young team looking to cut salary.
Only reason would be to save money I guess, that $18 million. It's not like we have a good young big guy to send back to them. Would they be interested in our draft pick? Not sure if they are rebuilding or what, seems like they have a couple good young guys and Iguadala and Brand are not really that old.
To save salary. They could add a young big name free agent whereas the one year of extra salary wouldn't hinder the Blazers as badly. The Sixers are aiming to contend farther down the road then us. Another idea is trading Camby plus our pick for Antwan Jamison. Both are expiring contracts but Jamison current play is worth more value to us while a draft pick helps Cleveland rebuild.
I would say it's fine, but Brand is only guaranteed for 1 more year after camby. And they can probably keep Brand and offer less, still have a good post player, and be at 33m cap in 2 years. They would need solid talent in return.
Hmmm maybe. I think Gerald Wallace was a much better player than Brand on a smaller contract and traded for very little, not that the Blazers can always get such a lopsided deal but shedding $18 million of salary in one summer is a big benefit. Al Jefferson was dumped for cap space.
I don't think they'd need incentive to move him for an expiring contract. Especially if that guy could potentially retire. If they move Iguodola as well this offseason, I'm sure they would be all over moving Brand for expirings. I think they'd need to be the ones to add incentive to move him and save over 20 million dollars.
I think Brand is exactly the type of player that we should target- though I also like the idea of offering the midlevel (frontloaded) to Jeff Green from Boston.
I don't see the roster spot for Green. I think he has potential, but the Blazers have serious needs at C and PG, and they can't really offer up their limited trade pieces for more depth at already solid positions. I also really like the idea of getting Brand.
Personally I would rather have Wallace than Brand. Wallace is a high energy guy. Very much like a Jerome Kersey type. You need players like him on the floor. Also, Wallace is very capable of giving you 30 in one night. Even though we got another first round and out; we really aren't too far off from being solid in the playoffs. I mean all we really need is Oden and that maybe our only missing piece. There are other things that we can improve on, but I just want to see what this line-up would be like with a healthy Oden. It may just surprise a lot of us.
Yes I said Wallace was better than Brand. I am interested in us acquiring Brand for Camby then we'd have Wallace AND Brand. I want both! Yes Oden would make the biggest difference to our team in the front court, but there would be plenty of minutes for Brand if Oden is healthy, and if Oden isn't healthy then Brand saves us from being such a tiny team. I think Brand would immediately be our 3rd best player after LA and Crash. If Philly was willing to do this trade both today or in 2 months I would prefer to wait until after July 1st; we will know exactly how the next CBA functions. If Roy can be cut from the salary cap by the amnesty clause then we may have cap space in the summer of 2012 and acquiring Brand would have a larger opportunity cost. It could still be the best move available, but if we end up losing Oden as an unrestricted free agent or he is damaged from injury having cap space could give us a chance of acquiring a talent superior to Brand. Excluding Roy’s salary next summer in 2012, we only have $20.8 million guaranteed salary. Assuming Crash doesn’t opt out of the final year of his contract at $10.5mil and we pick up Elliot Williams option but decline Babbits option we are at $32.7mil, still some $20 million below the cap. That doesn’t include salaries for Camby, Oden, Miller or Batum. Batum will be a RFA. We will probably use cap space to keep Crash/Oden/Batum on the roster but not having an additional contract such as Brand’s would protect us in case we lose some or all of Crash/Oden/Batum. We could acquire talent by signing a free agent or using our cap space to absorb more salary in a trade.
If Evan Turner is a part of the deal, I'm all for it. Camby/Matthews for Brand/Turner? http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=69cspk2
Oh okay I was confused. I've been reading so many trade scenarios, I thought you were wanting Brand for Wallace. My mistake. If we could have a rotation of Brand, LMA and Oden; that's a pretty impressive front line. Do you think Brand would be fine coming off the bench though?
Yeah I think Brand or Oden would accept coming off the bench just fine. They would still get around 30mpg each. Oden had foul trouble and couldn't get more than 25mpg anyways. I believe Oden wants to play and not be injured more then he cares about starting. LaMarcus and Brand would both be fine with a few less minutes and more rest. There is plenty of minutes for all 3 of them. Greg won't be playing at the start of the year anyways so when he gets healthy he'd come off the bench.
Yeah I expect him to need at least 20-30 games to get back into playing shape. Even then, it maybe a question if he's going to start with Nate running the show. <-- Not a knock on Nate, just that it takes Nate more time to accept bringing someone back into the starting rotation. Hey if we could get Brand, I would be all for it. I've always been a fan of his game. Kinda reminds me of a Zach with D.
