Coach Jordan Hopes to Reprogram Brand

New Sixers coach Eddie Jordan has brought his Princeton offense to Philadelphia – now the question remains, how will Philly’s $80 million man fit in?

Philly signed F Elton Brand to a five-year, $80 million deal last season, envisioning him as the go-to low post option they’d been sorely lacking. However, in Jordan’s Princeton offense, Brand is taking on a role that’s entirely new to him, as Jordan’s offense is predicated on backdoor cuts, spacing, and making the smart basketball play – not going one-on-one against someone.

“I think he was a 20-10 guy with a team that really catered to him and didn’t have enough scoring in other positions,” Jordan said. “Right now we have other guys who can score, we have guys coming off the bench; we have a deep bench. I just want him to be efficient, and execute for his teammates and for himself.”

Brand said that his stat line in the preseason – where he was fifth in scoring on the Sixers, with an average of 9.5 points a game – shouldn’t be taken as a sign of things to come this season.

“You’re playing different minutes, you’re playing with different players, you play six minutes in the first quarter, you don’t play the second quarter, you know what I mean?” Brand said. “Talking to Coach it’s like, ‘Here’s where you need to be on offense.’ We’re working through it.”

The Sixers hope that Brand can stay on the court this year, as he dislocated his shoulder in December of last season, shutting himself down after only playing 29 games. Brand has only played 37 of a possible 164 games in the past two seasons.

Coach Jordan remains undeterred, noting that Brand has appeared more comfortable with the offense in practice as his familiarity with the system rises.

“I see improvement from him,” Jordan said. “I see him understanding what the spacing is about. I read where he tells you guys that he needs to understand that spacing is important.”

“We’re trying to reprogram him in a way.”

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 9:37 pm by bryan

Sixers Cut Bowman, Christmas

The 76ers cut two of their invitees to training camp yesterday, parting ways with Brandon Bowman of Georgetown and Dionte Christmas of Temple.

Christmas, a 6’5” guard from Temple, averaged 1.8 points and 1.3 rebounds in 7.5 minutes of play in four preseason games. Bowman, a 6’9” forward who graduated from Georgetown in 2006, averaged 3.3 points and 2.3 rebounds in 8.5 minutes.

“It’s the hardest part of the job,” Sixers coach Eddie Jordan said about making cuts. “You guys thought talking to [the media] was the hardest part of the job. My job was to get 10 guys on the floor meshing together, if not 13. Then, there were the undrafted players that we had in for spot duty, and we evaluated them in that process. Nobody really knocked our socks off. Certainly, if there was a case where we as an organization decided, ‘Let’s keep 15,’ those two guys would have stayed. They are good enough to be in the NBA, but not good enough to make a 13-man roster in our case.”

Despite not having a place for Christmas on the team currently, Sixers GM Ed Stefanski raved about his basketball abilities, hinting that Christmas would be the first name they called if a roster spot opens up.

“Is he an NBA player?” Stefanski said. “I think eventually he will be an NBA player. I can’t say enough about the kid. That’s why we brought him to our summer-league team, and that’s why we brought him here. He has to get seasoning. He has to get experience. But it takes time to get that in when you’re talking about putting guys on the roster. We want to keep those spots available if we find someone who we think can help the team. That’s what we’ll do. But he had a very good camp, and he and Bowman went down to the bitter end.”

Christmas was arrested by Philadelphia police on Thursday night for a felony weapons offense, after police found him driving F Marreese Speights’ car with a loaded 9mm semi-automatic handgun underneath the driver’s door.

Friday, October 23, 2009 at 6:07 pm by bryan

Brand Powers Sixers to 4-0 Preseason Record

PF Elton Brand wants to prove to Philadelphia that his five-year, $80 million deal wasn’t the mistake that Sixers fans already seem it was.

While Brand has his work cut out for him in his return from season-ending shoulder surgery, he started looking like his old self last night, as the 76ers beat the New York Knicks 93-85 to move to 4-0 in the preseason so far.

Brand scored 20 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and blocked a shot in 33 minutes of action for the 76ers. The Sixers had been easing Brand back into the rotation, seeing how he would fit in new coach Eddie Jordan’s offense.

“He’s making himself available in the box, off the elbow, in the middle of the floor [and] at the free-throw line,” Jordan said. “He’s teaching me, too, how to coach him. It’s a good thing. I want him to be aggressive so I know what’s good for him.”

Brand also found himself immersed in a bit of controversy, as an errant elbow he threw landed squarely in the eye of NY’s Jared Jeffries, who didn’t seem too pleased about the whole incident. The cut on Jeffries’ eye required four stitches, but he returned for the start of the second half.

“I just wanted to clear some space,” Brand said. “I got stripped once or twice and it’s like all right, I’m going to make sure I hold onto this rebound. Wasn’t malicious, I didn’t want to give anybody stitches, but I definitely wanted to get them off me.”

“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.”

The Sixers hope he can keep up this kind of dominance all year, so they get the 20/10 player they thought they were paying for last year.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 10:16 pm by bryan

Sixers Beat Raptors Back-to-Back

The Philadelphia 76ers should ask to play the Toronto Raptors for 82 games.

In the second game in as many nights between the two teams, the Sixers relied on a free throw clinic to beat the Raptors once again, 84-79.

Philadelphia shot a stellar 26 for 28 from the charity stripe (that’s over 90% for the team). Rookie PG Jrue Holiday and former Georgetown player Brandon Bowman were the only two Sixers to miss a free throw (Holiday finished 3-4 from the line, Bowman 1-2).

“It was timely to make our free throws,” 76ers coach Eddie Jordan said. “We were horrible last night (making 22 of 32) and tonight we needed them to win. Hopefully it’s contagious and we keep on going.”

Thaddeus Young led the Sixers in scoring with 11 points, as front court players Elton Brand and Samuel Dalembert each chipped in 10. Brand, who hopes to build on last year’s disappointing season, is fighting his way back from shoulder surgery that sidelined him during the season.

“He’s maybe forcing the issue a little bit. That’s OK,” Jordan said. “I want him to find his way, be aggressive. I’d rather him be that way than passive.”

“Back-to-back games, no setbacks, so that’s always a positive,’ Brand said. “You see guys on the Raptors resting because of their hamstrings and other injuries. It’s good to feel good, even this early in the season.”

Thursday, October 8, 2009 at 7:32 pm by bryan

Sixers Beat Raptors in Preseason Opener

The 76ers, looking to put last year behind them, are out of the gates and running after beating the Toronto Raptors 107-98 in Ontario on Tuesday night.

The Raptors, missing All Star PF and gold medalist Chris Bosh, could not match up to the Sixers’ array of offense, led by PG Lou Williams’ 17 points. SG Andre Iguodala notched 15 points and eight rebounds (despite seven turnovers), and C Samuel Dalembert even showed signs of life, scoring 10 points and grabbing six boards in slightly over 20 minutes of play.

Elton Brand, the Sixers’ 5-year, $80 million man from last season, still showed signs of rust in the game, not making a major impact on the scoreboard. The Sixers’ 23-point lead was cut to five in the fourth quarter, but the Sixers managed to hold on for the win with the Raps missing their two best players.

The Raps were also missing their prize of the offseason, F Hedo Turkoglu, who is grabbing some much needed R&R after a trip to the NBA Finals in June and playing for Turkey in the summer.

“Realistically it’s something we’ve thought about for the last week and something I’ve known was going to happen, so I’m not frustrated by it,” Toronto coach Jay Triano said. “Ideally, would we like to have them play? Yes. But I can’t worry about that now, I have to coach the 12 guys I have here and hopefully make them better today.”

Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 9:27 pm by bryan