The Philadelphia News and the Los Angeles Times are reporting that Elton Brand has agreed to a deal with the Philadelphia 76ers.

The News and the AP confirmed that the pick the Wolves will be getting from the Sixers is the No. 1 that Philadephia received from Utah in the Kyle Korver trade. Evidently, it is top-22 protected.

The Wolves also will be sending the Sixers a second-round pick as part of the deal. Speculation is that it is the Sixers' own pick, which it had sent to Miami and which the Heat then sent to Minnesota in the Chalmers deal.

First off - Wow.

I would have thought the Baron/Brand combo would have been fairly competitive in the West, although not as competitive as the AI/Brand combo in the East. I guess it makes sense if you're Brand as the competition just got much easier and the Sixers are probably now at least in the conversation for the ECF. I don't think that will happen, but there's at least a chance.

I wonder if Baron is pissed?

Also, I don't see Philly finishing Top 8 record-wise in the league, so I don't think we'll be getting their pick this year. Too many teams in the West will probably have a better record. I'm assuming the protection decreases year by year?

I actually hope we don't get the pick from them this year. We might already have three as it is between us, Miami, and Boston.

Holy. Crap.


A few things:

1) I thought Brand loved Hollywood? He is a film producer.

2) So much for his "loyalty" and him saying he wanted to stay with the Clippers.

3) Hahahahahaha at Baron Davis! Good luck with the Clippers! That really sucks for him actually. I thought he, Brand, Thornton, and Kaman could have done well next year. Wow, shocking.

The deal with Minnesota actually make this happen I wondering if we do the trade knowing what would happen and try to make the live a little easy for Love and Jefferson in the west with out Brand?

You never know a docent of trade like with stars going east and the Wolves have a chance of making the playoff next year!! haha

Wolvefan wrote:

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The deal with Minnesota actually make this happen I wondering if we do the trade knowing what would happen and try to make the live a little easy for Love and Jefferson in the west with out Brand?

You never know a docent of trade like with stars going east and the Wolves have a chance of making the playoff next year!! haha :)

I love the optimism. Howl for you!

1. The 1st round pick we got is Utah's from the Korver deal. Top-15 protected. So barring a Deron Williams or Carlos Boozer injury, we're pretty much guaranteed to get it next year. The Celtics pick is a certainty. I don't see Miami being one of the ten worst teams next year.

We will have at least 3 1st round picks next year, the part that sucks though is we have a good chance of sending off our pick to the Clippers this upcoming season.

2. Elton Brand is smart for going to the East. Philly just plugged the biggest hole on their team with an all-star. They could easily get the 4th seed behind the Celtics, Magic, and Pistons.

Also former Duke players should not be trusted between the recent dealings of Boozer and Brand. Trust their verbal commitments at your own peril.

3. Oh yea and Baron Davis isn't committed to the Clippers in any way besides verbally and that is only because he thought Elton would be there. I hope this reopens the bidding on B-Diddy. That's what he would do if he's smart, the Clippers will suck if it's only him there.

roundhouse wrote:

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3. Oh yea and Baron Davis isn't committed to the Clippers in any way besides verbally and that is only because he thought Elton would be there. I hope this reopens the bidding on B-Diddy. That's what he would do if he's smart, the Clippers will suck if it's only him there.

I honestly can't imagine he will go ahead and sign with them after Brand leaves. What a horrible move that would be. And for what? More millions? Then again, never underestimate the power of the almighty dollar, I guess.

I would also like to add that without Magette - who is reported to sign with the Warriors, the Clippers might be left with NOTHING tho show after all the asummedly shrewd wheeling ...

Brand - opted out with the intention to resign, but might leave for Philly
Magette - opted out simply because he wanted out
Davis - opted out to join a team with perspective, which LA isn't anymore

This is so much fun, because of the way it will affect the whole FA situation throughout the league which seemed pretty settled a few days ago.

Lets say, everything would come into reality as reported...

The biggest player with Philadelphia is now out by throwing all their money after Brand to lure him away from the bright lights of Hollywood. Golden State, now left with a lot of cap space after Baron bolted, will sign one of the most sought after FAs on the open market in Magette - who obviously values a few grands more than the chance of joining a contender (puzzles me, but his choice). They'll also use the cap space to lock up their remaining FAs (above all Monta Ellis) after losing Mickael Pietrus to Orlando and also signed the Laker's Ronny Turiaf to an offer sheet of $ 4 Mil, which - if the Lakers would match, would eat up almost their whole MLE. But even if not, another team with loads of cap space will be near to out of the race. That means the only teams with cap space remain the Grizz (who are unlikely to spend much, given how much they tried to unload costs) and now the Clippers who were stripped of nearly their complete core from last season as well as their dreams of creating some buzz in Lakerland. It is reported that they'll now be going hard after restricted FAs Josh Smith from Atlanta and Emeka Okafor from Charlotte to fill the wholes left by Magette and Brand and although both teams seem poised to match any offer, I'll be interested to see if they do or can, especially in Atlanta who might not be able to hold on both Smith and Josh Childress after matching for one. No matter who things turn out, one or two teams will end up with lots of their talent leaving and without the chance to sign a somewhat useful replacement.

Oh boy, this summer might reshape the NBA landscape more than many people believed initially ...

roundhouse wrote:

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3. Oh yea and Baron Davis isn't committed to the Clippers in any way besides verbally and that is only because he thought Elton would be there. I hope this reopens the bidding on B-Diddy. That's what he would do if he's smart, the Clippers will suck if it's only him there.

Ha ha ha! You could see that happening.

But if he doesn't sign with the Clips, who else has enough space to take him?

Hey! We need a PG!

Come on Baron! We've got an MLE with your name on it and Big Al and Elton are eerily similar!

One can only dream...

Much like I said above, it depends how the market will shape up. Someone will be left with empty hands and a lot of cap space ... might be Atlanta, might be the Clippers. Unlikely that even if the Hawks lost Josh Smith to LA, they'll make a run at Davis. Leaving aside their uncertain ownership situation, the Hawks just traded for Mike Bibby and I don't know if both could co-exist in a then rather small backcourt that would also feature Joe "average name" Johnson at the 3.

There's always the Grizz of course, but they seem not only unwilling to sign a big name player for big name money, they have already 4628487246 point and combo guards on their roster, including recently acquired O.J. Mayo, so I don't see any chance they'll go for Baron Davis as well.

I don't know what kind of money the Clippers offer to Okafor and Smith, but I doubt that they'll be able to sign all three players. Don't know if they even want that, though, or if it's just Okafor OR Smith for them to pair with Davis instead of Brand.

In any way, I'll be rolling on the floor if Davis would be forced to take someone's MLE for a year or so simply to stay in the mix for the (weak) FA class of 2009 after opting out of his $ 17.8 mil deal with the W's.

This is going to be a very interesting summer.


EDIT: Thinking about it, I still believe Davis will end up with the Clips' . They'll never pull back their offer to him or they'll be burned for ever with all FA's for not sticking to a verbal commitment. And although players could do so more easily (e.g. Boozer) and walk away (nearly) unscathed, I doubt that Davis would leave all that money, a long-term contract and the move to Hollywood behind.

Back to the Wolves, I actually hope the Clippers get our pick next year so we can clear the books of all our obligations. With the Utah and Boston picks locks and the Miami pick highly probable, a year of having three first-round draft picks is a good one in which to lose a fourth.

What an incredible stash of assets and flexibility the Wolves have accumulated:

--three No. 1 draft picks besides its own (minus the one it owes to L.A.)
--three expiring contracts in 2009 (Collins, Booth, Carney)
--two bad contracts off the books in 2009 (Howard, Hudson)
--three players for whom the club holds options or QO's in 2009 (Foye, Brewer, McCants)
--three expiring contracts in 2010 (Cardinal, Miller, Madsen)

Kurosawa wrote:

QUOTE:
Back to the Wolves, I actually hope the Clippers get our pick next year so we can clear the books of all our obligations. With the Utah and Boston picks locks and the Miami pick highly probable, a year of having three first-round draft picks is a good one in which to lose a fourth.

What an incredible stash of assets and flexibility the Wolves have accumulated:

--three No. 1 draft picks besides its own (minus the one it owes to L.A.)
--three expiring contracts in 2009 (Collins, Booth, Carney)
--two bad contracts off the books in 2009 (Howard, Hudson)
--three players for whom the club holds options or QO's in 2009 (Foye, Brewer, McCants)
--three expiring contracts in 2010 (Cardinal, Miller, Madsen)

Yeah, things could be turning around. It will be interesting to see how our Front Office utilizes these assets. Will they turn a plethora of this stuff into big name stars (ala Boston?) Or, will they just dink and dabble and keep us mediocre for years?

If I were Davis, I'd play for a team like the Spurs on the MLE for a year and then cash out next off season.

B Diddy is coming to the wolves.

roundhouse wrote:

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B Diddy is coming to the wolves.

wouldn't that be sweet. It does feel that we are only a PG away from being good.

With all these draft picks I really hope the wolves package them together to trade up for a PG like Ricky Rubio or Brandon Jennings.

It sure would solve a ton of problems if the Wolves could lock down Baron with the MLE. I'm not holding my breath though.

Thing is, if we just let Gomes walk in exchange for taking on Baron, our cap situation for 2010 would be nearly the same.


Baron, Big Al, Love, Foye, Brewer... At least 5-6 draft picks to make or trade by 2010 - Now you're talking about a team LeBron would legitimately have to consider signing with.

Again, a pipe dream, but Baron would change everything!