Okay, Orlando has the number 1 pick, which may entice TMac to stay. However, if you read down a little bit, Clippers have the second pick. If they draft Howard, that makes Brand expendable. And Francis would be a pretty big upgrade over K. Dooling. Francis for Brand? Francis for the #2 pick?
I wouldn't trade Francis for an unproven High School player, I mean he could turn out to be great or even a Kwame Brown type of player. I wouldn't take the risk but Brand other hand is a different story. Francis for the #2 pick straight up, I wouldn't like.
oh! come one, francis worth more than a second pick... probably brand + 2nd pick for Francis then we can consider bout it....
I'm sorry if you were being sarcastic or something (its hard to tell) Brand for Francis is great but Brand+Howard (2nd pick is probably going to be Howard) is pretty ridiculous
Umm, you should stick a smilie on this one because there isn't any way in hell that the clips will trade brand and the #2 for Francis. I'd settle for Brand for Francis straight up. Another thing, I'd consider is Francis for the #2 and then hopefully move the #2 (Dwight Howard) to Utah for Kirilenko. Utah might bite because Howard has superstar potential and he's a very religious young man which couldn't hurt in SLC. I'd love to get AK47 and then maybe move Mobley and/or Cato to Indiana for Al Harrington. Then we'd get a pair of athletic, and versatile forwards. Our frontline would be awesome and would be a terrific foundation to build on.
That would be nice. AK-47 is a superstar that does it all. SLC is known for being Mormons though, Howard is Christian.
I know, that's why I said that it "couldn't hurt" and didn't push the religious angle any further, although Mormon are Christians too, but I understand there is a difference. Obviously the bigger factor for Utah is whether Howard's potential is good enough to offset what Kirilenko is giving them right now.
I think the Clippers will either draft a point guard with the #2 pick or trade down and draft a point guard, but I just don’t see them trading Brand for Francis. I don’t think they will choose to replace Brand with Howard, because they don’t want to wait for him to develop. They’ve been a losing team for god knows how long and they want to win now already. Personally, barring a trade for Mcgrady, I would go ahead and take the #2 pick.
Why is everyone so crazy about Brand? I like the guy and he is pretty good, but exactly what has he accomplished in his career? I absolutely love Steve Francis, but of course I would trade him for Tmac. For Elton Brand....no thanks.
If you want to put it that way, what has SF3 accomplished? He's changed his game a little, but he's still the same SF3 of yesteryears. If anything, SF3 should go back to his original position, sg.
He took his team to the playoffs and was the only one to show some balls. Changed his game a little? He has to change his game more then anyone. We went from an iso system no defense playing team to a post oriented hard core defensive system. And Francis seemed to be adapting towards the end of the year. Elton Brand (dont get me wrong, I think he is a good player) didn't do anything in Chicago and is doing nothing in LA. What alot of the posters on this board failed to realize in their fantasy world trades is something called team chemistry. Most of the great teams keep their core guys together for more then two years to let them gel. A constant rotation of the starting lineups will not get us anywhere chemistry wise.
There are certain core players (Cato, Taylor, Cat, Francis) that have been on this team for 5 years now and the chemistry displayed on the court is almost exactly the same as it was 5 years ago.
The guy has averaged 20 pts and 10 boards over his career. That's doing something that very few in the league can do. He's been on bad teams with bad coaching and bad management. He is exactly the kind of player the Rockets need right now and I'd love to trade for him.
Francis has averaged almost 20, 6, and 6. That is also something very few in the league can do. He's been on bad teams with suspect coaching and bad management. Not to mention the serious injury problems (save for this past year).
If it's Brand or Allen, I prefer Allen. We can get a serviceable pf to team with Yao if the backcourt can bomb and pass the ball. Better to give Yao a superlative team ball guy that knocks down jumpers, than a superlative rebounder that hogs the low block. A better Yao complement is the Troy Murphy type, that can shoot and board, with a little low post mixed in. Brand isn't going outside.
I could care less about steves rebounds. Maybe if he stoped going for rebounds we could get a few fast break points. Im not to keen on trading SF for brand since brand likes the low post also. Not sure how two low post players would work. Either yao or brand would have to move to the high post. Not too many teams have two successful low post players playing together. Sheed had to play more of of an outside game to accomodate randolph in the post and I dont think Brand has the skills to move outside like sheed did. Yao can play more of a high post game, but most of us would want to see him down low most of the time.
I think Brand is a little underrated these days. He is definitely worth Steve Francis, in my opinion. He's just a workhorse. He doesn't even really need the ball, always among the league leaders in PPS because he gets lots of putbacks. Plus, one of the top shot blockers in the league. We don't have to be the best at every position, we just need to creat mismatches. Yao / Brand would be the best frontline duo in the league. Tons of shot blocking and rebounds. Brand doesn't need to be able to hit 18 footer or anything, just as long as his defender respects offensive game enough to not double Yao. Brand is the prototypical POWER forward. Look at what detroit is doing. Their front court is just TOO BIG for Indiana. I think with Brand ours would be much better than that even, although we would be playing in the West the effects should be similar. We would be able to man handle any team that didn't have Duncan or Shaq. And match up positively with those two teams even. We don't need superstar guards... just people who can knock down shots. The Rip Hamiltons, Brent Barrys, and Doug Christies of the world would do fine on a team with Yao and Brand. We already have JJ and perhaps Cat. We don't really need that much more.
It seems like Brand and Francis will forever be linked. They were the 1 and 2 pick of the draft. Co-rookies of the year. Similar scoring averages through 5 years. With the offense that JVG runs, where every posession counts, it's more valuable to have a guy who can score 20 shooting 49% than can score 20 shooting 41% (although Francis only scored 16+ this year). Brand blocks more shots than Yao and would keep the opposing PF from doubling Yao. If it were a question of who's a better fit for JVG and Yao, I'd have to take Brand. Although, there's still no indication that he's available, or that the Clippers would even want Francis.
