Breaking News Alert – Elton Brand to 76ers

 BRAND TO PHILLY

Veteran power forward Elton Brand is headed to Philly. Let’s run the numbers. 5-year, $82M. Wow. That’s a slam dunk deal. People thought he would make a great return in LA with would-be-Clipper Baron Davis. But, it ain’t so. He isn’t formally signed yet. But, it’s as good as done.

This will surely have a ripple effect amongst the hot FA market in the NBA (Corey Maggette, Josh Smith, Ben Gordon, others) as the Celtics will probably make a push on Maggette, who was also a Clipper with Brand last year; or rush to re-sign James Posey.

And it’s not that dumb to go east for Brand – who is a former #1 pick who had MVP talks in the 1st half of the season in 2005 but has never made an All-Star game – as it’s easier to get into the playoffs. Unlike the tough Western Conference (which is often a ten horse race) and the talent at the power forward position isn’t as deep.

Brand, who averaged…

I went to check his stats, and it says that he actually has agreed to terms with the Sixers, so he actually is a Philadelph’a player.

Brand who averaged 17.6 PPG, 8.0 RPG, and 1.9 BPG last year, and 20.3 PPG and 10.2 RPG, is now a Sixer. Along with Andre Iguodala, the Sixers now have the second best PF-SF combo in the east (Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce of the Celtics) and should make the playoffs next year.

I also consider Brand to be the most underrated player in the NBA today. So, the 76ers nabbed a good one in the 29-year-old Brand, who probably has three really good years left.