Brand Bowl Begins In Philly

by Steve Weinman on Nov 21, 2008 3:03 AM EST in NBA Comment 8 comments

With their new upper-echelon power forward, the Philadelphia 76ers have gotten off to a slow start. They are just 5-6 and struggling at the offensive end (19th in efficiency) three and a half weeks into the season.

Without their former upper-echelon power forward, the Clippers have stumbled out of the gate. They sit at 2-9 and aren't doing much right on either side of the ball, ranking 29th and 24th in offensive and defensive efficiency respectively.

So Friday night's tilt in the City of Brotherly Love won't quite be a clash of the titans. But it is still Part I of the Clips-versus-Elton-Brand drama.

Sure, the real moment of intrigue for Brand will likely come when he returns to the Staples Center as a visitor on the final day of 2008. For now, it will be interesting to see how he interacts with his former teammates and coach.

ESPN reports that the 'mates swear all is well and wish him nothing but the best. Same goes for coach Mike Dunleavy, who simply seems miffed that the two have yet to speak since Brand decided to head to Philadelphia. We'll learn a bit more about how much those comments mean when we see the exchanges Brand has with the visitors tonight.

In the meantime, it seems worth noting that the Clips' fan base isn't as forgiving as the forwards former teammates claim to be. Columbian Missourian hoops scribe Bill Powell dabbled in some Clips blogging over the past two years, and he previously described the situation amongst Clippers fans to me as the following dilemma: Should they be peeved at Brand for reneging on his word and turning on the team, or should they be peeved at Brand for falling victim to superagent David Falk's influence, which led him to the dollar signs rather than professed loyalty?

Doesn't seem like a fun internal debate. Any Clips fans out there feel like weighing in (or doing some venting) on Brand once more? Is Bill's assessment correct?

Curious to see what tonight's visit from the Clippers brings. It should be a nice warm-up for the Clips' trip out west come December's end.

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Comments

haven’t seen either team play, but there’s enough talent on each team for both of them to have a better record. i can’t blame brand for getting away from sterling. red was trying to leave john y brown. the fish rots from the top down.

by nazzbo on Nov 21, 2008 7:48 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Jeff's absence

Doesn’t seem like Jeff pens all that many pieces, but the blog does struggle when he’s gone.

Come on, people.

We just beat Detroit.

We swamped them.

The bench has now played great three straight games.

Rajon is back.

How about a little celebration???

Even some commentary might be nice…

by William_Ayers on Nov 21, 2008 9:03 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

dude there is a whole post below this one on the game. did you miss it?

thanks for the support by the way.

by Green17 on Nov 21, 2008 9:46 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Ah, looks like I was finishing my post just as yours was going up, G17

Same wavelength, it looks like…

-sw

Manuel Aristides Ramirez is the greatest hitter I've ever seen.

by Steve Weinman on Nov 21, 2008 9:48 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Done and done, by our fantastic managing editor, Green17

Right here.

Since this isn’t the first time you’ve registered an implicit complaint about my work on the rest of the league, I’ve reposted an explanation I gave to a member voicing similar concerns on this topic recently:

My official authoring capacity here is as the General NBA columnist, which means covering all 30 teams in the league. Of course, one of those teams in particular is especially well-covered on our front page (see: Jeff, FL, CB32, Roy, G17, Jim Weeks) on a regular basis, so a significant proportion of my work is done on the league’s other 29 teams. We’ve had no shortage of Celtics pieces on the front page here over the last 24 hours as well, as you’ll see from a cursory glance through the recent articles.

While I don’t look to step on the toes of any of our more Celtics-centric writers, I thoroughly enjoy writing about the team and getting some content up on them when I get the chance.

That’s my role here, and I hope I’ve answered your question. For any more about the site’s workings beyond that, you might wish to consult Jeff more so than me.

-sw

Manuel Aristides Ramirez is the greatest hitter I've ever seen.

by Steve Weinman on Nov 21, 2008 9:47 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Green 17`

You’re post was good, very good. Better than many of the post game summaries.

My point, however, is there must be someone here that can dig a little deeper, focus on a couple of the good points you make and do so in a separate piece.

I understand that the focus of this blog is on interactive “community” stuff.

The blog is doing quite well on that front, I’m sure.

I’m just saying maybe add more analysis on the front page.

Just my .02.

by William_Ayers on Nov 21, 2008 9:59 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Steve W

My bad.

No complaint about you or your work.

You are a good NBA generalist.

I posted under your post to make a point that we just won a big game and a blog called the Celticsblog is talking about the NBA in general.

So no offense to you!

by William_Ayers on Nov 21, 2008 10:00 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Clippers look in trouble.

Al Thornton didn’t step up his game from the second half of last season, and Eric Gordon hasn’t provided any help. Ricky Davis has given hardly anything from the bench either. These three players are leaving Baron Davis out on an island …. not enough quality scoring options. Offensively they’re very poor.

It’s been surprising to see how badly they’ve struggled defensively. Clippers were 19th in defensive efficiency last season. With Camby and Baron Davis entering I thought they’d be at least able to match that mark. They should improve this over the next few weeks.

by Who on Nov 21, 2008 11:19 AM EST reply actions 0 recs