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Sound familiar?
While there is no indication that Elton Brand's surgically repaired Achilles tendon ever will be as sore a subject as Jeff Ruland's knee and feet, his $82 million signing yesterday stirred up memories of the infamous draft-day deal that brought Ruland to Philadelphia 22 years ago. Ruland played only five games with the 76ers that season because of a debilitating knee injury.
In the decades between that transaction and Brand's free-agent signing yesterday, 11 months after he ruptured his left Achilles tendon in a workout, much has changed in the NBA when it comes to medical scrutiny.
MRI exams and CAT scans can give a much clearer picture of an injury. Surgical and rehabilitation techniques have advanced as well. And teams would never take a risk on a player like Ruland without purchasing a fat insurance policy.
Curiously though, the Ruland trade now appears more complex than it did on June 16, 1986.
Apparently, there were serious concerns expressed about his health by the Sixers' medical staff. There were pre-and post-trade physical examinations. And, even though it wasn't nearly as prevalent then as now, there was insurance - although Ruland said he took out that Lloyd's of London policy, not the team.
Pat Williams, whose tenure as 76ers general manager ended the day of the Ruland trade, said the last element in any trade or signing, then as now, was a successful medical exam.
"The big thing everyone always wanted to know was how much time it was going to take for the physical," Williams said.
Jeffrey Lorber, the 76ers' team physician at the time, said yesterday that he recalled doctors giving the deal a thumbs-down.
"It was a long time ago," said Lorber, now retired and living in Palm Beach, Fla., "but to the best of my recollection, in Jeff's case we recommended that they not take him. They took him anyway, of course, but that was an administrative decision and not a medical one."
Lorber said that he gave Ruland a thorough general physical before the deal was approved and that because of his history of knee and foot problems, the frontcourt star almost certainly was sent to the team's orthopedist, Michael Clancy.
Clancy, who is retired from Temple University's health system, could not be reached for comment.
However, Al Domenico, the Sixers' trainer at the time, said that if the team's brass had any concerns with Ruland's health, those were assuaged by the player's appearances against them as a member of the Washington Bullets in the playoffs during the 1985-86 season.
The 6-foot-10 center, coming back from arthroscopic knee surgery that season and continuing foot woes, played limited but effective minutes. He averaged 14 points and five rebounds, but Philadelphia took the best-of-five series, three games to two.
"Everybody thought he looked good," said Domenico, "so they weren't that worried."
Ruland, who had had knee surgery in his final Washington season, broke down after a handful of games with Philadelphia. He would play no more that season and not at all the next four.
Overall, he appeared in just 18 games for the Sixers, five in 1986 and 13 during an aborted comeback in the 1991-92 season. He played in only 11 games with Detroit the next season, then retired.
To make matters worse, Roy Hinson and Cliff Robinson, the other two players acquired in the 1986 deals, also arrived with injuries that limited their careers.
"All three were damaged goods," Williams said.
That infamous draft-day dealing - in which Moses Malone, Terry Catledge and two No. 1 draft choices were sent to Washington for Ruland and Robinson, and another No. 1 (the first overall choice) was shipped to Cleveland for Roy Hinson - was widely believed to be the brainchild of Harold Katz, then the Sixers' owner.
Katz could not be reached for comment.
"On paper, it looked like a great deal," said Williams, who went to work for the fledgling Orlando Magic after leaving and who still works with the team.
According to Williams, Katz might have been the deals' instigator, but the team's personnel people all signed off on Ruland.
"Matt Guokas, Jim Lynam, Jack McMahon and I all agreed to bring Ruland here," he said. "But as for the medical exams and whatever came later, I was already gone and you should ask John Nash [who succeeded him] about that."
Nash, recently rehired by the Sixers in the scouting department, declined to comment.
Ruland, 58, now coaches the Albuquerque franchise in the NBA's Development League.
He said yesterday that when his knee was surgically repaired in Washington the previous season, the doctor assured him he would be able to play on it without problems for an additional five seasons.
"But he was wrong," Ruland said. "I played a few games and I couldn't go. That's when the degenerative arthritis really started to set in."
Ruland could not recall how much he was insured for. But he said he paid for the policy with money the Sixers gave him for that purpose.
Sixers general manager Ed Stefanski said yesterday that the team has submitted an application to insure Brand. He said it was not specifically because of Brand's injury but because it is done on all big contracts.
"But, really, insurance policies weren't all that unusual even back then," Williams said. "I know when we gave Moses Malone $13 million, which was a huge contract at the time, we had insurance."
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