THINKS THE EAGLES STOLE ONE
It seems funny but sad now that the Los Angeles Clippers were ticked off last July when the 76ers lured free agent Elton Brand away with an $80 million contract. The Clips thought they had Brand's word he would re-sign with them.
For the Sixers and their fans, it is too painful to think about how differently things might have been had Brand indeed remained with L.A.'s B team. All the bubbling excitement and anticipation that accompanied the Brand deal congealed quickly into a grim reality: Brand didn't look like a particularly good fit with the Sixers before a shoulder injury ended his season.
Because he went all-in last year with the Brand deal and an enormous long-term contract for Andre Iguodala, Sixers president and general manager Ed Stefanski is not holding a full hand as the market opens today. His options are limited. He can sign, sign-and-trade, or not sign veteran point guard Andre Miller. He can offer some journeyman a mid-level exemption deal. He can light a candle in hopes that Brand is both healthy and better adjusted to the Sixers' new offensive schemes.
The NBA is an unforgiving place, a league in which a wrong draft choice or a bad free-agent signing can relegate a franchise to oblivion for a decade. The stagnation is very real: In the last 30 years, just eight franchises have won NBA titles. The Lakers won nine, the Bulls six, the Celtics and Spurs four each, and the Pistons three. Houston won two, while the 1983 Sixers and 2006 Miami Heat are the only one-and-done franchises.
In 30 years.
Of course, this is less about the winning traditions of these franchises than it is about the very small group of players who have proved capable of leading their teams to titles: Michael Jordan, Kareem and Magic, Isiah Thomas, Shaq and Kobe, Hakeem Olajuwon, Tim Duncan.
There have been different champions each of the last few years, though Shaquille O'Neal (the Heat) and Kobe Bryant have been constants. It will take a few more first-time champions - come on down, Cleveland and Orlando - before the old trend can be pronounced dead.
So the Sixers have to compete in this market with a baseball team that built a championship core and is defending its title, a football team that reaches the final four of its league more often than not, and a hockey team that constantly appears to be going all-out for the next available Stanley Cup.
That the Flyers haven't won it all since 1975 is not the point here. The point is that they are able and willing to make a legitimate effort every year. The Sixers have sometimes been able and sometimes been willing, but seldom both at the same time.
The way last year's splurge turned out, it may be for the best that Stefanski is handcuffed this summer. Most of us, including myself, were enthusiastic about the Brand signing at the time. This isn't a second-guess of Stefanski's bold move, merely a clear-eyed assessment of how it's playing out so far.
Before Brand, the Sixers looked like an exciting young team developing a run-and-gun personality. After Brand got hurt, the Sixers began to look like that exciting team again. The obvious conclusion was that Brand simply wasn't a good fit for this particular team at that particular time.
Maybe that will change again as new coach Eddie Jordan tries to run his Princeton offense. But for now, it seems clear the Sixers would be better served developing continuity than making some other roster-rattling move this summer. The point here is to try to become one of those elite teams with a legitimate shot at a title, not just to move up from the seventh or eighth seed to the fifth or sixth.
The Sixers will be better this coming season if Miller is back. But they are better served for the long term by moving on from the veteran point guard. Miller is at the win-now point in his career, not the groom-the-kids point. A sign-and-trade move would be ideal, preferably bringing a player who fits Jordan's system.
If Stefanski could find a way to move Samuel Dalembert and his hilariously bad contract, he'd lock up executive-of-the-year honors. It would not matter what he got in return.
That's life in the unforgiving NBA, where a major mistake means years in the wilderness. It's too early to call the Brand signing a mistake of that magnitude, not with the coaching change and a new system that may take advantage of his skills.
The only thing we can be sure of is that Stefanski won't have a chance to make a killer mistake this year. The NBA's rules take that opportunity - oh, and the opportunity to get dramatically better - out of his hands.
Contact columnist Phil Sheridan at 215-854-2844 or psheridan@phillynews.com. Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/philsheridan.
Photos: '09 Free Agents
