Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 10:15 am  |  27 responses

Elton Brand: Struggling, Frustrated

by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

The other day on Twitter, I joked that Elton Brand looks like a shell of a shell of his former self. I think I may have been too kind. Elton looks much, much worse.

The former 20/10 machine, who’s healthy this season, is struggling mightily out of the gates. Brand is throwing up 10 points and 5 boards a night, numbers hardly befitting a player getting paid $14.8 mil to play hoops this year (with another $51 million owed to him over the next three seasons.)

Due to his struggles, Brand finds himself on the bench a lot these days, especially at crunch time. And he’s none too happy about it.

From the Philly Inquirer:

Brand said that “absolutely” this was the first time in his career he has sat when games are being decided. He said that, of course, he’s pressing to show he can return to pre-injury effectiveness. “I’m human, so it happens,” Brand said. “I don’t think I’ve had the opportunity to be out there and say, ‘Hey, OK, let’s do something different,’ you know what I mean?”

After Monday night’s 119-115 loss to the Phoenix Suns – one of the games this season in which Brand sat the entire fourth quarter – a question to Brand went something like, “So, you’ve been on the bench at the end of the last three games?”Added Brand: “At least . . .”

Unfortunately for Brand and his ego, head coach Eddie Jordan doesn’t sound particularly enthused by what he’s seen from his wildly expensive power forward, and says that Elton has yet to regain his pre-injury form.

Until Elton can get his get his health and game on the same page, expect the frustration to build, and for things to get worse before they get any better.

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  • niQ Posted: Nov.11 at 10:21 am
    My Fantasy Bball team is also frustrated.. at EB.

  • Hisham Posted: Nov.11 at 10:21 am
    I feel bad for him. It’s not like he’s been eddycurrying or tmacking through his rehab period. he worked hard to get back, so he’s got every reason to be frustrated.

  • Hisham Posted: Nov.11 at 10:23 am
    he’s probably frustrated with himself, too.

  • Forrest Crunk Posted: Nov.11 at 10:26 am
    Poor, poor Elton. You’re probably one of the last players I ever thought would come out crying to the media about playing time. Here’s an idea, why don’t you ask Baron Davis about frustration, since you bailed on him last year and left him to struggle through a horrendous season after you helped convince him to come to your highly mediocre and poorly coached Clipper squad; he could probably give you some advice on coping with your newly found frustration. (My guess is, you’d probably get a middle finger instead)
    Don’t worry about it though big fella, at least your well-deserved bench time will help to postpone your next annual season-ending injury…

  • candice allen Posted: Nov.11 at 10:29 am
    brand hasnt been a star honestly since his chicago days…but once eddy curry&tyson chandler emerged from being baby bulls to full grown, brand took a back seat. with him now with sixers no different..they havea younger team with iguodala&thad&williams& their newbie jrue, their team is pretty much set! they have faster&younger skills& in crunch time they are fine without brand…brand is a great player but ur ego can also be the end of you..hehas let too many people get his ego all hyped…he is just going to be another player if he doesnt show sixers why they choose to get him!

  • niQ Posted: Nov.11 at 10:33 am
    I don’t understand this. He’s getting paid so much to sit on the bench. He’s a 20-10 guy who’s averaging half of each (10-5). He may not be as youthful as he was before but he can still play. So why won’t the coach even consider him in the fourth quarter?

  • doobie Posted: Nov.11 at 10:46 am
    i was at the sixers-suns game. brand looked awful. he had this nice steal at half court and it took him forever to get to the basket for an easy dunk. he has a nice strong play inside, and hten cant move the next play. he missed a wide open 2 footer right in front of me. sixers would have gotten much more smoked in that game if he was in in the 4th, trust me.

  • uberVU - social comments Posted: Nov.11 at 10:49 am
    Social comments and analytics for this post… This post was mentioned on Twitter by SLAMonline: Elton Brand: Struggling, Frustrated: http://tinyurl.com/yh2opjs...

  • davidR Posted: Nov.11 at 11:04 am
    you’re supposed to get cursed for joining the clippers, not leaving

  • Brad Long Posted: Nov.11 at 11:11 am
    I thought he was frustrated because his shoes are only sold at J.C. Penny’s.

  • TADOne Posted: Nov.11 at 11:16 am
    Worst contract in basketball right now. Well, other than Eddy Curry.

  • 360vue Posted: Nov.11 at 11:59 am
    EBs getting 15mill a season, Dalembert is on 12mill, I definitely think the latter is far worse. At least Brand has actually consistently shown he can play throughout his career. Although Curry is definitely the worst of them all.

  • TADOne Posted: Nov.11 at 12:10 pm
    The one move that the Clippers didn’t actually mess up.

  • Dfrance Posted: Nov.11 at 12:15 pm
    Brand just doesn’t fit in the type of system Eddie Jordan likes to play. When he coached in NJ he took that Princeton style off with him to Wash. Its a motion style offense, not throw it in the post, grind it out style that EB excels at.

  • Z Posted: Nov.11 at 1:24 pm
    I’m not sure I actually agree with Jordan here. Usually, you would let your star players play through slumps. He IS a 20-10 guy, he has done it numerous times. You can’t decide that he’s not helping you after 6-7 games.

  • riggs Posted: Nov.11 at 1:26 pm
    blame the system hes playing in

  • Zee! Posted: Nov.11 at 2:49 pm
    The title of this article should read: Elton Brand-Garbage, and is f#$#ing up my fantasy team.

  • ClydeSays Posted: Nov.11 at 4:55 pm
    I’d say TMac & JONeal have the worst contracts, but their 23 mil dollar salaries expire at the end of the season. No wonder Houston doesn’t want TMac to rush back.
    EB’s deal is a killer because of the years. 3 more for a player that looks broken down.

  • skywalker Posted: Nov.11 at 5:06 pm
    thats what he gets for betraying the baron, and a franchise that made him a shitload of money….I think he’s done, he’ll probably never put up numbers like he use to for the clips

  • skywalker Posted: Nov.11 at 5:10 pm
    thats what he gets for betraying the baron, and a franchise that made him a shitload of money, he’ll probably never get the same kind of productivity as he did with the clips back in the day

  • nastierthanu Posted: Nov.12 at 12:30 am
    As a carolina fan I would love to hate on eb but this guu has been a class act. Its no fun hatin on a scrub. Curse of the duke univ pro.

  • Raptorsfan Posted: Nov.12 at 2:35 am
    Picked him 3rd in my fantasy league. TERRIBLY regret it! There are free agents playing better than him!

  • Michael Tillery Posted: Nov.12 at 8:10 am
    It’s early. He’ll be fine. I’ll get to the bottom of this. There’s more than meets the eye.

  • kev Posted: Nov.12 at 8:38 am
    damn philly signed another bad deal. sorry elton but speights is just a better player at this point you are luckly to still actually be the the starter

  • kev Posted: Nov.12 at 8:40 am
    Never ever sign a player coming off a major knee injury!!! just dont do it!!!!!!! Yes some player”s (wade) regain their former abilities but most of them don’t!

  • Dacre Posted: Nov.12 at 8:57 am
    Hmm..yeah they way i figure it. You let the man go to work in the final period and he gets you another 10 pts and 5 boards (to go with his current 10 + 5) and there you have the magical 20 / 10 stat line. Mind you….he’s never actually been a “winner”….

  • iLL wiLL Posted: Nov.12 at 8:58 am
    Speights >>>>>>>> Brand + Sammy D combined

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