Elton Brand and free agency now that he is hurt

[Reality]

Eltie Brand will become an unresticted FA after this season.
Now that his achilles hill is ruptured and expected to take a year to heal, so in essense his next game will be played under a new contract.
Will it be with a new team?  Or will he extend/reup with the Clippers?

I thought it was going to be very exciting as to where he would head, and he would be welcome as a Spur for 2008-9.  Actually he would have been welcome before the trade deadline at midseason 2007-8.
Hope he comes back from this heal surgery.

[westkoast]

I saw he was out 6 months today....Where did the sudden 6 extra months come from?

He should leave the Clippers either way.  They haven't been able to surround him with the right players.  Kaman did not work out and neither has Sam Cassell after that one season they got to the playoffs.

[Reality]

Yeah i saw that and with modern surgery techniques getting better and better maybe he will contribute to the Clips playoffs 
But also read "Achilles tendon injuries typically sideline NBA players for at least a year, which would theoretically threaten Brand's availability for all of the 2007-08 season.

But ESPN.com's Marc Stein reports that the Clippers have received a preliminary medical indication that Brand will be sidelined only six months. If so, Brand would be in line for a comeback in February."

So either way, what does this do to Brands trade/UFA plans?  I am assuming he would not extend with Clips but who knows.

[Derek Bodner]

Brand has a player option for next year.  If anything, it just became more likely that he is with the clips next year.  Even if he comes back in 6 months, he won't be the same player.  He'll likely keep his contract with the clips, and enter free agency in 2009.

[Joe Vancil]

Elton Brand, back in six months? 

What are we smoking here, folks?

We're talking a RUPTURED ACHILLES TENDON.  If he comes back AT ALL, he'll be lucky.  No one has come back with anywhere near their previous skill level after a ruptured Achilles.  Everyone talks about microfracture surgery as if it's the end of the world;  it's nothing compared to problems with the Achilles tendon.

Elton Brand is DONE.  Gone.  Never gonna be what he was. 

[Reality]

Have we got names of previous ruptured achilles tendon players?

[Derek Bodner]

No one has come back with anywhere near their previous skill level after a ruptured Achilles.

Dominique would be to differ.

[westkoast]

Elton Brand, back in six months? 

What are we smoking here, folks?

We're talking a RUPTURED ACHILLES TENDON.  If he comes back AT ALL, he'll be lucky.  No one has come back with anywhere near their previous skill level after a ruptured Achilles.  Everyone talks about microfracture surgery as if it's the end of the world;  it's nothing compared to problems with the Achilles tendon.

Elton Brand is DONE.  Gone.  Never gonna be what he was. 

That was what had been reported locally by the Clippers staff.  I don't expect him to come back and be a 27-10 guy on most nights but I don't know about done altogether.  There has to be a number of players who had this injury and still were able to contribute to their squad.

[Reality]

Brand has got to be super encouraged by what Dominique did come back and do.

Showing no traces of the injury, Wilkins blazed to an average of 27.7 points per game in the first month of the season. He then suffered a setback when he fractured the ring finger on his right hand on December 15, sitting out the next 11 games. But Wilkins returned to rack up 29.4 points per game on .487 shooting in January, then added 31.5 points per game on .519 shooting in February. By the end of the season, his scoring average was up to 29.9, second in the league behind Michael Jordan’s 32.6. When Wilkins scored his 31st point in a February 2 game against the Seattle SuperSonics, he broke Bob Pettit’s franchise scoring record of 20,880 points. He had developed into a full-fledged three-point threat, hitting 120 of 316 attempts from long range to shatter his previous career bests. Wilkins’s remarkable comeback was acknowledged with a selection to the All-NBA Second Team.

Wilkins showed no signs of fading in his 12th NBA campaign, even after a tumultuous midseason trade. After 11½ years with the Atlanta Hawks, during which he became one of the city’s most beloved athletes, Wilkins was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers on February 24 in exchange for Danny Manning. Prior to the trade Wilkins averaged 24.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists for Atlanta, leading the club to a 36-16 record. At midseason he appeared in his eighth NBA All-Star Game. However, Hawks management and new coach Lenny Wilkens felt Manning and his multidimensional skills might help the team more during the stretch run. As it turned out, the top-seeded Hawks lost in the conference semifinals to the Indiana Pacers. Wilkins left Atlanta as the team’s all-time leading scorer with 23,292 points. Once in Los Angeles, Wilkins became one of the few bright spots on an otherwise struggling Clippers team. In his final 25 games of the season Wilkins averaged 29.1 points and 7.0 rebounds. On March 25 he returned to Atlanta in a Clippers uniform and tallied 36 points and 10 rebounds against his former team. Overall, Wilkins’s 26.0 scoring average ranked fourth in the NBA. He concluded the season with 24,019 career points, placing ninth on the NBA’s all-time list. His career scoring average of 26.2 points per game ranks first among active players. Wilkins became a free agent after the 1993–94 season and signed with the Boston Celtics. Shortly after the signing, he helped Dream Team II to a gold medal at the 1994 World Championship of Basketball.

[ziggy]

Elton Brand, back in six months? 

What are we smoking here, folks?

We're talking a RUPTURED ACHILLES TENDON.  If he comes back AT ALL, he'll be lucky.  No one has come back with anywhere near their previous skill level after a ruptured Achilles.  Everyone talks about microfracture surgery as if it's the end of the world;  it's nothing compared to problems with the Achilles tendon.

Elton Brand is DONE.  Gone.  Never gonna be what he was. 

I had a ruptured Achilles Tendon about 11 years ago.  Complete rupture.  I was in a cast or boot for almost 4 months.  Now I wasn't the best at my rehab stuff, but I had couldn't do more than a slow walk for at least 6 months, and it was better than a year before I would have been back to normal.  I would be stunned if Brand plays at all next year, if he does play it will be April at the earliest.
Two other guys in my office had the same thing.  One guy ruptured both about 2 years apart, and he was in cast as long or longer than I was.  The other guy had a partial rupture, and things went really bad.  He got an infection, and ended up with 3-4 surgeries and almost had to have his foot amputated.  This is a very bad deal for Brand, it will change his game no doubt, and it will be serious.  This is not like a lot of scope surgeries, this is one where they lay open your ankle, and do some serious stitching.

[WayOutWest]

If the Human Highlight can come back anyone can.  Nique's game was very very athletic, Elton will have different problem because he puts alot of wieght and strees on his legs because of all the banging he does under the basket as opposed to Nique's high flying act.

[jn]

One other thing I can tell you about rupturing the Achilles is that any other minor injury around it automatically becomes a bigger issue.  Sprained ankles, etc, will cause the damaged Achilles to become inflamed again. 

Other than that a person can come back to near the old level.  It just takes a long time and the tendon will definitely need extra attention in terms of stretching and soreness.  As ziggy mentioned, you're looking at about four months of casts and then a walking boot then a ton of rehab.

Personally I have no problem playing ball once a week but that's a far cry from 80 games a year.