Minutes when Brand gets back

[rickortreat]

Brand/Speights works well against almost anyone.  Its Speights/Thad that can be trouble.  But surprisingly, the Sixers have done pretty well with Speights/Evans.

Speights and Evans are both active guys who are extremely effective on the offensive boards.  The problem with Speights and Thad is that neither is strong enough yet to properly guard a good PF or C down low.  I really want to see Speights and Brand on the floor together, I think they can create all sorts of havoc with their range and ability to cut to the basket.

That is the pairing I'm hoping for as well.  That was a great point about the EC centers, but we're looking for an advantage, not parity.  Speights and Young aren't strong enough against the physical players, which is why we still need Sam.  Eventually both of them will become strong enough to play their natural positions, but I don't ever want to see Thad bulk up so much that he plays PF. He's a big SF and that's where he should give us the biggest advantage.  I'm also leery of asking Brand to play Center. He's a little short for a PF, but certainly strong enough. Speight is tall enough, but not strong enough yet. He does appear to have some attitude though.

The only one in the East that we can't match up with well is Howard, but then again, who can match up with that player?

[carolina blue]

While Brand is "short" for a prototypical NBA frontcourt player, he has a 9'2" standing reach - which matches up well despite his standing height.

[tk76-]

We are goint to see a lot of Brand at center.  If Sam and Theo combine for 28 min/game, that leaves another 20 min with Brand at center, because I don't see why they would go with Speights/Evans much with Brand back.

IMO when you send Brand/Speight out there Brand is the center (at least this year.)

[Skates]

Here is a post I wrote on Philaphans in response to a slightly different question of why the Sixers had improved recently, mainly to discuss why I did not think Brand being out was the primary reason as some posters did:

A lot of things have happened:

Iggy got over his now annual Ryan Howard-esque early season slump. He is putting up big numbers in the flow of the game, but early in the year he was trying to do too much to create his own game, poor shot selection, too many risky passes, too much one 0n one. He did the same thing last year and got better later in the year by going with the flow.

Lou has come out of his early season funk that looked like he was confused about his role.

Andre Miller got his fat butt into full basketball shape. He does not stay in shape during summers and he plays his way into shape during pre-season and the regular season.

Most importantly DiLeo has been able to integrate the players into better executing actual offensive and defensive systems. He has been great about defining roles for players, very good with substitutions and excellent at getting players to buy into his ideas. Cheeks voice may have just been tiresome after three years, a common ocurrence in the NBA. They are actually executing in the half court much better than they did during their late season run last year, which was built on pure scrambling, hustle and athleticism. They are doing the same thing this year with better execution and more of a plan. Did you ever think a simple coaching change would get this team shooting three pointers so well? Whatever DiLeo is telling these guys is working and working well.

Brand has been out during this time too. It might have been helpful to revamp the team for DiLeo around familiar players initially, except Speights and Ivey, but I don't think Brand's absence would be a good thing long term. Don't forget that in Brand's first game under DiLeo he absolutely had a beast of a game with 27 pts. People also forget what kind of player Brand is. He is primarily a high post, inside out player. He scores best on jumpers and drives from the high post and goes into the pure low post when the matchup favors him, a lot like Speights. He is an excellent mid-range shooter, he can run the floor very well for a big man and he defensive rebounds and blocks shots. He is not a true low-post plodder.

Brand will be coming back to a team that has some idea of spacing on offense. That was lacking in the early season and he was getting easily double and triple teamed when he had the ball, often because one of the other SIxers would run their defender right into him (that was ugly to watch). Other than Sam, most of the team seems to know thier roles and places to be on this offense now.

He will also benefit from the vastly improved three point shooting. Double team him now and you will pay. Plus with the Andres and Lou playing much better, teams can't ignore them on the perimeter as they did early in the season and that will give Brand room to operate and targets to pass to. As a physical high-post player he also can keep the low post clear of a big defender who must guard him away from the basket, which will open up the driving lanes for Lou, Thad and the Andres and open up post-ups down low for Miller, Thad and Speights.

Take some minutes from Sam, Green and Evans, depending on the match-up and replace them with Brand's minutes and you have a team that is much improved. They have had more practices together under a better designed system and Brand has been watching the team closely. He is a smart and versatile player, he will make himself fit in. He also lacks a huge ego, volunteering to come off the bench for a while until he is back to full speed. Expect to see him play a lot of center at times during games, with Thad or Speights at PF, although Sam will continue to start at C for now. I will be unhappy if DiLeo diminishes the minutes for Lou (unlikely), Thad (does he start when Brand is back) or Speights (except whne he forgets to rebound, box out or defend, then he can sit as a reminder) significantly.