Elton Brand opts out.

[wdleehi]

Could you imagine Brand in Celtics' Green?

You can start with KG at the 5, or just bring Brand off the bench. Man that would kill everyone. Sign-and-trade for it Danny make it happen somehow (I think it could be done somehow by the way veeeeeery far fetched though).

And don't you dare tell me to wake-up, I'm enjoying my dream.

Brand after Ray Allen, had/has been my favorite non-Celtic for quite some time.

Leaves a big hole at SG.  

Err, how so? Was never thinking of trading a SG.

If you want to sign and trade, Celtics are giving up one of the three stars.  Do you see them moving KG or Pierce before Ray?

[indeedproceed]

I hope he goes to the Bulls. I like when the Bulls are good, and I still think we'd be better. Plus, they'd scrap with Cleveland 4 times a year.

Gooden, Hinrich and next years' first doesn't sound so impossible.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Could you imagine Brand in Celtics' Green?

You can start with KG at the 5, or just bring Brand off the bench. Man that would kill everyone. Sign-and-trade for it Danny make it happen somehow (I think it could be done somehow by the way veeeeeery far fetched though).

And don't you dare tell me to wake-up, I'm enjoying my dream.

Brand after Ray Allen, had/has been my favorite non-Celtic for quite some time.

Leaves a big hole at SG.  

Err, how so? Was never thinking of trading a SG.

If you want to sign and trade, Celtics are giving up one of the three stars.  Do you see them moving KG or Pierce before Ray?

We trade none, that's the beauty of my dream. We resign Tony, we sign some jackass for the MLE, and we trade away most if not all our youth (except Rondo and Perk).

Yep, we'll end up like we did when we traded for KG... but it worked out.  Of course, there should be better trades out there for them, but the beauty of my dream is that we get Brand.

Awesome.

[nickagneta]

The Lakers should offer Gasol for him.  It is a deal the Clippers won't likely get an improvement on and it provides them the badly needed physical nature they need. 

Here's a scary thought. Lakers trade Gasol for Brand and Odom for Artest and Sheldon Williams. They resign Vujacic and let Turiaf go and come to town next June with a lineup of

Kobe
Fisher
Artest
Brand
Bynum

with a bench of
Vujacic
Radmonovic
Williams
Walton
Farmar
Ariza

That's a tough team!

[Chief]

I wonder if he'd consider going back to Chicago. If he did, that would be a scary team.

[wdleehi]

The Lakers should offer Gasol for him.  It is a deal the Clippers won't likely get an improvement on and it provides them the badly needed physical nature they need. 

Here's a scary thought. Lakers trade Gasol for Brand and Odom for Artest and Sheldon Williams. They resign Vujacic and let Turiaf go and come to town next June with a lineup of

Kobe
Fisher
Artest
Brand
Bynum

with a bench of
Vujacic
Radmonovic
Williams
Walton
Farmar
Ariza

That's a tough team!

Except I don't trust Artest in that environment.  Kobe is a finger pointer that leads to the rest of the team pointing fingers. 

[Who]

I'm surprised. I didn't think he'd opt out. Very surprised.

Does this spell the end of Michael Beasley? If you're Pat Riley and the Miami Heat and clearly he likes Brand how do you not offer Beasley?

I agree that the Lakers will make the Gasol offer but I don't see the Clippers biting. That cross town handing the Lakers the championship will be difficult to take especially for a team who's making Gasol their best player.

The Bulls can put some good offers together with Kirk, Gooden, Tyrus or Noah or a few others. Brand fits a lot of holes. Lot of Bulls fans have been pining for a Brand return.

The Cavs have no young pieces to make the trade happen. They have the expiring contracts but why take the expiring contract when you can just take the cap space? That makes very little-to-no sense. The Cavs won't be there.

Dallas with a package based around Josh Howard? Probably not.
Denver probably don't have enough to entice Brand. Ditto for Golden State.

Orlando? Offer up Rashard Lewis? Or Hedo, Nelson and Battie?
Wow ... a Brand and Dwight combination would be vicious in the paint and they'd still have a good small forward.

I don't see Phily being a player because they don't have the supporting cast. It's solid, not great. Are they really as good as the C's with Brand? No. Iggy isn't good enough to be the second best player on a contender and Miller isn't good enough to be the third best player on a contender.

Elton Brand would be terrific for the Sonics but they're still too far away for him to consider it.

[nickagneta]

The Lakers should offer Gasol for him.  It is a deal the Clippers won't likely get an improvement on and it provides them the badly needed physical nature they need. 

Here's a scary thought. Lakers trade Gasol for Brand and Odom for Artest and Sheldon Williams. They resign Vujacic and let Turiaf go and come to town next June with a lineup of

Kobe
Fisher
Artest
Brand
Bynum

with a bench of
Vujacic
Radmonovic
Williams
Walton
Farmar
Ariza

That's a tough team!

Except I don't trust Artest in that environment.  Kobe is a finger pointer that leads to the rest of the team pointing fingers. 

Well.... that's a good thing then.

[nickagneta]

I'm surprised. I didn't think he'd opt out. Very surprised.

Does this spell the end of Michael Beasley? If you're Pat Riley and the Miami Heat and clearly he likes Brand how do you not offer Beasley?

I agree that the Lakers will make the Gasol offer but I don't see the Clippers biting. That cross town handing the Lakers the championship will be difficult to take especially for a team who's making Gasol their best player.

The Bulls can put some good offers together with Kirk, Gooden, Tyrus or Noah or a few others. Brand fits a lot of holes. Lot of Bulls fans have been pining for a Brand return.

The Cavs have no young pieces to make the trade happen. They have the expiring contracts but why take the expiring contract when you can just take the cap space? That makes very little-to-no sense. The Cavs won't be there.

Dallas with a package based around Josh Howard? Probably not.
Denver probably don't have enough to entice Brand. Ditto for Golden State.

Orlando? Offer up Rashard Lewis? Or Hedo, Nelson and Battie?
Wow ... a Brand and Dwight combination would be vicious in the paint and they'd still have a good small forward.

I don't see Phily being a player because they don't have the supporting cast. It's solid, not great. Are they really as good as the C's with Brand? No. Iggy isn't good enough to be the second best player on a contender and Miller isn't good enough to be the third best player on a contender.

Elton Brand would be terrific for the Sonics but they're still too far away for him to consider it.

Until the Heat sign beasley he doesn't count as cash towards keeping the books balanced in a Heat-Clippers trade and is there some sort of rule about a rookie signing a contract and then having to wait a certain amount of time before being traded. Without Marion headed back to LA I don't see Brand in Miami.

Brand was extremely close to a championship in college and I get a feeling he's the type of guy that might sacrifice one earning year for a chance at the gold he missed in college. A two year MLE contract with a player option to terminate after one year for the chance to get gold can't be too far out of the realm of possibility for a guy needing to prove he is still worth a max contract after wrecking his Achilles. That injury isn't always a guaranteed return to form after heeling up.

Probably not likely but I don't think it can be ruled out entirely.

[wdleehi]

Do they offer Marion and try to use the trio of Brand, Beasley and Haslem down low? 

[RebusRankin]

Elton should sign in Boston for the MLE to prove his worth and win a tittle.  I'd like to see a series of stars do this. 

[BudweiserCeltic]

Elton should sign in Boston for the MLE to prove his worth and win a tittle.  I'd like to see a series of stars do this. 

Crazy thing is that I imagine Brand being nice enough to do it .

[nickagneta]

Do they offer Marion and try to use the trio of Brand, Beasley and Haslem down low? 

Nice idea but they would be awfully small without a really big big in the middle to anchor it. And please let's not bring up using Mark Blount.

Of course if Riley convinces Stirling that Blount for Kaman saves him $$ in the same trade then:

Beasley, Haslem, Brand, Kaman, Wade, and throw the MLE at a point like Udrih and that's a nice start towards instant credibility and another title run if Beasley is what people think he is.

[Who]

Do they offer Marion and try to use the trio of Brand, Beasley and Haslem down low? 

I don't see Marion being enough. He doesn't have great trade value in this league (Shaq trade). He can't create his own shot and he's incapable of being one of the top two options on the team. He also demands another big payday and is high maintenance.

I think Beasley has to be involved for Miami to have a shot. They have no other young players to make it work.

Until the Heat sign beasley he doesn't count as cash towards keeping the books balanced in a Heat-Clippers trade and is there some sort of rule about a rookie signing a contract and then having to wait a certain amount of time before being traded. Without Marion headed back to LA I don't see Brand in Miami.

It will probably have to be Marion but they could patch together some lesser contracts (Blount and Haslem) to make it work. Beasley is the ticket in all of this. There's a chance they could convince the Clippers to do the deal without Marion. If LA goes with Beasley it won't to be a contender in the next two years ... plus Thornton is there as the future small forward.

Giving up Marion and Beasley is a lot. I'm not sure Brand has more value than both players together. That looks more like a lateral move.

[Robb]

Do they offer Marion and try to use the trio of Brand, Beasley and Haslem down low? 

That's a really undersized frontcourt.  Sadly, I think Cleveland is the best place for him to land.  I don't think the Clippers would take back Rashard Lewis' ridiculous deal, and I would keep Hedo if I were the Magic.  Anyway, Orlando needs guards, don't they?