Top 5 Reasons We Should Trade for Elton Brand and the #2 pick

at the level they were before injuries, rather it’s due to the injury itself, or the mental stress the injuries cause a person to play with.

in two years, Brand’s deal is going to go from the most un-tradeable to one of the most desired as it will be an expiring 18 million dollar deal.

If this modus operandi continues we should expect to see a net improvement of 23.3% in statistics (an average of all the above mentioned player’s improvement, and Chandler’s drop off).

This makes Elton Brand a 16 and 7.5 guy

Like I said, Shannon is doing a lot of the same stuff in L.A. as he did in Charlotte. I don’t think any loyal Bobcat fans were ever surprised to see Shannon get a lot of glory for his play making ability in L.A. He did the same thing in Charlotte. But all of that was always based around excitement and athleticism, not winning and pure skill. Shannon is shining playing a few minutes with a hall of fame caliber team, but if depended on for long stretches, he’ll look just as lost as he did a Bobcat.

Has Brand really fallen off as he has, or whether he was simply a horrible fit in Philly?

Will he fit better in NC?

Billboards with him and MJ? an almost guaranteed Nike and Team Jordan deal?

The Euro players want big markets so they can get lots of endorsements… Jordan is the marketing X-factor that make Charlotte more appealing than other small markets.

Other than a high school age Kobe…
or
Ricky Rubio

Would I want Rubio to be a Bobcat? Hell yeah. Will it happen? Doubt it.

Rubio was in a very interesting situation last year. A lot has been said about him not liking the Twolves because of the “small market” but I think in many ways it has more to do with how the Twolves handled their draft, especially when there was great interest in him. Notwithstanding, while I think it is stupid the Twolves drafted Flynn as well, I can’t place too much blame on them. Because of his contractual clause, as well as the limit that NBA teams can pay for purchasing rookies, it was basically impossible for Minnesota to buy out his contract.

FC Barcelona was able to do so, and hence Rubio left DKV Joventut, going on to play a very successful season thus far (ACB is currently in the early play-off stages, although FC Barcelona won the Euroleague a few weeks back).

Rubio has one year left on his contract with FC Barcelona, and again, his buyout clause is way too much for the Twolves to handle. So he will continue to play in the ACB next season, although he will surely come to the NBA the following year, the 2011-2012 season. What will the Timberwolves do with him? They insist they’re still interested in him, but this is a franchise that has been thoroughly confused for years, and my guess is they’re probably going to use him as trade bait, a mistake IMO.

As for Charlotte, I think there could be great appeal for Rubio. It’s not exactly a “big time market,” but Charlotte is well enough known in Europe, more so than Minnesota. The Charlotte Hornets were also very popular in Spain, and even though this is a different franchise, it’s still the same city/area. Now that LB is coach of the Bobcats, as well as being owned by MJ, I think it may be something that will interest Rubio. Remember folks, whatever team will land Rubio will instantly be raking in tons of cash with merchandising in Europe, particularly Spain.

I know there’s a lot of Rubio haters out there, most I think are a result of people’s inherent bias in European (or International, on a more broader sense) basketball players, which I think is a damn shame. I’m not saying Rubio is going to be the super awesome player some say he will be—-take in mind the kid is VERY, VERY young still——BUT, he will no doubt be a good player, a special one if you will.

He has great court vision, and perhaps surprisingly, I think operates on a higher intellectual level (in terms of bball skills and strategies) than most do, if you know what I mean.

I like and am open to the idea of him coming to CLT. I can dream, right?

Another Cap relief body?

Only if they take Diop with him…

no first option at PG…

Let’s get Hendo a basketball. He is dribble everywhere he goes until Summer League starts…

but like most of our banter…probably just another pipe dream

It would require dealing Nazr or Diop.

The thing about the whole ‘dont spend over the luxury’ thing… wasn’t that a Bob Johnson thing?

I know it’s unlikely MJs ownership group would put themselves in the top 16 payrolls, but you never know.

Philly wants to shed space… they’re the team who wants to deal so getting Yi and Humphries expiring gives them too much given they’re the one’s wanting a deal.

New Jersey doesn’t want to absorb that much money. It would cost $50 million to buyout Brand compared to $13 million to buyout Chandler, and you’re asking them to lose two expiring contracts?

Granted, they’re somewhat weaker at PG but that’s also assuming that Washington are 100% going to draft John Wall, which seems to be up in the air right now. If the Wizards buy out Arenas why wouldn’t the Nets offer him a deal?

You shorthand godawful… could they really get that much worse? Devin Harris didn’t exactly help them win.

Jersey wants a youth movement, Brand doesn’t give them that.
Philly wants a youth movement, they can buyout Boris for cheap.