Elton Brand reneging on a pre-arranged deal to return to the Clippers and bolting for the City of Brotherly Love is bordering on old news, but the discussion of whether or not this makes the Philadelphia 76ers a legitimate championship contender will be a topic of debate for the remainder of the summer. As of today, the 76ers are not a championship caliber team. From where I stand, they look like the third best team in the Atlantic Division behind the champs and the revamped Toronto Raptors and you could make an argument that they are sixth in the Eastern Conference behind the Magic, LeBrons and the Pistons. I may be reaching here, but I'm not sure they're even better then the Miami Heat with a fully healthy Dwayne Wade, Shawn Marion (assuming he stays on board) and Michael Beasley. Even the Wizards trio of Agent Zero, Antwan Jamison and Caron Butler is more appealing than Brand, Andre Iguodala and Andre Miller. I see the Sixers finishing anywhere between the four and seven seed and if you aren't a top three seed in the still-Leastern Conference, you can't possibly be labeled a championship contender.
There are many questions that need to be answered about Philadelphia before we fire up the bandwagon. First, the average age on the team is 25.7 years, meaning they are very young. Secondly, the youth on the Sixers is nothing to get too excited about. Willie Green, Louis Amundson, Jason Smith, Thaddeus Young, Marreese Speights and, my personal favorite, Shavlik Randolph are all 26 or younger. Who in that group is going to help win a title in the next year or two? Next take a look at a projected eight-man rotation for the regular season opener in November. Obviously you have Brand, Iguodala and Miller, then throw in Reggie Evans, Green, Sam Dalembert, Louis Williams and Jason Smith. Do any of those names scare you? Having three very good players is great but, as the Boston Celtics just demonstrated, you still need a solid supporting cast around them to win a championship. Right now, the Sixers don't have that. It's safe to assume the organization regrets their decision to trade sharpshooter Kyle Korver to the Jazz for nothing last season since they are sorely lacking perimeter shooting.
Lastly, uncertainty surrounds each member of the "Big 3". Brand is coming off of a serious Achilles injury that forced him to miss all but eight games in 2007-08 and will be 30 before the 2009 playoffs roll around. Miller is coming off the best season of his career, in which he averaged a career-high 17 points and seven assists. Unfortunately, like Brand, Miller is on the downside of his career (he will be 33 next March) so it can't be assumed that he will be good for those numbers again in '08-09. And that brings us to Andre Iguodala. A.I. II appeared to be on the verge of cementing himself as one of the top-tier young stars in the game after averaging 19.9 points on 46% shooting, 5.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.1 steals during a brilliant regular season. Then came the playoff series against Detroit. Iguodala looked lost in his first playoff run against the more experienced Pistons, averaging just 13.2 points on 33% shooting. A rising star shouldn't be shot down based on his first playoff series against a postseason juggernaut, but that showing undeniably raises a red flag. If the Sixers roll into the playoffs next April and Iguodala pulls another disappearing act, Philadelphia will fade right with him regardless of what seed they earn.
Philly is led by one of the leagues finest coaches in Maurice Cheeks and has three Brand-name players (lame pun, I know) to lean on this season. But will Brand stay healthy? Can Miller continue to play at the level of a borderline All-Star as he enters his mid-30's? Will Iguodala find his regular season mojo and translate that into playoff success? If the answer to those three questions is yes, then do they have enough help around them to make a serious run? Until the real games tip off in November, it will be hard to gauge whether or not the new "Big 3" will be merely a great marketing tool or a band of brothers that make the 76ers a contender again.
DTM
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