September 07, 2016
The Old School Chevy apparently isn’t ready to go back into the garage just yet.
In a move that comes as at least a minor surprise, the Sixers announced on Wednesday that they have brought back free agent forward Elton Brand. Yahoo Sports first reported the one-year deal. The move also brings the Sixers back to the offseason roster limit of 20 players.
Signed after the New Year last season to provide the young, struggling Sixers with a veteran presence, Brand didn’t play for two months and then appeared in 17 games, helping the team reach the finish line of a miserable season. In 13.2 minutes per game, the 37-year-old forward admirably averaged 4.1 points and 3.7 rebounds per game while playing decent defensively.
The move comes as a surprise because, as we’ve talked about ad nauseam for the entire summer, the calculus has changed from last season. More specifically, the Sixers’ frontcourt is now extremely crowded. Brand doesn’t figure to receive any minutes with the likes of Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Dario Saric, Nerlens Noel, and Jahlil Okafor on the roster. When Brand was playing at the end of the 2015-16 season, Noel was the only player from that group suiting up for the Sixers.
There are also younger players on great contracts that have flashed potential (Jerami Grant, Richaun Holmes) behind them on the depth chart.
Especially with the addition of veteran players in the backcourt and on the wing, it doesn’t seem like the Sixers are in desperate need of a veteran presence. But with gobs of cap space, the front office has decided that it was at least worth bringing Brand to training camp at Stockton College in a few weeks.
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