Bad Shoulders Shutting Down Players

Shoulder injuries seem to be the thing this year.  

On that note, let's look at the two teams who have most recently been affected; the Philadelphia 76ers and the Orlando Magic.

It was recently reported that Elton Brand will undergo season ending surgery to repair a torn right labrum in his shoulder.  Brand, the major offseason acquisition of a young playoff team that took a loaded Detroit to 6 games, had struggled all season to really fit into the system of the younger team, it showed both in the Sixers' win-loss column: 23-24, as well as his own stats: 13.8 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 1.3 apg, 0.6 spg, 1.6 bpg on 44.7% FG shooting and 67.6% FT shooting.  As a sort of context on the sort of season he's having, these are career lows in points, assists, FG%, and FT%.  Additionally, he's having a career low number of free throws attemtped per game as well (he's only getting to the line 3.7 times per game, his career average is 6.4).  To say it's been disappointing would be something of an understatement, we're talking about a career 20-10 guy.  Ok, so maybe he's been injured a lot, I mean, he's already missed 18 of the 47 games that the team has played already, but honestly he just doesn't fit the team.  Need evidence?  The Sixers are 10-9 when he's been out, meaning they've been 13-16 when he's in.  While Brand was out the Sixers also managed to go on a nice little 7 game winning streak, including wins over Houston, Portland, and San Antonio.  Longest streak while he was in; a three game streak against Toronto, Indiana, and Oklahoma City.  

Let me get this straight first, I'm not writing this piece to knock on Brand, but honestly, his addition in the off-season hasn't made this team better as expected.  Sure, maybe people (including myself) had overhyped this team, but overall the whole team hasn't really been itself with Brand there.  This is a running team, one that excels in transition, and Brand just isn't that kind of player.  Now that Brand is shutting it down for the season, it's hard to say that Philadelphia GM Ed Stefanski didn't just jump at a big name and pull the trigger without doing enough research.  Hindsight I suppose is always 20/20, and certainly Brand was expected to be the inside offensive prescence that the 76ers seemed to lack in their playoff berth last season.  The 76ers are still young and definitely can still move forward, but the question is, was Brand worth the money?  I'd say in another system sure, but in the 76ers system?  Probably not.  

I'm sure Ed Stefanski wants to save some face, but honestly, I have a proposal, that I would think about long and hard.  It's quick, it's easy, it's simple; Elton Brand for Amar'e Stoudemire.  Since the Suns have begun to slow down their offense and siphon all of it through Shaq, the core of D'Antoni's premier run-and-gun offense (Steve Nash and Amar'e Stoudemire) have just looked lost on offense.  They don't know what's going on, Porter doesn't know what's going on, and Shaq is just yelling at everyone, because it's always everyone except Shaq's fault.  Premier Suns blogger Ben York suggests that perhaps Amar'e is the wrong foundation for the Suns to build around.  Granted, I think Brand's history of injury, added to the fact that he's done for the season (which is barely halfway through), kind of puts a damper in my idea.  Nonetheless, it makes sense.  Amar'e is a run-and-gun big, the inside run-and-gun presence that would fit perfectly with the 76ers' most comfortable style of play.  Brand on the otherhand, is better suited for a half-court set (his career bests coming from when he was playing for Mike Dunleavy Sr., the half-court tyrant), and would be a major inside presence that I think could play off of Shaq.  Of course, that's just me speculating, but it just looks like it makes sense.  Only problem, for this to work, Suns are basically going to have to aim for next year, and hope Shaq has another season left.

Moving south to Disney World, as you've no doubt heard, Jameer Nelson has gone down also with a torn right labrum.  While he's thinking about coming back this season, Otis Smith has already addressed the issue by trading for Tyronne Lue.  Ben Q from Third Quarter Collapse, has surmised that this probably means Nelson is shutting down for the season.  I think there was a lot of speculation as to what the Magic were going to do, and therefore, a lot of hype, so needless to say, everyone was a little disappointed when it was only Tyronne Lue.  Lue is experienced, but I don't really see him as much beyond a backup for Anthony Johnson, who, is the backup for Jameer Nelson.  Everyone was getting a little crazy, throwing up names like Leandro Barbosa, Earl Watson, Jamaal Tinsley, Stephon Marbury, etc...  Others did their research and provided the names of several D-Leaguers that could make an impact, most noteably Will Conroy.  

However, as Ben Q states, and as I can now see, after taking a quick step back, Tyronne Lue for Keith Bogans and cash makes a little bit of sense.  Lue, like Bogans is expiring, and provides depth at an already thin PG position (especially since Mike Wilks went down for the season).  No one's really sure whether or not Hedo Turkoglu will opt out or exercise his player option, but he's definitely been an integral part in the success of the Magic in the past two seasons.  It's hard to say whether or not Turk will try to land a bigger contract, as he's turning 30 and likely will want more security, which may be entirely out of the reach of the Magic's budget, with Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis, and Jameer Nelson tied up for long term.  I've always been kind of a proponent of trading Turkoglu away for a solid rebounding PF, maybe a bigger name or someone with more upside or something, but I wouldn't be surprised if Ben Q is right in that resigning Hedo is a major priority this season.  Names of bigs I've tossed around have been wide and varied, ranging from David Lee to Lamar Odom.  

Regardless, I think it's safe to say that any hopes for the Finals for the Magic have been kind of dashed.  It's still possible, as anything in this league is, but it'll be hard without Nelson.  Should he shut down now, he has a better chance of making it back early next season, should he rehab and then get surgery, recovery could linger well into the start of next season.  Hard to say...  The team definitely looks solid for years to come, and still just one or two pieces away from eliteness I think, but we'll see.