Brand out a month due to shoulder injury
What a week this has been for the Philadelphia 76ers and its fans. First, they fire they’re head coach Maurice Cheeks and then they lose their top free agent Elton Brand to a shoulder injury for a month. Team officials say the Sixers’ leading scorer has a fracture and tear in his right shoulder but will not need surgery.
Maybe everything that has happened is actually good (except for fantasy owners of Brand). The team is now 2-0 under interim head coach Tony DiLeo after going 9-14 under Mo Cheeks. With Brand out, they can go back to their running game that helped the team last year reach the playoffs.
Fantasy Analysis: Everyone who owns others Sixers players should benefit from this injury especially Thaddeus Young, Marreese Speights and Andre Iguodala. Sam Dalembert could also benefit from this as he had a hard time adjusting to playing with Brand in the lowpost. Iguodala should see and increase in points and in every category including TOs where he will be the focus of teams. It wouldn’t be as bad as before as the very effective Thaddeus Young will emerge as the team’s second scorer. Watch out for an increase in rebounds of both Dalembert and Speights.
I am high on Speights’ production in the rebounding department but I’m looking for more blocks from this guy. His percentages aren’t bad and it’s a good time to pick him up from waivers right now. Let’s see how the Sixers will play now that Brand is out for a month but I am very excited even if I drafted Brand in one of my leagues.
