I didn't see this coming at all. I just figured he would re sign with the Clippers.

Brand ready to trade coasts - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

Birdman what do you think of this deal?

this is a stunner to me too. sixers can be a legit team if he stays healthy.

meanwhile maggette just bolted for golden state, where i could see him being extremely dangerous in that system. the clippers just went from darlings to being awful.

Davis must be real happy now haha

I really like the deal assuming Brand is healthy and motivated. Keep in mind, he only played about 10 games last year coming off the achilles injury. It looked like he returned to form a bit at the end of the year, but with memories of Chris Webber still fresh in everyone's minds theres reason to be a tad paranoid.

But lets assume he is healthy - this signing pushes the Sixers into immediate contention in the Eastern Conference. The Sixers desperately needed a Power Forward and now they have one of the best in the league. As an added bonus, the Sixers are now much more likely to keep Andre Miller long term since he and Brand are former teammates from LA. Plus Miller seemed to hint that he'd be more inclined to stay with the team depending on what they did this off-season. So they are able to keep Miller now long term and ALSO keep Iguodala by signing him over the cap - which you're allowed to do in the NBA.

Starting roster should look something like this:

PG: Andre Miller
SG: Andre Iguodala
SF: Thaddeus Young
PF: Elton Brand
C: Samuel Dalembert

In an Eastern conference without a lot of top tier teams that is a very intimidating lineup. Quite frankly, I'm psyched.

When you look at an aging Celtics team that is losing Brown, Cassell and possibly Posey as well... a Pistons team that is going to get blown up in all likelihood... an Orlando team that didn't prove anything more last year in the playoffs than Philly (and didn't add anything)... and a Wizards team / Cavaliers team that didn't do anything either. You have to consider the Sixers a legitimate team to make a run at the Eastern Conference title.