The Sixers get a chance to see the other free agent they pursued Saturday night in Atlanta. Josh Smith, a restricted free agent who the Sixers brought in for a visit at the beginning of the July free agency period, ended up staying with the Hawks after Atlanta matched the Grizzlies' five-year, $58 million offer sheet.
By that time, the Sixers had turned their attention to Elton Brand, an unrestricted free agent who agreed to a five-year, $82 million deal with the Sixers. That the Clippers didn't have an opportunity to match any offer was a factor in the Sixers' slowing their pursuit of Smith and picking up the pace with Brand. "We could've spent a lot of time (going after Smith) and not ended up with anything to show for our efforts," said Sixers president Ed Stefanski.
Brand is more of a traditional power forward with a traditional low-post game than the younger Smith, who is more athletic than Brand and finishes better on the break.
The Sixers (seventh) and Hawks (eighth) were the final two playoff teams in the Eastern Conference a year ago. The acquisition of Brand has some so-called experts putting the Sixers as high as second in the conference this year, with Atlanta also likely to be in the playoff mix.
SIXERS 116, KNICKS 87: The Sixers were much better defending against the pick-and-roll and man-to-man than they had been in the opening loss to the Raptors, which led to easy baskets against the defensively-challenged Knicks. The Sixers shot 59.1 percent after only hitting 34.5 percent in the opening loss to the Raptors, and limited New York to 32.7 percent. Philly had seven more points by the end of the third quarter (91) than they managed in the entire game against Toronto.
