(Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
We are at the All-Star break, which is the unofficial, and technically not, halfway point of the season. However, it is a good time to look back and reflect on what has happened so far. For the Sixers, this year has certainly not lacked in storylines. The season has been filled with highs and lows. As a whole, you can’t help but be excited for where this team is heading in the future. The reason for that is the biggest surprise of the season: Elton Brand.
Brand is undoubtedly the team’s biggest surprise so far this season. A surprise bigger than what any player on the Sixers has done. Brand put his stamp on this team immediately. Instead of sitting on his assets, he went out and brought in Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris. These moves immediately made the Sixers legitimate contenders in the East. The trades also give the Sixers first dibs on Butler and Harris in the off-season. Brand has gotten universal appraise for these trades and will certainly look to improve the roster even more in the off-season.
Unfortunately, we must go from a great high to a great low. Brand has taken the NBA by storm in his first year as GM. The same could not be said for Markelle Fultz on the court. Fultz became far and away the biggest disappointment of the Sixers season. There was a lot of hype around Fultz and his revamped jump shot coming into to the season. It only took a month for him to regress once again. The Sixers had high expectations, but it was just not meant to be for him in Philly. The fact they were able to recoup a late first-rounder and a solid bench piece for him was a miracle.
Fultz took some shots at the Sixers on the way out the door. After the way the Sixers coddled him and protected him, it took a lot of nerve to do that. If he is on the court when the Magic come to Philly next month, I wouldn’t be expecting much in the way of cheers for him.
