Elton Brand Is Done For The Year

Well, I think you can file Elton Brand as a free agency bust for the Sixers. He was injured in December, came back for a bit, although he never appeared entirely healthy, and now it appears as if he is done for the year. Comcast SportsNet reports:

Brand is scheduled undergo season-ending surgery Monday to repair a torn labrum in the shoulder he dislocated Dec. 17 against Milwaukee. He is expected to need six months to recover.

The standout power forward underwent an MRI on Wednesday that showed no further damage to the shoulder. Thursday morning, Brand went to see orthopedic surgeon Dr. Craig Morgan, who performed his torn Achilles surgery in the summer of 2007.

After an examination of Brand’s MRI and discussion with Sixers team physician Dr. Jack McPhilemy, it was decided surgery was necessary. Dr. Morgan explained that since returning on Jan. 24, Brand was experiencing more pain, which limited what he could do on the court.

“Elton wanted to do whatever he could to get back on the court and initially elected to forgo surgery in order to help his teammates,” general manager Ed Stefanski said in a statement released by the team. “He worked as hard as he could over the past six weeks to return, however the scope the injury would not allow it.”

The rate of full recovery from the surgery – called the Bankart procedure – is 95-98 percent. Dr. Morgan, renowned for his work with professional athletes, performed this surgery on Speedy Claxton. Claxton suffered a torn labrum on opening night of the 2002 season and returned to play the final 30 games of the regular season and help the Spurs win the NBA championship

Somewhere, Bill Plashke is smiling...