Brand is a guy that is a big questiom mark, and could potentially be a great bargain, or a big dissapointment. Here's my theory ..
He had an achile's injury, which, is usually an injury where the player doesn't come back nearly close to 100% in just one year.
You usually see a player coming back from an achille's operation show a noticeable loss of jumping ability, and mobility just one year removed, but, in year two usually you'll begin to see that player go to a higher level of ability ...
I think we'll see a better Elton Brand this coming season that we saw last year, the question is will he be able to get backl to wherre he was before the injury, or relatively close, or will he be more like he was last year, which was a shadow of his former self.
Thiis is where a GM having some stealth research can sometimes locate and find bargains that normally wouldn't be available.
Possibly knowing people that work out with Btand in the offseason, and getting informed opinions as to whether he's roudning into better form in his continued efforts to regain his past form after achille's surgery.
Taking on a player like Brand with his salary figure, and what he showed last year as far as reduced abilties compared to what he could do before the injury, is a big risk ...but, could be a calculated risk worth exploring ... the4 key is whether he's going to ascend to something approaching what we used to know he could do before injury.