Thursday Notes: Elson close to signing?

by Frank Madden on Aug 7, 2008 2:00 PM CDT in Daily Notes

Jorge Sierra at HoopsHype reports free agent big man Francisco Elson is "leaning" towards the Bucks, while also weighing offers from the Hawks and FC Barcelona. Especially with Chris Andersen and Kwame Brown now off the market, Elson's one of the few proven free agent big men still available. And with 13 men currently on the roster and only $2.06 million available under the luxury tax, the Bucks will need an affordable big like Elson to fill their need at PF/C.

The major concern is that while Elson was solid in 05/06 and 06/07, starting 41 and 54 games in Denver and San Antonio respectively, he suffered a major dropoff last year. His PER tumbled from 11.26 to just 6.84 while splitting time between San Antonio and the rebuilding Sonics. At the age of 32 he's not getting any better, so the Bucks would have to hope that Elson's 07/08 was more of a fluke than an indication of his imminent decline. As a mobile big man who can guard both big positions, Elson would provide cover at the 4/5 much like Brian Skinner did two years ago. And he would put the Bucks in the unique position of having both of the NBA's Dutch big men. We might have to start printing up some "Double Dutch" t-shirts.
Check out the Olympic hoops broadcast schedule. Coverage of Team USA's opener against China starts at 9:15 am CT on NBC, while Andrew Bogut and Australia open group play against Croatia at 7 am. You'll have to watch online to catch that one.
Nike has a pretty cool Marvin Gaye-inspired promo of Mike Redd and the 2008 edition of Team USA.

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