Twenty years ago it was a foot and not a shoulder that spoiled a Sixers’ big man and gave reams of fodder to sporting press in Philadelphia.
Though the team had Charles Barkley rumbling into his prime and Julius Erving in his final season, the 1986-87 season ended with barely a whimper in the first round of the playoffs. Those Sixers were a doughnut team that was moving into a transitional period. There were a few decent seasons left and some short-lived playoff runs, but for the most part the glory days were gone.
Maybe it all started with one bad step.
Whatever it was, Jeff Ruland’s brittle foot was in the middle of it.
Ruland, of course, had the misfortune of getting injured before joining a team in Philadelphia. As a result, the fans and media didn't get a chance to see what he could do. In some sense, the same could be said for Danny Tartabull and Freddy Garcia in following years.
To be fair, it wasn’t Ruland’s fault. A first-round pick out of Iona in 1980, Ruland was hulking presence in the middle for the post-Wes Unseld/Elvin Hayes Washington Bullets. In his first four seasons with the Bullets, Ruland, now a coach with the Sixers, led the league in minutes once and rated in the top 10 in foul shots, rebounds and field-goal percentage. He went to an All-Star Game and had it not been for Buck Williams and Isiah Thomas, he might have been the NBA’s Rookie-of-the-Year in 1981.
But midway through his fourth season with the Bullets, Ruland broke his foot and played in just 37 games. The next season (1985-86), lingering foot and knee trouble limited Ruland to just 30 games for the Bullets before the big trade.
On draft day in June of 1986, the 76ers traded away the No. 1 overall pick in the draft (which was five-time All-Star Brad Daugherty) to Cleveland for Roy Hinson and then shipped away Moses Malone and Terry Catledge for Cliff Robinson and Ruland.
Actually, the Sixers got just Cliff Robinson in the Malone/Catledge trade because Ruland played just five games during the 1986-87 season before the injuries forced him to retire. Just like that and the bruising big man was washed up at 28.
Four years later Ruland attempted a comeback with the Sixers, but that lasted just 13 games before a bizarre Achilles injury outside the Boston Garden involving a luggage cart and a Celtics’ employee ended his return.
Apparently, Ruland just wasn’t meant to play for the Sixers.
Could history be repeating itself two decades later?
Man, the Sixers hope not.
“It’s a huge blow to the team,” coach Tony DiLeo understated.
Certainly the circumstances are different with All-Star Elton Brand than they were with Ruland. Brand will miss the rest of the 2008-09 season after getting through a bunch more games (29) than Ruland did two decades ago. Plus, Brand injured his shoulder with a hard fall to the hardwood. This is just the latest in injuries for Brand who missed nearly all of last season after having Achilles surgery.
Nevertheless, Brand and Ruland can get together to commiserate.
“It’s the most disappointed I’ve ever been in my career,” Brand said. “This was supposed to be special. This was supposed to be winning. This was supposed to be fun. I’m still not going to let them down. I know what it takes. I still have it inside me to do it.”
But ultimately, losing Brand is a bigger hit to the team than it was when Ruland went out. For one thing, Ruland wasn’t expected to be the main piece of the team when he arrived to replace Moses. Plus, Ruland played in a different era of the NBA where the economics weren’t as restricting. For his five games, Ruland got $860,000 – not a small chunk of change, but mere tip money in the modern NBA.
Meanwhile, Brand is not only the centerpiece of the revamped Sixers’ roster filled with up-and-comers, but he’s also an anchor on the Sixers’ salary cap for the next five seasons whether or not he plays again. That’s $13.7 million this season followed by steady raises to 2013 when Brand will be 34 for a cool, $80 million.
“I just wish I could do it right away,” Brand said of his upcoming shoulder surgery. “The fans, they still haven’t seen me play healthy yet, so it is disappointing.”
It’s too early to know if Brand’s time as a Sixer will mirror Ruland’s. Besides, sports medicine, training and rehabilitation has advanced light years since Ruland broke his foot in the mid-1980s.
“I’ve heard some people say, ‘Is he injury prone?’ Well, I guess I have to get the dictionary out,” general manager Ed Stefanski said. “From the replay, I don’t see. I’m prejudiced obviously, but for a guy to bring down an NBA player full force on his shoulder is not injury prone.”
Yes, that’s true. A hard fall in the heat of an NBA game doesn’t necessarily make a guy a perennial injury risk and it’s very unlikely that Brand’s career is anywhere close to being over.
But none of that helps the Sixers this year.