Cassell confident in Brand

The pick-and-roll play was key in All-Star power forward Elton Brand’s success last season.

Working well with point guard Sam Cassell, Brand averaged a career-high 24.7 points and was selected second-team All-NBA. The Brand-Cassell two-man game also produced points that helped the Clippers down the stretch in many close victories.

The Clippers, however, haven’t relied on pick-and-roll plays as much as they did last season, Western Conference scouts covering the team said. In the process, Brand’s production has dropped.

Through the Clippers’ first four games, Brand twice failed to score in double figures. He took 22 shots from the field (making 13) and scored 28 points in the season-opening loss to the Phoenix Suns but had fewer than 11 field-goal attempts in the next three games.

Brand missed six of eight shots and had only eight points and four rebounds in Monday’s victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. The seven-year veteran is still the No. 1 option on offense, but it appears some things have changed.

After his heavy workload last season and in the summer with the United States national team, Brand has not been as active on offense, the scouts said, and opponents are double-teaming Brand more than they did at the outset of last season.

“I’m not worried about Elton, he’s going to be fine, we just have to keep getting him the ball,” Cassell said. “He’s going to get his shots and he’s going to make them. That’s what Elton does.”

It also seems the Clippers’ depth is another factor in the flow of the offense. Before Wednesday, the Clippers had six players averaging in double figures, led by Cassell at 22.8 points.

The off-season addition of forward Tim Thomas, the continued development of center Chris Kaman and swingman Quinton Ross and Corey Maggette’s acceptance of the sixth-man role is expected to affect the distribution of shots this season.

“It’s like I said last season, Elton Brand is our horse, and we’re only going to go as far as he’s going to take us,” Cassell said. “They’re showing ‘the Horse’ a lot of respect with the double-teams, but we’ve got other guys on this team who can score.

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Backup forward Aaron Williams sat out most of the exhibition season and has not played to this point because of a sore lower back.

“He’s probably going to be out at least until next week,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

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As part of the Clippers’ Thanksgiving event Nov. 20, Dunleavy, assistant coaches and players are scheduled to distribute turkeys, food baskets, clothing and books to 300 families at St. Joseph Center in Santa Monica.

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