Philadelphia 76ers GM, Elton Brand is the epitome of Lil Duval’s hit song.
He’s living his best life!
Brand made the trade to bring Jimmy Butler to The City of Brotherly Love at the beginning of the NBA season.
In his second act, Brand upgraded the Philadelphia 76ers at the NBA’s Trade Deadline last month by adding Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic and Mike Scott to their roster.
The Philadelphia 76ers are competing for an NBA championship and their starting five is scary: Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons Tobias and Jimmy Butler are nightmares for opposing teams!
Before assuming the GM role with the Philadelphia 76ers, Brand was the number 1 overall pick in the 1999 NBA Draft. Crowned with the NBA’s co-Rookie of the Year Award in 2000, Brand, the Duke product and two-time NBA All Star posted a healthy 15.9 points and 8.5 rebounds per game during his 17 year NBA career.
His time with the Los Angeles Clippers was memorable.
Elton Brand will provide a veteran voice in the locker room Getty)
Coached by Alvin Gentry, that young Clippers squad had a glut of young talent like Lamar Odom, Darius Miles, Eric Piatkowski and Quentin Richardson.
For those keeping score at home: In 2002, Brand became the first Clipper since Danny Manning (in 1994) to be selected to the All-Star team.
During the 2006 NBA season, Brand posted career-highs in points per game with 24.7 and field-goal percentage at 52.7% per contest.
The Peekskill, NY native led the Clippers to a 47–35 record that year.
Worth noting: Brand led the Clips to their then-best record in team history, which was good enough for the sixth seed in the NBA’s Western Conference that year.
EB was selected to the 2006 NBA All-Star Game and was considered as a strong candidate for the 2006 NBA MVP.
Million Dollar question: Would one think that Brand would seamlessly transition from NBA stud to front office wiz that fast?
Depends on who you ask!
“No, I didn’t see that in him, he evolved into that,” Darius Miles, Brand’s ex-Clippers teammate told me on the Scoop B Radio Podcast.
“I’m proud of him. I’m proud of him and his family. You know, he did the work, the hard work, he’s in the office, he’s really committed to their organization and they gave him opportunity to shine and, you know, we’re rooting for him. I can say that back then, I didn’t see that in him, but you know, people evolve, people grow, and i’m glad he grew into something that he can get an opportunity to shine in this league, cause a lot of people don’t get that opportunity that he’s getting, so I hope he takes full advantage of it.”
Well said and honest!
“Yeah, I would agree,” Quentin Richardson, Brand’s ex Clippers teammate told me on the Scoop B Radio Podcast.
Richardson and D-Miles co-host their Knuckleheads Podcast which is produced by The Players Tribune.
“I mean, I don’t think a lot of us, I don’t think he thought himself as that back then when we were young and everybody’s playing ball and doing their thing,” said Richardson.
“But looking back on it, he’s definitely somebody, when I look back and think about the way he moves, the way he handles himself and things like that, he’s somebody who could be moved into this type of situation and doing well.”
Q-Rich is impressed with Brand’s glow up.
“Elton’s somebody who’s always been smart and intelligent and conducted himself in a professional manner, he told Scoop B Radio.
For those wondering what the heck a “glow up” is, just look at his rise within an NBA front office.
He trusted the process and earned it! “Wore suits and things like that, pretty much his whole career and, you know, presenting himself in a professional manner,” said Richardson.
“So I think he set himself up throughout his career to be able to have his picking, because I think he could have did television or anything that he wanted to do because he handles himself the right way and probably set himself with great relationships as well.”