Getty General Manager Elton Brand of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Elton Brand has been around basketball for a long time.
Before assuming the GM role with the Philadelphia 76ers, Brand was the number one overall pick in the 1999 NBA Draft.
Sixers GM Elton Brand just told me he wants to help the city of Philadelphia win a championship.
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.
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.
Elton Brand Becomes Sixers’ General Manager
Now in his second act in the NBA as the general manager of the Philadephia 76ers, Brand is charged with the task of making the right moves in guiding the Sixers in what many experts have projected could be an Eastern Conference Championship berth in the City of Brotherly Love.
Brand tells me has leaned on advice that he’s gotten since making that transition from player to coach. “I think the great advice was: ‘The team belongs to the city and the fans,’ Elton Brand told me this evening before the Sixers’ matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies.
“Do what you need to do to win a championship and bring this group; bring these fans a championship; whatever that takes. For me, that’s what it’s about. It’s not about, like I love my job, it’s not about the job. Like I want to bring this city a championship. So that was the advice for me. I think of it like that.”
The Philadelphia 76ers have hit a tough skid ahead of the NBA All-Star break and they’re looking to right the ship.
This past week, Philly faced a young Memphis Grizzlies team that is led by the duo of Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson, Jr.
The Sixers were able to take down the Chicago Bulls and now have a tough matchup on Tuesday when they host Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and the Los Angeles Clippers.