On the Beat: Sixers, Brand Eager to Reunite

MEMPHIS, TN – It was a joke from Brett Brown, no doubt about it.What are your hopes for Elton Brand in his new role with the team, the head coach was asked Tuesday, shortly before the 76ers tipped off against the Memphis Grizzlies.”I was hoping I could get 12 minutes, and six fouls,” Brown deadpanned, without skipping a beat.Even under the hardest of hardships, there was no way that was going to happen. Brand is officially retired from playing.Still, given the circumstances Tuesday, which were that the Sixers had only nine players on the active roster, you had to wonder if there was some wishful thinking, even just a tiny bit, on Brown's part. Earlier Tuesday morning, the Sixers named Brand a player development consultant for the organization. The former number one pick appeared in over 260 games between two stints with the team, and announced his intent to close the books on his stellar 17-year career back on October 20th. He was formally waived a few days later, after spending all of the preseason with the Sixers.Brand, on the heels of Tuesday's news, wasted little time getting started, meeting up with the Sixers in Memphis for the first leg of their current three-game road trip. Following a few weeks of valued time at home with his wife, Sahara, and their two young children, the 37-year old was eager to begin the next phase of his professional life. Ultimately, Brand felt a draw to stay connected to a sport, and a franchise, that had given him so much. “It was pulling me some,” Brand said Tuesday at FedEx Forum. “My kids, and my wife, and family, that was the ultimate pull, so it was hard to even go on this trip. They're like, Daddy, when are you coming back? “It's a tough, tough tandem to kind of manage, but I love basketball, love the team, and it was an opportunity that I had to take.”In announcing Brand's hiring Tuesday, the Sixers indicated that the long-time power forward's responsibilities will be all-encompassing. His primary focus will be to assist members of the club's young roster, working on directing their growth both personally and professionally. “The job entails just being available for players, what their needs are on the court, off the court, if any,” explained Brand.His duties, however, sounded as if they'll also cross over into other areas of the Sixers' basketball operations department, which is overseen by team president Bryan Colangelo. “I'm looking forward to that,” Brand said. Issuing a statement in the team's press release Tuesday, Colangelo made clear that the intangibles Brand steadily exhibited in his playing days made the Duke product an ideal fit for a mentorship-heavy position.”We are extremely excited to bring Elton Brand back into the organization where he will be a valuable resource to our young and developing team,” Colangelo said. “Elton's leadership and character…align perfectly with our vision, direction and culture of this basketball team, coaching staff and management group.”Brown echoed these sentiments Tuesday afternoon, when discussing the decision to bring Brand back on board.”I just really enjoy having him around, very fond of him,” said Brown, who coached Brand in 17 games over the final four months of last season, and during this year's training camp and preseason as well.”I've got a lot of respect for his history, albeit brief the times that I have spent with him, given our situation – trying to hold a locker room together, trying to educate young guys. It's very sort of expedited and real in relation to things that matter in ways that I can ask for him to help, and ways he truly can contribute.”Now, taking stock of the Sixers' roster, the youngest in the league, whom do you think would stand to benefit from having an ex-player of Brand's esteemed ilk around?Presumably, everyone, but certainly the likes of Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel, and Richaun Holmes. All four are big men between the ages of 20 and 23 years old, who have also logged no more than two full playing seasons in the NBA. This facet of the new gig sounded as if it was especially appealing to Brand. The two-time All-Star credited former Chicago Bull Dickey Simpkins, the late Sean Rookies (a former Sixers assistant), and one-time Sixer Tony Battie for serving as some of the more supportive influences he came across during his time in the NBA.”They weren't competing with you,” Brand said of veterans such as the ones referenced above.  “They didn't care what kind of car you drove. They just wanted to see you succeed as a young guy. You really need that in the league.”And, Brown believes, particularly in the context of the Sixers' center stable. He feels that Brand's general pedigree, plus his recent stint with the Sixers, will have a positive impact on this year's leading rookie scorer and rebounder. An “immediate passport” to Embiid's respect is what Brown thinks Brand has.”Sometimes,” Brown said, “if a veteran's got something to say, you certainly listen. The fact that Elton has been with us, that Joel feels comfortable with and has a heck of a story to tell himself, makes that message, I think, a lot more genuine. “I think that Joel is fortunate to have somebody like Elton, and it's one of the reasons that we've hired him and wanted him a part of our program.””He's a guy that would stay on us to be professional, do the things we go to do,” said Holmes, who became a father last year. He said Brand gave him some useful tips.  “Just having him around is just going to be great for the locker room.” As for whether Brand still has enough left in the tank to occasionally get on a court and, at the very least, work out with some of the players whose character he'll now be tasked molding and shaping, he didn't rule out the possibility.”I'm still in 'cool-dad fit' shape,” Brand said with confidence. But…”If I had to bang, I think I would use a blocking pad. I can't drive with a broken arm.”