Elton Brand unleashed: Philadelphia 76ers GM is ready to command the big offseason

Philadelphia 76ers general manager Elton Brand made clear in his end-of-season press conference he is not an organizational ‘yes’ man, and will employ his own ideas on making the Sixers a championship team after being sometimes ignored last summer.

If betting had been legal at the time, you would have made a lot of money if you put down some scratch that Elton Brand would be named the new general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers.

After finishing up a 17-year NBA career with the 10-win 76ers of 2015-16, the two-time All-Star and former No. 1 overall draft pick had taken some minor roles with the organization.

He started as a player development coach in December 2016 and moved on to be GM of the G-League Delaware Blue Coats. In the spring of 2018, then-GM Bryan Colangelo made Brand a vice president of basketball operations.

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As a new VP, Brand for the first time had a seat at the table when decisions were being made about the big club.  Before that, trading with the likes of the 695 Raptors was what Brand mainly did.

Of course, things went askew shortly after his appointment. Colangelo, and Eric Jr., were out, head coach Brett Brown was named interim GM and the rest of the management team went about its business of drafting, pursuing free agents and wondering what was up with Markelle Fultz, much like they were doing under Colangelo.

That is because when Colangelo resigned on June 7, 2018, it did not lead to any cleaning house of the Sixers executive offices. Everybody who had been hired by Big Collar remained, including Brand.

Of course, being recently promoted from the G-League and having been retired only a couple of years, Brand was far behind the rest of the execs in experience and had nowhere near a major voice in the team’s actions.

That changed on September 20, 2018, right before the season was to start, when Brand was named the GM. Managing partner Joshua Harris at the introductory press conference said only two people in the organization would report directly to him: Brown and Brand.

How much authority Brand had was openly questioned at the time. Was he just a public relations gimmick who would look good at press conferences or a real decision-maker.

Those questions were answered as Brand swung two trades that reverberated throughout the NBA, first for Jimmy Butler and then Tobias Harris, giving the Sixers what most considered the best starting five in the league outside of the Golden State Warriors. He also got rid of the Markelle Fultz distraction by trading him to Orlando for … not much.

Whether these moves eventually pan out or not, it certainly showed Brand was not some wet-behind-the-ears rookie taking things slow while he learned the ropes.

After the season ended on the four-doink shot by Kawhi Leonard, Brand held a press conference along with Joshua Harris and, if you read between the lines, said some very interesting things about his outlook on the coming offseason.

(Writer’s note: Please do not call this the ‘Most important offseason in franchise history’. That was suppose to be last year and their biggest addition was Wilson Chandler.)

The Sixers have just four players fully under contract: Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Jonah Bolden and Zhaire Smith, plus Shake Milton is on a two-way contract with the Blue Coats.

Brand has plenty of cap room but also plenty of players he will be needing to fill it with ,as Butler, Harris and J.J. Redick are all unrestricted free agents (once Butler declines his player option).

Just 48 hours after it was reported Brown would be fired if he did not make the NBA finals, Brand quashed that and talked very authoritatively on Embiid’s conditioning and Simmons’ lack of a jump shot and how the club will be involved with them.

But what was most telling came when Brand talked about this being his first off-season in charge. He reminded everyone he was hired after the initial roster was already set.

"“I look forward to going into free agency, going into the draft, as the GM for the first time,” Brand said. “… I look forward to this off-season. I know we are going to grow and get better.” (CBS)"

Brand also knows there are some messes to clean up  in restructuring the roster. The biggest fundamental flaw this past season was having five out of 15 roster spots taken up by centers — and four of them were completely worthless in the playoffs when it counted. The Sixers were outscored by 12 points by Toronto in Game 7 in the 2:49 that Embiid was not in the game.

“Definitely one of the top priorities outside of free agency, the top guys,” Brand said of their center problem.

Brand then followed the statement on the center’s with some telling words (emphasis mine):

"“I look forward to being the GM for the first time during free agency and seek to address certain needs; a backup center, certain depth, certain pieces I feel need to be in place.“Last year I was not afforded that opportunity. I had a voice in it, I didn’t speak up loud enough I guess.”"

Brand is basically saying he has a plan, not a collaborative group of five or six basketball staffers, but he has an idea on what he wants to do. Of course he will consult with the analytics and player personnel people, but the word ‘collaborate’ was not uttered when talking about the club’s future plans, after Harris had said last summer that was the kind of front office he wanted.

Additionally, Brand made it clear he was not always listened to by the senior brass last offseason. He was the newbie right out of the G-League while the others were entrenched, and Harris and Brown had a high opinion of the staff. Maybe he did shout ‘We have no backup for Joel‘, we don’t really know what exactly he disagreed with.

Brand said several times during the press conference: “Everyone gets evaluated, top to bottom, including me’, which could be interpreted as a warning shot that if he feels some person is not producing up to his standards, there could be a problem.

Everything is changing. Elton Brand has an idea of what kind of team he wants the 76ers to be next season, and he intends to have the loudest voice in the room.

Elton Brand is unleashed.