Philadelphia 76ers are becoming Elton Brand's Culture Club

The Philadelphia 76ers always talked about how important defense and culture were to the team but general manager Elton Brand has made it a reality in less than a year in charge.

Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown used to emphasize that two things were important to him when evaluating players for his team: defense and culture.

While Brown has talked the talk, apparently general manager Elton Brand was listening as he has shown to be walking the walk.

Remember, this is the first offseason Brand has been in charge, he certainly does. Brand was named the GM in September 2018, long after the NBA Draft and main free agency period. He was part of the Sixers’ basketball operations but even he says that his opinion was not always listened to.

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"I had a voice in it, I didn’t speak up loud enough I guess.”"

During the season, Brand tried to patch the holes in the roster the best he could by upgrading the talent. Some might not have been culture fits (Jimmy Butler) and other new acquisitions were not top-notch on defense (Greg Monroe) but he did get the Sixers within a lucky shot of knocking off the eventual NBA champions.

With only four players having a full contract for the 2019-20 season, Brand — and certainly Brown encouraged it — saw a chance to remake the team into what he wanted.

If you think about all the major moves made since the end of the season: drafting Matisse Thybulle, adding Al Horford, Josh Richardson, Kyle O’Quinn; re-signing Tobias Harris, James Ennis and Mike Scott, moving Shake Milton (he of the 7-foot-1 wingspan) to an NBA contract and offering a max extension to Ben Simmons.

There might be different talent levels among the players but they all had the same two attributes:

Playing defense (some at an exceptional level) and also are of reputed high character. Some are really, really good guys.

Oh, and most of them are really tall for their position as an added bonus.

The Sixers were never a team with a lot of knuckleheads. You never had to worry about a player, say, bringing a gun to the locker room.

But to have a whole team of total team players, dedicated to its overall success, sure is a great culture to have in what is a long season. It certainly makes Brett Brown’s job easier as he tries to construct a championship squad.

Needing to improve the defense was a no-brainer. It seemed like every game some player on the other team was having a ‘career high’. They were not just having a good night, they literally were having the best shooting game of their life against the turnstile-like Sixer defenders.

The porous defense without Joel Embiid on the court proved fatal in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, as Toronto outscored the Sixers by a 12-point margin in the two minutes, 49 seconds he was not in the game.

Brand shored up the defense by drafting Thybulle, seen by many as the best defensive player in the entire draft and going after Horford, a great defensive player against Embiid as well as Giannis Antetokounmpo (which might come in handy if there is a Bucks-Sixers Eastern final).

Richardson is known as a very good defensive player and O’Quinn backs down to no one in the post.

Of course, Brand adds an exceptional perimeter defender simply by having a healthy Zhaire Smith available this season. As long as he can avoid the sesame seeds, Smith will be a boost to what had been a sieve-like perimeter defense for much of last season.

With no salary cap space left (Brand not yet at the Howie Roseman level when it comes to cap management), he might have to bend his preferences a bit to fill out the rest of the roster. Jamal Crawford, a defensive disaster, is continuing his almost two-year campaign to join the Sixers.

But all the moves being made after July 2 are basically acquiring practice fodder. If you are counting on your 13th thru 15th man for significant minutes you are not going to be contending for any championships.

Next. Sixers 2019 free agency tracker. dark

The core of this team is full of good guys dedicated to winning, who can play defense. Those are seemingly the basic requirements to enter Elton Brand’s Culture Club.

Philadelphia 76ers turning into Elton Brand’s Culture Club

By Stuart London | Jul 3, 2019

The Philadelphia 76ers always talked about how important defense and culture were to the team but general manager Elton Brand has made it a reality in less than a year in charge.