Duke in the NBA: Elton Brand named General Manager of 76ers

The former Duke Basketball legend, Elton Brand has been named as the General Manager of the young and talented Philadelphia 76ers.

Elton Brand was a household name in his years at Duke and in his early years in the NBA.

The No. 1 overall pick by the Chicago Bulls in the 1999 NBA Draft was well on his way to an illustrious playing career in the NBA, which will now be continued in a front office role with one of his former teams, the Philadelphia 76ers.

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Brand played in the City of Brotherly Love in 2016 before retiring from the NBA but he will now become the new General Manager of the young and talented 76ers.

After the absolute debacle with 76ers former GM Bryan Colangelo and his and his wife’s burner Twitter accounts, the 76ers brass knew they needed to take their time and make a good and informed decision on who would be the next GM of the franchise.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Brand would be named the 76ers GM on Tuesday night, in what was a bit of a surprise decision.

Philadelphia has hired Elton Brand as general manager, league sources tell ESPN. Brand will be elevated from VP of Basketball Operations. He made strong impression on ownership and Brett Brown in process, beating out several inside and outside candidates.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 18, 2018

Woj also reported that the Philadelphia 76ers will hold a press conference on Thursday to formally introduce Elton Brand as their new general manager.

Over his 17 years NBA career, Brand scored 16,827 points, 9,040 rebounds, and 2,184 assists with the Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, Atlanta Hawks, and Dallas Mavericks.

Brand was also the Naismith College Basketball player of the year in 1998-99, the ACC Player of the Year in 1999, and a consensus First Team All-American in 1999.

In his two seasons in Durham, Brand averaged 16.2 points and 8.9 rebounds before opting to leave Durham early for the NBA.

As Brand moved forward into a new chapter in his life, he will look to lead a franchise that has its eyes set on the Eastern Conference Championship with the departure of LeBron James from the Eastern Conference and the emergence of their young stars Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid.

Time will tell is Brand can continue to build this 76ers roster in hopes of one day bringing an NBA Championship back to Philadelphia.