Elton Brand had mentally committed to retiring this summer, but the opportunity to make a positive impact on the Sixers’ young roster intrigued him, leading to his return to the NBA, Brian Seltzer of NBA.com writes. “It’s surreal,” Brand said about being back in the league. “A lot of fun. Came in, not too many expectations on the court. I did OK. I feel good about that.” Speaking about his potential retirement, Brand told Seltzer, “This chapter was done. I had made peace with it. I was honored and very thankful for the opportunity to be an NBA basketball player, especially for so long to have that longevity. So now, being out here again, I’ll make the best of it. I’m shooting corner three’s, I’m handling the ball, I’m doing everything. This is unexpected, so I’m thankful for the opportunity.”
“His mind is A-plus, and his purpose and our collective understanding of why he’s here is A-plus,” said Brown, who is thrilled to have Brand on the roster, Seltzer adds. “He understands where he can have the most value. And it’s pretty cool to have somebody like that around, with that resume, and that clear understanding of how he can help us and me the most. I just feel like when he speaks, I can tell already, he’s calculated on when he’s going to talk, and he knows that silence isn’t a bad thing. I’m sure he’s going to choose his place accordingly, and purposefully. But it is very cool for me to know his history, and to have him back in the program.”
Here’s more from out of Philadelphia:
- The Sixers’ lack of quality point guards has hampered the offensive development of a number of the team’s younger players, something coach Brett Brown hopes the addition of Ish Smith can alleviate, writes Bob Cooney of The Philadelphia Daily News. “I think everybody benefits from good, stable point guard play,” Brown said. ”Because what happens is it’s such a pick-and-roll league that you can find perimeter people out of that through a point guard. It’s such a pace system that we run that you can find runners, shooters like that. I think that you can hit rollers, because of that. The point guard just connects the dots all over the place. All over the place and there’s probably no team that would resonate that opinion more than we do with what we’ve all been through.”
- Power forward Christian Wood has joined the Delaware 87ers, the Sixers’ D-League affiliate, after clearing waivers today, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor relays (via Twitter). The Sixers released Wood earlier this week to make room on the roster to ink Elton Brand.