Mobile Menu
HEADLINES

Elton Brand

Sixers To Hire Elton Brand As Player Development Consultant

December 6th, 2016 at 8:51am CST by Luke Adams

The Sixers have reached an agreement to add Elton Brand to their basketball operations department, the team announced today in a press release. According to the announcement, Brand will serve as a player development consultant for the franchise, and will be “heavily involved in assisting the players in every facet of their on- and off-court development.”

“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,” Sixers president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo said in a statement. “Elton’s leadership and character displayed throughout his playing career as a player align perfectly with our vision, direction and culture of this basketball team, coaching staff and management group.”

Brand, who announced his retirement this fall, originally appeared poised to snag one of the Sixers’ 15 regular-season roster spots. In that role, he likely would’ve served primarily as a mentor who didn’t see a whole lot of playing time, so by hiring him in a player development role, Philadelphia keeps Brand in the fold without having him on the active roster.

[RELATED: Elton Brand announces retirement]

The No. 1 overall pick by the Bulls in the 1999 draft, Brand averaged over 20 points per game in his rookie season, then reached that mark in five more seasons over the course of his career. A two-time All-Star with the Clippers, Brand spent time in Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Atlanta during his 17-year career, finishing with averages of 15.9 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 2.1 APG, and 1.7 BPG in 1,058 total regular season contests.

Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote back in October that the Sixers had approached Brand about the possibility of a front office job, adding that the longtime NBA big man hadn’t ruled out the possibility at that time.

Retweet 6 Share 0 Send via email0

Sixers Notes: Embiid, Brand, Rodriguez

October 23rd, 2016 at 4:49pm CST by Will Joseph

The final game of the preseason Friday was the first time Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor appeared in the same game for the Sixers, and while coach Brett Brown is open to the idea of using both simultaneously, it will likely take time for that to happen, Brian Seltzer of NBA.com writes. The two big men have often been subject of trade rumors because they present a surplus of the same thing. The two players are also coming off of injuries and their limitations are the reason why they likely won’t be able to share the court early on, Seltzer writes.

Here is more out of Philadelphia:

  • The Sixers have approached Elton Brand about accepting a front-office position and he has not ruled out the possibility of taking the job, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. It was a formality move when the Sixers announced they waived Brand Sunday because he had already announced his retirement.
  • The team has yet to decide on a starting point guard for the season opener, but Sergio Rodriguez was in action with the starting unit during practice, Pompey tweets.
  • With Rodriguez the likely starter and with a few notable injuries, the Sixers are reportedly interested in acquiring guard Tyus Jones, but Pompey writes in a separate story that the veteran is a backup at best and would not necessarily solve Philadelphia’s issues.
Retweet 4 Share 0 Send via email0

Elton Brand Announces Retirement

October 23rd, 2016 at 9:03am CST by Luke Adams

SUNDAY, 9:03am: The Sixers have released Brand, tweets Derek Bodner of PhillyMag.

THURSDAY, 12:14pm: After signing a new contract with the Sixers during the offseason, Elton Brand appeared ready to extend his NBA career at least one more year. However, the former first overall pick changed his course, announcing today that he’ll be retiring from the game (Twitter link via Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly.com).Elton Brand vertical

“After 17 years of playing the game that I love – and it’s been great to me – I’m officially retiring,” Brand told reporters today.

Brand previously announced his retirement from the NBA back in 2015, but decided to make a comeback with the Sixers during the 2015/16 season. When he made his announcement today, he asserted that his retirement is “for real this time.”

The No. 1 overall pick by the Bulls in the 1999 draft, Brand averaged over 20 points per game in his rookie season, then reached that mark in five more seasons over the course of his career. A two-time All-Star with the Clippers, Brand spent time in Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Atlanta during his 17-year career, finishing with averages of 15.9 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 2.1 APG, and 1.7 BPG in 1,058 total regular season contests.

Brand’s minimum-salary contract with the Sixers for the 2016/17 season was partially guaranteed for $1MM, and he’ll likely receive that money. Philadelphia remains well below the salary floor, so there’s little reason for the club to quibble over that payout, particularly if the two sides intend to continue their relationship into the next phase of Brand’s career.

As Camerato tweets, Brand said today that he’ll take some time off before deciding on what his next step will be. Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link) had speculated earlier today, prior to Brand’s announcement, that a role in the 76ers’ front office could be in the big man’s future.

With Brand no longer in the mix as a player, the Sixers will have one less decision to make as they cut down their roster to 15 players for the regular season. The team currently has 11 players on guaranteed salaries, with eight (plus Brand) on non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed deals.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Retweet 8 Share 0 Send via email0

Atlantic Notes: Pierce, Rose, Jennings, Sixers

October 12th, 2016 at 6:59pm CST by Luke Adams

Paul Pierce confirmed last month that 2016/17 will be his final NBA season, writing in a piece for The Players’ Tribune that he intends to retire next year. Pierce’s story for The Players’ Tribune didn’t mention how exactly he plans to go out, but in in a conversation today on SiriusXM NBA Radio, Pierce announced that he’ll retire as a member of the Celtics (Twitter link via Justine Termine of SiriusXM).

That decision comes as no real surprise — Pierce has played for a few different teams in recent years, but spent 15 seasons in Boston, winning a championship with the Celtics and making 10 All-Star appearances as a member of the franchise. He figures to join the team one last time during the 2017 offseason when he signs a one-day ceremonial contract to announce his retirement.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

  • According to various reporters, including Nancy Dillon of The New York Daily News (Twitter link), the judge in Derrick Rose‘s civil trial denied motions from the defense to dismiss the case or rule it a mistrial. The trial will continue this week, and Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek said today that Rose won’t rejoin the club until it wraps up, per Marc Berman of The New York Post (Twitter link).
  • Carmelo Anthony feels like the Knicks got a “steal” in free agency by landing Brandon Jennings, who still believes he should have been drafted by the franchise seven years ago. Berman has the quotes and the details in a piece for the Post.
  • Derek Bodner of PhillyMag.com examines the battle for the Sixers‘ final roster spot, noting that injuries to Nik Stauskas and Brandon Paul have muddied the waters in that competition. Philadelphia technically only has 11 players on fully guaranteed contracts, but Bodner views T.J. McConnell, Jerami Grant, and Elton Brand as near-locks.
Retweet 3 Share 0 Send via email0

Players Who Can Veto Trades

October 4th, 2016 at 10:14am CST by Luke Adams

No-trade clauses are rare in the NBA, and they became even rarer this offseason, when several players with those clauses in their contracts either called it a career or signed new deals. Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett, who all opted for retirement, had no-trade clauses last season, and so did Dwyane Wade, who doesn’t have the same protection on his new contract with the Bulls.

Nonethless, while the list of players with explicit no-trade clauses may be dwindling, there are still several players each year who have the ability to veto trades. A player who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year contract – or a two-year contract with an option clause – is given no-trade protection, and so is a player who signs an offer sheet and has that offer matched by his previous team. Players who accept qualifying offers after their rookie deals expire can also block deals, though no restricted free agents signed their QOs this year.

Taking into account that list of criteria, here are the players who must give their consent if their teams want to trade them during the 2016/17 league year:

No-trade clauses

Players whose offer sheets were matched

Players accepting qualifying offers

  • None

Players re-signing for one year (or two years including an option)

Information from Basketball Insiders and Yahoo! Sports was used in the creation of this post.

Retweet 12 Share 0 Send via email0

Contract Details: Brand, Rockets, Thunder, Pacers

September 30th, 2016 at 8:48am CST by Luke Adams

With training camps underway, teams have now officially finalized the contract agreements with various camp invitees that had been reported over the past several weeks, meaning we have plenty of contract details to round up. As usual, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders has been busy reporting those details, updating his salary pages for teams around the NBA.

Because we have so many updates to pass along from Pincus, we’ll divide them up by players who received some guaranteed money from their teams, and those who didn’t. All of the links below point to the Basketball Insiders team salary pages, so be sure to click through for additional information.

Here are the latest salary updates from across the league, via Pincus:

Players receiving guaranteed money:

These players aren’t necessarily assured of regular-season roster spots. In fact, many of them likely received guarantees as an incentive to accept a D-League assignment. Still, for some players, larger guarantees should increase their odds of making 15-man rosters.

  • Thomas Walkup (Bulls): One year, minimum salary. $69.5K guaranteed.
  • Keith Benson (Heat): Two years, minimum salary. $75K guaranteed.
  • Henry Sims (Jazz): One year, minimum salary. $75K guaranteed.
  • Alex Poythress (Pacers): One year, minimum salary. $35,381 guaranteed.
  • Kevin Seraphin (Pacers): Two years, $3.681MM. First year ($1.8MM) guaranteed.
  • Julyan Stone (Pacers): One year, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
  • Gary Payton II (Rockets): Two years, minimum salary. First year ($543,471) guaranteed.
  • Isaiah Taylor (Rockets): Two years, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
  • Kyle Wiltjer (Rockets): Two years, minimum salary. $275K guaranteed.
  • Cat Barber (Sixers): One year, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
  • Elton Brand (Sixers): One year, minimum salary. $1MM guaranteed.
  • Derrick Jones (Suns): Three years, minimum salary. $42.5K guaranteed.
  • Alex Caruso (Thunder): One year, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
  • Kaleb Tarczewski (Thunder): One year, minimum salary. $75K guaranteed.
  • Chris Wright (Thunder): One year, minimum salary. $100K guaranteed.

Players receiving no guaranteed money:

The following players all signed one-year, minimum salary contracts with no guaranteed money. Many of these deals are “summer contracts,” which won’t count against a team’s cap unless the player earns a spot on the 15-man roster.

Retweet 17 Share 0 Send via email0

Elton Brand Likely To Make Sixers’ Roster?

September 23rd, 2016 at 1:35pm CST by Luke Adams

Elton Brand signed a one-year contract with the Sixers earlier this month, but that deal is non-guaranteed and Brand is part of a crowded frontcourt in Philadelphia. Still, the former first overall pick is a good bet to make the Sixers’ 15-man roster, according to Jake Fischer of Liberty Ballers, who tweets that the club appears poised to hang on to Brand beyond training camp.

Brand, 37, signed with the Sixers last January and appeared in 17 games for the team the rest of the way, averaging 4.1 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and 1.1 APG in 13.2 minutes per contest. When Brand first joined the team, he wrote a piece for The Cauldron suggesting that he believed his “experience and wisdom” could help Jahlil Okafor and other young players on Philadelphia’s roster. Presumably, he aims to fill that veteran leadership role once again, particularly with Carl Landry no longer in the mix.

However, Brand’s ongoing veteran presence on the Sixers’ roster might cost the team one of its young prospects. With only 11 guaranteed salaries on its books, Philadelphia won’t face any financial ramifications for keeping Brand, but it will leave just three open roster spots for the club’s other eight non-guaranteed players. That group includes Robert Covington, Hollis Thompson, Jerami Grant, T.J. McConnell, James Webb, Brandon Paul, Shawn Long, and Cat Barber.

If the Sixers decide to keep Brand and want to retain more than three of those non-guaranteed players, it may spell trouble for someone like Nik Stauskas. The former King has a guaranteed salary worth nearly $3MM for 2016/17, but wasn’t great during his first year in Philadelphia — it’s not clear if he’s part of the club’s long-term plans.

Retweet 5 Share 0 Send via email0

Sixers Sign Elton Brand To One-Year Deal

September 7th, 2016 at 2:48pm CST by Luke Adams

2:48pm: Brand’s one-year deal is non-guaranteed, according to Jessica Camerato of CSN Philly (via Twitter).

2:29pm: Former first overall pick Elton Brand isn’t ready to call it a career quite yet. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, Brand will return to Philadelphia for the 2016/17 season, having signed a one-year contract with the Sixers. The team has since confirmed the signing in a press release.Elton Brand vertical

Financial terms of the deal aren’t yet known. Philadelphia has no shortage of cap room, so the club could have lured Brand out of potential retirement by offering more than the minimum after he expressed back in April that he didn’t expect to keep playing. Still, a minimum-salary contract appears likely.

[RELATED: Salary Cap Snapshot: Philadelphia 76ers]

Brand, 37, signed with the Sixers last January and appeared in 17 games for the team the rest of the way, averaging 4.1 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and 1.1 APG in 13.2 minutes per contest. When Brand first joined the team, he wrote a piece for The Cauldron suggesting that he believed his “experience and wisdom” could help Jahlil Okafor and other young players on Philadelphia’s roster. Presumably, he’s returning to fill that veteran leadership role once again.

Although the Sixers have a crowded frontcourt, Brand figures to ostensibly take Carl Landry‘s place on the roster. Landry was expected to the veteran presence for a group of frontcourt players that includes Okafor, Joel Embiid, Nerlens Noel, Ben Simmons, and Dario Saric. However, Landry wanted the opportunity to earn more playing time, so Philadelphia granted him his release. In Brand, the Sixers have an experienced big man who won’t expect or demand significant minutes.

The 76ers, who had been carrying the maximum allowable 20 players, opened up two roster spots when they cut Landry and Tibor Pleiss, but have since filled those openings by signing Brand and Cat Barber. Not counting Barber and Brand, since the exact details of their deals haven’t yet been reported, Philadelphia has 11 guaranteed salaries on its books, plus seven non-guaranteed or partially-guaranteed contracts.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Retweet 6 Share 0 Send via email0

Eastern Rumors: Bulls, Celtics, Pistons, Sixers

April 14th, 2016 at 12:11am CST by Chuck Myron

Bulls GM Gar Forman wouldn’t rule out the idea of trading Jimmy Butler when asked Wednesday night, notes K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune (Twitter link). Both Forman and Executive VP of Basketball Operations John Paxson made it clear no one on the roster is truly off-limits for a trade, Johnson writes, and changes are coming to coach Fred Hoiberg‘s coaching staff, sources tell Johnson. Still, Hoiberg will be sticking around, Paxson confirmed, according to Johnson, and owner Jerry Reinsdorf issued a statement backing Forman and Paxson. Paxson confirmed the Bulls would like to re-sign Joakim Noah, Johnson also notes.

See more from Chicago amid news from the Eastern Conference:

  • The Celtics refused to give up Jae Crowder in trade talks with the Bulls before the deadline, scuttling any realistic possibility of a trade, league sources tell Vincent Goodwill of CSN Chicago. Jimmy Butler‘s name reportedly was the center of those discussions, though Goodwill hears they spoke with teams about Derrick Rose and confirms earlier reports that they had Pau Gasol trade talks, too.
  • The Bulls were on board with a trade that would have involved Pau Gasol, Tony Snell and Kirk Hinrich going out and Kosta Koufos and Ben McLemore coming in from the Kings, but Sacramento withdrew from those talks when the Sixers, who were to be included as a third team, insisted the Kings relinquish a second-round pick, Goodwill hears. Sacramento was also reluctant to give into the Bulls’ desire to reduce the top-10 protection on the 2016 first-rounder the Kings owe them, according to Goodwill.
  • The Cavaliers made it a priority to sign a perimeter defender like Dahntay Jones as insurance for Iman Shumpert instead of a point guard to offset the injury to Mo Williams because they envision LeBron James running the point in a pinch, accoriding to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. The Cavs inked Jones earlier today as Williams reportedly headed to New York for further examination on his sore left knee.
  • Coach Brett Brown said the replacement of GM Sam Hinkie with new president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo won’t result in a change to the team’s playing style, and he called for the front office to focus on strong defenders and veteran big men as they seek offseason upgrades, observes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Brown also spoke highly of Elton Brand, Pompey notes. Brand is heading back into free agency and isn’t sure he’ll keep playing.
Retweet 16 Share 3 Send via email0

Atlantic Notes: Colangelo, Brand, Ujiri, DeRozan

April 11th, 2016 at 9:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The hiring of Bryan Colangelo and resignation of Sam Hinkie doesn’t signal “a departure from a process,” Colangelo insisted Sunday as the Sixers introduced him as their new president of basketball operations, as Christopher A. Vito for The Delaware County Daily Times observes. Colangelo nonetheless expects a “summer of change” for the roster, suggesting that with as many as four draft picks this year, all in the first round, the Sixers will consider parlaying some of that youth into more experienced talent. “You can only have so many developing players on your roster at a time, so there may be some decision to defer some of those to a future date, or may be a decision to package some of those things to acquire players that make sense and fit our strategy,” Colangelo said. “… It’s about putting a basketball team together. We’re really changing our focus toward winning. It’s part of a shift in culture, a mindset. I think [coach] Brett [Brown] is excited about shifting that. … There’s going to be a much-greater likelihood that we win basketball games.”

See more from Philadelphia amid news from the Atlantic Division:

  • Elton Brand, whose signing earlier this season was one of the team’s first moves away from developing players, thinks he’ll retire at season’s end, Vito notes (Twitter link). Brand, 37, also thought he’d retire this past summer before the Sixers came calling.
  • GM Masai Ujiri‘s contract with the Raptors is believed to be worth $15MM, according to Sportsnet’s Michael Grange, so it appears the executive is seeing an average of $3MM annually on the five-year deal. Grange wonders whether the Raptors will explore restructuring the pact, which has two years left on it, now that the Knicks are reportedly eyeing him.
  • DeMar DeRozan admitted Sunday to a fondness for playing in Madison Square Garden, but he said he didn’t know whether he would consider the Knicks in free agency this summer, notes Marc Berman of the New York Post. Of course, it’s par for the course that a soon-to-be free agent would praise the Garden, and all indications are DeRozan will re-sign with the Raptors, as Grange points out, given the shooting guard’s consistent praise for Toronto and the organization.
Retweet 8 Share 2 Send via email0
Load More Posts