Philadelphia 76ers: Elton Brand is a fantastic GM hire

After helping to reestablish the Delaware Blue Coats, Elton Brand has a new responsibility: Philadelphia 76ers General Manager.

Breathe easy Philadelphia 76ers fans, the Brett Brown-era is officially over.

Well, at least as the team’s general manager.

That’s right, after spending months searching for a new exec to run the show, attempting to woo away the likes of Daryl Morey in the process, the Joshua Harris Group has officially elevated in-house candidate Elton Brand to Bryan Colangelo’s former position.

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Elton, get your collars ready.

While this move is a bit of a surprise on a sleepy Tuesday night, it’s one that many fans should have at least considered a possibility going into the season and one that could pay major dividends movingforward.

After spending 16 years in the NBA over five different teams, including parts of five seasons with the 76ers, Brand served as an almost coach on the court in Joel Embiid‘s second season with the organization, helping the then-still injured center transition into NBA life and assisting Coach Brown as he attempted to establish a winning culture in the City of Brotherly Love.

But now, Brand will have a whole lot more hands-on role in bringing a championship back to Philly, and loading Brown’s roster with a slew of new talent.

In his post-basketball life, Brand was almost immediately hired by the 76ers, where he served as a player development consultant before being named the general manager of then-Delaware 87ers.

Almost one year later, Brand will have an opportunity to try his hand at running the big club.

But what can fans expect from Brand in his new role?

Well, over his tenure with the now-Delaware Blue Coats, Brand helped to completely rebrand the team, giving the club a new team name, new look and eventually a new fieldhouse in the heart of Wilmington, a great facelift for a team that’s among the best run in the entire G-League.

Though I doubt he’s going to change the 76ers already classic uniform, or move the team to New Jersey any time soon, Brand helped to develop players like Demetrius Jackson, Furkan Korkmaz, and even ex-Sixer Christian Wood into legitimate NBA-caliber players over the 2017-2018 season with his commitment to talent cultivation.

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With Brand now in place, agents will now know who to turn to when discussing contracts, other GM’s will know who to call to discuss trade, and the 76ers will finally have a singular vision to build around as they move past The Process-era. While today is obviously a great start for the Philadelphia 76ers in the days leading up to the start of the 2018-2019 season, for Elton Brand and Brett Brown, the real work begins now.