Philadelphia 76ers: How Elton Brand re-engineered Philly’s bench

While the Philadelphia 76ers’ starting five gets all of the national attention, Elton Brand deserves some serious credit for building a championship-caliber bench on the fly.

When the Philadelphia 76ers decided to go in-house in their search for a new general manager, it left fans inside and out of the 215 with plenty of questions.

Sure, Elton Brand did have some front office experience, as he helmed the organization’s G-League affiliate for the better part of two years, transforming the 87ers into the Delaware Blue Coats, but after jettisoning one of the more experienced front office execs in Bryan Colangelo mere months earlier, it seemed a bit odd to give over the keys to an in-house replacement months after the NBA Draft and free agency.

I mean, Brand was teammates with more than a few of the team’s current players, coached under a then-green Brett Brown for goodness sake, did anyone really envision that he’d give hardened GM’s like Masai Ujiri and all-timers like Jerry West a run for their money in his ‘rookie’ campaign?

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Well, guess what? He did.

Pulling off not one, but two blockbuster trades that would be all but impossible to craft in 2K19, let alone real life, Brand effectively turned the 76ers roster over twice over a six month period; turning solid role-playing contributors like Robert Covington, Dario Saric, and Landry Shamet into legitimate star players like Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris.

But one doesn’t build a legitimate championship contender with star power alone; no, a big reason with the Sixers are flying high has to do with Brand’s laser focus on building a playoff bench on the fly.

Sure, the 76ers had T.J. McConnell, Zhaire Smith, Jonah Bolden, and even Shake Milton on their roster from the jump, all of whom played roles in the regular season, but virtually all of the team’s top reserves over their current postseason run, James Ennis, Mike Scott, Greg Monroe, and Boban Marjanovic were either throw-in pieces in a larger deal, minor trade targets, or late season free agent signees.

While the Sixers didn’t add legitimate rotational pieces in the buyout market like in 2018, Brand still found value in underappreciated pieces nonetheless, and eight games into the postseason, that’s all that matters.

It all started on the day before the trade deadline, when Brand made a trade with the Los Angeles Clippers at what felt like 3 am. Though the trade was, and will forever be remembered as ‘the Tobias Harris trade’, that is unless Shamet becomes Steph Curry 2.0, Brand also made sure to get back Scott and Marjanovic to take the spots of departing front courtsmen Wilson Chandler and Mike Muscala.

From there, Brand acquired a second round pick and Malachi Richardson from the Toronto Raptors for cash and swiftly released the 23-year-old Syracuse production to flip another second rounder to the Houston Rockets for Ennis, a player they desperately wanted off the books so they could get under the luxury tax.

And last but not least, there’s Monroe.

With literally days left to go in the regular season, the Branded decided to released Justin Patton, the seldom-used second part of the team’s other franchise-altering trade of the season, to free up a roster spot. While some, like myself, initially assumed this meant that the team planned on converting Milton’s two-way contract in time for the playoffs, Brand instead targeted Monroe, a 28-year-old journeyman big to fill his spot.

Having spent time with the other final four Eastern Conference teams from 2018-19, Monroe has proven to be a more than competent ‘small ball’ center coming off the bench, saving fans from excessive Bolden 3s in situations where Marjanovic would be inappropriate.

So, for the fans keeping track at home, that’s four legit contributors the team added for basically nothing.

No were all of Brand’s moves home runs? Well, no, he did trade Markelle Fultz (remember him?) to the Orlando Magic for Jonathon Simmons and a pair of picks when Terrence Ross really should have been on the table, but shooting 80 percent in the game of basketball is out of this world for pretty much anything but a free throw. While Elton Brand has made his first year as the Philadelphia 76ers GM look like a breeze, it’s been far from a free throw; it was hard, hard work, and now he’s being awarded for those efforts.