Speaker 1: This is Black History Month, Inspirations, a seventy six Ers podcast,
Speaker 1: network miniseries Hard Three, serving with selflessness. When it comes
Speaker 1: to Elton Brand, it's important to remember this. He was
Speaker 1: a really good basketball player. Oh there's a steel by
Speaker 1: Brand racing against the rookie Johnson had a slams for two.
Speaker 1: Helton Brand a key steel and slam, a high volume score,
Speaker 1: A tenacious rebounder and shot blocker, Rose Riding, a no
Speaker 1: nonsense big man who played his hard eye. When you're
Speaker 1: guarding Elton Brand, there's no relaxation. Brand broke into the
Speaker 1: NBA in nineteen ninety nine as the top selection in
Speaker 1: that year's draft and went on to win CO Rookie
Speaker 1: of the Year honors. With the first pick in the
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine NBA draft, the Chicago Bulls select Elton
Speaker 1: Brand from He posted four twenty ten seasons in his
Speaker 1: first seven years in the league and was twice named
Speaker 1: an All Star. Brand played for five different teams before
Speaker 1: calling it a career following his second and final stint
Speaker 1: with the seventy six Ers and twenty sixteen. Well after
Speaker 1: seventeen years of playing the game that I love and
Speaker 1: it's been great to me, you know, officially retiring this time.
Speaker 1: It's for real this time. Take some time away from
Speaker 1: the game, for sure. I'll spend time with my family,
Speaker 1: go back to picking up the kids, dropping him off
Speaker 1: his school. You know, we'll see this out there. I
Speaker 1: see if there's anything around here I could do. Eventually,
Speaker 1: eventually ended up lasting only a few months. Later that year,
Speaker 1: Brand took a front office job with the Sixers, then
Speaker 1: was fast tracked to general manager for the Delaware Bluecoats.
Speaker 1: He was promoted to the same position with the Sixers
Speaker 1: in September of twenty eighteen. Thank you, thank you, thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you. Good morning means a lot to see so
Speaker 1: many players and staff up here. I wish it would
Speaker 1: count towards contract negotiations, but it won't. But thanks for
Speaker 1: coming up. I'd like to thank Josh Harris, David Blitzer,
Speaker 1: an attire seventy six Ers organization, for this great opportunity
Speaker 1: to serve as general manager. I believe this team has
Speaker 1: an incredibly bright future. And for a guy who never
Speaker 1: dreamed of hitting it big in sports when he was young,
Speaker 1: it's pretty ironic that the soon to be forty two
Speaker 1: year old Brand has now spent more than half of
Speaker 1: his entire life in the NBA. It wasn't you know
Speaker 1: in our minds that we'd be able to make a
Speaker 1: profession or living out of basketball or football or any
Speaker 1: type of sports. It was just sports was an avenue
Speaker 1: for teamwork, camaraderie, pushing yourself, testing your limits, and just
Speaker 1: growing as an individual. Brand was raised in Peak Skill,
Speaker 1: New York, a town of about twenty five thousand in
Speaker 1: the southern region of the Hudson River Valley. Hard working,
Speaker 1: blue collar, you know where everyone you know got along,
Speaker 1: a lot of races, a lot of different people. Forty
Speaker 1: five minutes outside of New York City on the Hudson River.
Speaker 1: You get the New York City vibe, you get the
Speaker 1: New York City energy. Then you can go back to
Speaker 1: Peaks Scale and you can play ball. And got a
Speaker 1: great great friends, blue collar, hard work in town on
Speaker 1: the Hudson. Growing up, it was just Brand, his brother Arthur,
Speaker 1: and their mom Daisy, being around. My mom. She was great,
Speaker 1: She had a great workout that she never made excuses,
Speaker 1: would never allow me to make excuses. You know, always
Speaker 1: pushed me, always pushed education, always pushed trying to make
Speaker 1: yourself better, and also help others around you. That was
Speaker 1: what she preached a lot to me, So very thankful
Speaker 1: to have her in my life. And you know, as
Speaker 1: an inspiration. Brand's humble, hungry, helpful foundation can be traced
Speaker 1: to a specific place and period in time. His mother
Speaker 1: was one of several people who made his upbringing and
Speaker 1: peak skill impactful. One of the most influential black figures
Speaker 1: in my life, I'd say, was the mayor of Peakskille,
Speaker 1: Mayor Jackson, like Brand, Richard E. Jackson was born in
Speaker 1: the Hudson Valley and went to Peakskill High School. He
Speaker 1: served as mayor from nineteen eighty four through nineteen ninety one.
Speaker 1: You know, politics isn't about power, It's not about position.
Speaker 1: It's not about what can I get coming. That's what fringis.
Speaker 1: Won't relationship. I'll tell you the human condition is not
Speaker 1: I'm better than you. I'm will power than Gill and
Speaker 1: I connected you so how. And I had to say that.
Speaker 1: Brand was five when Jackson started his first term. While
Speaker 1: the two never met, Jackson's trailblazing left a lasting impression.
Speaker 1: He was the first black mayor in any city in
Speaker 1: New York State, but growing up I saw him I
Speaker 1: saw that a person of color could be the mayor
Speaker 1: and it wasn't a big deal. You know. The way
Speaker 1: he carried himself and the way he ran the city,
Speaker 1: the way he supported the community, it was just commonplace
Speaker 1: and it was it was great to see. As Brand
Speaker 1: got older and more involved in playing sports, another important
Speaker 1: person emerged, a JV basketball coach by the name of
Speaker 1: Walter Corney. He really instilled in me, you want to
Speaker 1: conduct the way you conduct yourself as as a professional.
Speaker 1: You know, you don't want to be a professional basketball player,
Speaker 1: you just want to be a professional person overall from you,
Speaker 1: your habits, your work ethic. And he did that for
Speaker 1: the entire community. Is what he instilled in us about
Speaker 1: just being your best self that you can be. At first,
Speaker 1: Brand might not have believed he was NBA material, but
Speaker 1: over time, as he evolved into a dominant two way
Speaker 1: powerhouse that propelled peak Skill to two state titles, his
Speaker 1: talents became too obvious to overlooks around. Fiser got part
Speaker 1: in the brand is coming into high school, I wasn't
Speaker 1: highly talented or highly recruited or projected to be a
Speaker 1: McDonald's All American or anything like that. So you know,
Speaker 1: my mind and my focus was an education. If I
Speaker 1: can get a scholarship, I could still get a great
Speaker 1: degree and it still afford to get my mom, my
Speaker 1: single mom at home one day, like that was my goal.
Speaker 1: After he turned bro Elton Brand didn't waste any time
Speaker 1: getting his mom that house. She always spoke to me
Speaker 1: about you know, renting versus owning and generational wealth and
Speaker 1: things like that. So for me to be able to
Speaker 1: buy her a new home a rookie year contract signed
Speaker 1: it just you know, it made my day and made
Speaker 1: made all the work that I put in to get
Speaker 1: drafted in to be able to do that for her
Speaker 1: was a special term as in the peakscale area. She
Speaker 1: always wanted to be close to family, you know, that
Speaker 1: was her things. She wanted to be close to the
Speaker 1: family that I was all the way in you know, Chicago,
Speaker 1: then La then back to Philly. So she always wanted
Speaker 1: to be somewhere that she can be close to, you know,
Speaker 1: her sisters and grandkids and nieces and just all of
Speaker 1: her family. That's what she was about. She was about
Speaker 1: the community. Like she didn't to go far from the community.
Speaker 1: It was up to her and she might of state
Speaker 1: in public Housen where we grew up. So she didn't
Speaker 1: want much at all. You know, she wasn't into a
Speaker 1: lot of materialistic things, but you know I wanted to
Speaker 1: do that for her and she ended up happy though.
Speaker 1: On July first, twenty fourteen, Daisy Brand passed away from cancer.
Speaker 1: She had been diagnosed just six weeks earlier. If my
Speaker 1: mom was here today, I think she'd say, uh, you know, honey,
Speaker 1: you gotta win a championship. Let's get it going. Avid
Speaker 1: basketball fan. When I was a player, she rarely missed
Speaker 1: a game home, man away. She flied commercial and make
Speaker 1: it to games on the road. Love basketball, so you
Speaker 1: know she's written for the Sixers and first to get
Speaker 1: a championship. More of Black History Month inspirations coming up. Hey,
Speaker 1: it's Brian Seltzer and here at the seventy six Ers
Speaker 1: podcast Network. We strive to bring you sound content as
Speaker 1: much as we possibly can. Mondays Leave a voicemail and
Speaker 1: listen to your calls two on five zero three seven
Speaker 1: six three seven On mail Bag Mondays with myself and
Speaker 1: Lauren Rosen. Every other Tuesday, it's co Check focusing on
Speaker 1: the Delaware Bluecoats, and every other Thursday, listen to Tom's
Speaker 1: Talks with Tom McGinnis on Fridays. It's the weekly Deep
Speaker 1: Dive with Divine Givens. And we're also really excited to
Speaker 1: be rolling out a brand new feed, The Scoop, a
Speaker 1: five minute update just about every day. All you gotta
Speaker 1: do is search seventy six or Scoop wherever you get
Speaker 1: your pods to subscribe or follow. Thanks for listening and
Speaker 1: we'll talk to you soon. Now back to Black History
Speaker 1: Month inspirations. If anything, the story of Elton Brand buying
Speaker 1: his mama house is a helpful anecdote that provides a
Speaker 1: glimpse into Brand's DNA. If he says he's going to
Speaker 1: do something, he's probably going to do it. The same
Speaker 1: thing could be said this past summer, albeit under far
Speaker 1: more public tens and somewhat dramatic circumstances. We'll begin to
Speaker 1: search for a new head coach immediately. I'll also be
Speaker 1: conducting an evaluation of the front office and that infrastructure
Speaker 1: and ways to strength, and that I'll do the same
Speaker 1: thing with the roster. Just because Brand knew what needed
Speaker 1: to be done didn't make it easy change ken and
Speaker 1: will be uncomfortable, but it's necessary. We owe it. I
Speaker 1: owe it to these fans. I went to this city
Speaker 1: to deliver on our goals. If there were any doubts
Speaker 1: about Brand's sincerity about his commitment to keeping his word,
Speaker 1: they should have been put to rest. By the end
Speaker 1: of the seventy six ers off season. Not only did
Speaker 1: he landdock Rivers, the biggest name available on the head
Speaker 1: coach market, he advocated for and helped usher in the
Speaker 1: hiring of Darryl Morey, who Brand would subsequently start reporting
Speaker 1: to How rare is that you know he's told you
Speaker 1: he only cares about winning a title. This proves it right,
Speaker 1: because you know, he's just like, we're gonna do whatever
Speaker 1: it takes. And I just I love that about him.
Speaker 1: And he has such a great feel that you don't
Speaker 1: really get as quickly in the job as he already has. Honestly,
Speaker 1: but in my third year or whatever he's in and
Speaker 1: the job, I was sort of stumbling around like an idiot.
Speaker 1: So so I'm so impressed by him, and the fact
Speaker 1: that he has wanted me here and welcome me has
Speaker 1: been mean so much. Elton's what you hope every player
Speaker 1: is like. Really, you know, we always talk about it
Speaker 1: on the player side. We want players to accept their
Speaker 1: role to make room for the star player to move
Speaker 1: over for winning. But usually in the front office, nobody
Speaker 1: wants to do that. Everyone talks about that, well that's
Speaker 1: what they should do. And you know I've always yeah,
Speaker 1: well you go first, and Elton win first. Elton said,
Speaker 1: you know what, to make us better, I have to
Speaker 1: let Darrol come in here and be the president. Eldon
Speaker 1: is what you would want every player to be a
Speaker 1: team player. And it's been a world win. You know, talented,
Speaker 1: you know, exacts and leaders and coaches don't come around
Speaker 1: that often. So you know, and you get an opportunity
Speaker 1: to speak to a doc Rivers and you know, sell
Speaker 1: him on the roster, sell him on the city of Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: When you get a chance to speak to Darl Murray,
Speaker 1: you know, when the top executives over the last fourteen
Speaker 1: fifteen years, to tell them about our city, to sell
Speaker 1: them on our roster and what can happen, and then
Speaker 1: talk about you know, ownership and the focus is on championships.
Speaker 1: So it meant a lot to have the opportunity to
Speaker 1: speak with them and then for them to come it
Speaker 1: means the world. You know, it's it's about winning here,
Speaker 1: and I think the organization is showing that. On the surface,
Speaker 1: the notion of yielding power might seem counterintuitive to personal
Speaker 1: game or advancement Brands. Fabric is cut from the support
Speaker 1: system that surrounded him in his youth. Brand is keenly
Speaker 1: aware that learning is a part of his journey. He's
Speaker 1: always embraced mentorship, regardless of whether he's on the giving
Speaker 1: or receiving end. During his playing career, he established a
Speaker 1: training center back in peak skill that prepared kids for adulthood.
Speaker 1: I still get back, you know, at least every summer
Speaker 1: or every time I get time off and just spend
Speaker 1: time with the youth in the community and try to
Speaker 1: pay it for it and give back. Brand has continued
Speaker 1: to give back since making the leap to the front
Speaker 1: office world by advising local youth throughout the Delaware Valley.
Speaker 1: I think, as you know, an exact, mentoring is very important.
Speaker 1: It's helping to connect the dots, you know, whether it's
Speaker 1: your staff or people in college that want an opportunity.
Speaker 1: They just don't know where to look. So you've been
Speaker 1: through it. You have the relationships, and that's all someone needs.
Speaker 1: Sometime it's just a nudge in the right direction or
Speaker 1: a few words of advice to help them in their career,
Speaker 1: in their life. Some mentoring is very important, you know,
Speaker 1: to me and the Sixers as an organization. Take for instance,
Speaker 1: this gesture brand made to Matisse Thible last January. Thible
Speaker 1: was a rookie at the time. When I got hurt
Speaker 1: last year and I was out for two weeks. We
Speaker 1: went to I want to say, Houston. Elton was on
Speaker 1: the trip with us, and he hit me up and
Speaker 1: he's like, hey, do you want to do you want
Speaker 1: to get together? And one of these days in the trip,
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, of course it'd be great. So
Speaker 1: we go and he's takes me to art museum in
Speaker 1: Houston because he knows that, like I'm interested in photography,
Speaker 1: I'm named after a painter. We went to a museum,
Speaker 1: we looked at a lot of artists, and of course
Speaker 1: we looked at some paintings by Matisse. We spent like
Speaker 1: a couple hours just talking hoops, talking art. We talked
Speaker 1: everywhere from Malcolm Gladwell to m Knights Shamalan to his
Speaker 1: time at Wharton. You know, a lot of players have
Speaker 1: different inches. Matis, he's a very bright, you know, young man,
Speaker 1: and he likes art, and I just said, hey, let's
Speaker 1: go to the museum. Let's chef. You know. We walked
Speaker 1: in musem, caught up, talked about his family, looked at
Speaker 1: some art, you know, And ever since we drafted him,
Speaker 1: he's going to enjoy to watch play and enjoy off
Speaker 1: the court. It's a really cool experience just to have,
Speaker 1: I mean, as a rookie, to have the DM kind
Speaker 1: of pouring to me like that, and then also just
Speaker 1: being hurt and the things that come with that mentally,
Speaker 1: and just feel like I'm still a part of everything.
Speaker 1: So just to give him that little boost, you know,
Speaker 1: I know what it was to be a rookie and
Speaker 1: not play or you know, not have things going your way.
Speaker 1: Any effort that I can give, I wanted to do
Speaker 1: it so and I really enjoyed myself. It's pretty cool, special,
Speaker 1: there's a special moment for me. For some parts, better,
Speaker 1: other parts worse. Brand belongs to a small fraternity. He's
Speaker 1: one of six black general managers in the NBA. There
Speaker 1: are five general managers of color in the NFL and
Speaker 1: none in Major League Baseball or the NHL. Brand remembers
Speaker 1: how empowering it was to see a black mayor in
Speaker 1: his hometown. He realizes that in his leadership role in basketball,
Speaker 1: he too could help someone believe. I think when you
Speaker 1: see a black person or you know someone that a
Speaker 1: person of color, someone that looks like you or can represent,
Speaker 1: when you represent in all walks of life, it just
Speaker 1: shows you that you can break barriers that can be
Speaker 1: you too. There's been a lot of research on that,
Speaker 1: from education to medical to whatever field. When you see
Speaker 1: someone that's doing something that you aspire to be or
Speaker 1: aspired to do, that looks like you, you feel you
Speaker 1: can do it too. With the first half of the
Speaker 1: NBA season drawing to a close, the seventy six ers
Speaker 1: are in a promising place. They hold the top spot
Speaker 1: in the Eastern Conference and their stars are thriving. For brand,
Speaker 1: the focus remains singular, just like it was over the
Speaker 1: off season when he did his part to usher in
Speaker 1: significant change that has catalyzed the six or strong start.
Speaker 1: It's amazing start. It's been going well, you know, learning
Speaker 1: a lot, pushing a lot, you know, even through through
Speaker 1: the pandemic and you know a lot of things that
Speaker 1: we're facing. You know, very happy where we are. I
Speaker 1: think my selflessness comes from this experience. You know there's
Speaker 1: times where I was young and I wasn't you know,
Speaker 1: was it more about me? Or where can I get
Speaker 1: out of this situation? So we're learning and being able
Speaker 1: to be with the sixers in this organization. It's the
Speaker 1: mission first, and we want to win championships. You want
Speaker 1: to be a great organization. And then it's the team,
Speaker 1: it's each other, and then it's yourself. So when you
Speaker 1: kind of order it like that, you know, you see
Speaker 1: a lot of success for a lot of different teams,
Speaker 1: a lot of companies. That's the way they win, and
Speaker 1: I want to be a part of that. I just
Speaker 1: want to do give every effort that we can have
Speaker 1: the best organization possible. Black History Month. Inspirations is a
Speaker 1: production of the seventy Sixers podcast Network. Our voiceover artist
Speaker 1: is Nick McCain. Production support from the La Clippers. Music
Speaker 1: courtesy of APM Music. Select information for this story was
Speaker 1: sourced from Sports Illustrated and Peak Skills, African American History,
Speaker 1: Hudson Valley Community's Untold Story. Be sure to go back
Speaker 1: and listen to previous installments in this mini series profiling
Speaker 1: doc Rivers and Danny Green, and be on the lookout
Speaker 1: for our final installment in the Day's Ahead on Mike
Speaker 1: Scott