One of Duke’s best big men, Brand brought power and grace to the Blue Devils
It wasn’t supposed to be Elton Brand. Chris Burgess was the guy who was supposed to be the big man revelation when both came to Duke in 1997.
It didn't take long to realize that it was Brand. The burly New Yorker made it clear early on that he was going to start for Duke and it didn’t take long for him to show that he was also exceptional. At 6-9 and about 250, Brand could overpower opponents, and he had a nice mean streak, but there was a lot more to his game.
For a guy of his size, Brand was pretty nimble. We watched him lead the break one night and went home to look at that play again, only to see him handling the ball quite low and quite deftly, completely baffling his defender.
Duke has had a lot of big guys who were very good - think Carlos Boozer, Mark Williams, Paolo Banchero for starters - but how many of them could have defended Brand around the basket?
The #1 pick in the 1999 draft, Brand put in an outstanding 17-year NBA career. He was co-rookie of the year and a two-time All-Star. After his retirement, Brand moved into management and is currently GM for the Philadelphia 76ers.
