Defending Elton Brand
76ers GM Elton Brand “will continue to oversee basketball operations,” per Adrian Wojnarowski.
The franchise's plan is that Brand will continue to oversee basketball operations, sources said, but the personnel and structure in the front office is undergoing significant evaluation and change is looming.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 24, 2020
I know many of you are upset in hearing this and wanted him gone with the rest of the front office. I understand why you feel this way. I am not saying you are wrong. But…let me defend the Old School Chevy for a bit.
Brand came into this situation as a young guy with little experience in NBA front offices. He had to replace the Colangleo’s after dealing with Bryan’s issues in the off-season. There was a lot of pressure on Brand, but he showed he would be willing to what it takes to put the Sixers in the best situation possible.
Less than two months into his tenure as GM, he became aggressive and traded for a star in Jimmy Butler. Even though the Sixers had a fun team with fan favorites, he realized that Dario Saric and Robert Covington would not be enough support for Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons if they wanted to be title contenders. Later that season at the trade deadline, Brand knew they still needed more, so he went after Tobias Harris to add scoring and talent to the starting lineup. The trade also brought bench depth with Mike Scott and Boban Marjanovic.
Brand put the Sixers in a situation where they had a much better chance at contending than before. As far as the issues with last off-season, even though he deserves some of the blame, personally, I do not think he was the main reason why they could not resign Butler. When it became evident Butler was leaving, he again tried to put the Sixers in the best situation possible with acquiring Josh Richardson and Al Horford.
Doing that, along with resigning Harris, has not worked out for the Sixers. However, with his past history, I believe he recognizes the problems and will do whatever he can to fix things. With a new head coach and front office, I believe Brand can lead the team to bring a lot of change in the next few months.
I will put him on a short leash, though. If things do not change and do not get better, you can throw all of this out the window.
