Elton won’t be executive in Brand name only

Elton Brand won’t be hanging around Delaware this year simply to make the Delaware 87ers G League ticket sellers’ jobs any easier. He isn’t there to merely lend his name to the 76ers’ minor league affilate, but rather to learn the art of basketball front office business.

Brand, 38, who spent parts of five seasons in a Sixers uniform in two tenures, talked Tuesday about his new position of 87ers general manager.

“It’s been a long journey,” he said, “but working in Chicago, working through the draft, being in those highlevel meetings with (majority owner) Josh Harris, (minority partner) David Blitzer and (president and GM) Bryan Colangelo really peaked my interest. I liked it and realized I could work basketball, so that’s how it started.

“What appealed to me was to get the repetitions in transactions, management, day-to day operations, trades and getting the chance to call the shots. People say to me, ‘Oh your name can get you the opportunity to call the shots.’ But I don’t want a job because of my name. I want a job because of what I can bring to the team and potential, so that’s why I really wanted this one.”

This way, Brand gets to stay in the Philadelphia area.

The former No. 1 overall draft choice (Chicago, 1999) came to the Sixers in 2008 after nine productive seasons with the Bulls (two years) and Clippers (seven). For six of those nine years, Brand averaged more than 20 points per game and better than 10 rebounds per game.

His numbers with the then fading Sixers didn’t approach his career stats, and he played in only 29 games in an injurious 2008-09 season. But Brand still averaged better than 13 points over four seasons in Philly before departing for Dallas in 2012.

He made his return here as a parttime player amid the 2015-16 season, brought in to lend a veteran voice to a very young and depleted team. He averaged 4.1 ppg. in 17 appearances then, but proved again how popular a force he was with the players and the fans.

“It’s already paid dividends,” Brand said of his close-knit association with the Sixers ... one that permitted him a little joke.

“Bryan Colangelo, Marc Eversley, these guys are taking all my calls right now,” Brand said with a laugh. “They’re working it, and I appreciate it because I’m new and I’ll be ready in a week or two to speak to the agents, to speak to the other GMs.”

One other reason Brand is now a basketball businessman: “I’m bad at retiring,” he said.