Philadelphia 76ers: 4 takeaways from Elton Brand’s press conference

Elton Brand is in charge of whatever comes next

Brand confirmed that he is indeed the man calling the shots in the restructuring of the Sixers organization.

In a quote via Derek Bodner of The Athletic, Brand had this to say:

"“I’ll also be conducting an evaluation of the front office and infrastructure in place…change can and will be uncomfortable, but it’s necessary.”"

The lines have been blurred in the Sixers’ front office since ownership and the NBA began their campaign of marginalizing Sam Hinkie. It’s been a challenge to determine who has been calling the shots, but with this quote, Brand is taking ownership of what comes next, for better or worse.

The Sixers need to get some more basketball minds

This one is breathtaking. When asked what the Philadelphia 76ers need to do next from an organizational perspective, Brand has this to say (again via Bodner):

"“We’re strong in the strategic and analytic standpoint. Get some more basketball minds in here.”"

Was it the analytics department that suggested taking your two superstars and surrounding them with more plodding bigs? Did the analytics department decide to run the Andre Drummond, Greg Monroe, Josh Smith 2.0 frontcourt experiment?

Or did Brand, a basketball mind himself (one would think), call this shot?

It doesn’t look like Elton Brand is willing to own the failure of the 2019-20 Philadelphia 76ers in any way, and his bosses seem completely fine with that.