Elton Brand led his high school to two state championshipsand later took Duke to the NCAA title game in his sophomore year, after whichhe was chosen as the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls. Theco-Rookie of the Year in 1999-2000, Brand was traded in 2001 to the Los AngelesClippers. An NBA all-star and the recipient of the league’s sportsmanshipaward, he has averaged more than 20 points and 10 rebounds a game in hiscareer. Off the court, he started the Elton Brand Foundation, which supportscauses in Chicago, New York and Durham, N.C., and the Comprehensive ActionModel for Peekskill, a homework and tutoring center in his hometown in NewYork. Last year, he co-founded Gibraltar Films.
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| Elton Brand |
Brand, who will have surgery to repair the left Achillestendon he ruptured on Aug. 3, spoke with SportsBusiness Journal New Yorkbureau chief Jerry Kavanagh shortly before the premiere of “Rescue Dawn,” thenew film he co-produced.
Favorite vacation spot:Mywife and I like to go different places. We change it up.
Favorite music:Ilisten to hip-hop. Rock ’n’ roll songs — Prodigy — get me pumped up for thegame.
Favorite movie:Ilike a lot of movies. “A Clockwork Orange,” “Little Miss Sunshine” (I almostteared up a little bit at the end), “The Long Kiss Goodnight.”
Best sports movie:“Rudy”
Worst sports movie:“BASEketball”
Last book read:SidneyPoitier’s autobiography, “The Measure of a Man.”
Hobbies:Reading,logging on to the business networking Web site Koolse.com.
Most competitive player:KobeBryant
Most colorful trash talkers:SacramentoKings fans. One night, a guy yelled, “Elton Brand, you stink. You rebound likeElton John.” I said, “Elton John? I know he can’t rebound.”
Most influential:Mymom. She instilled a great work ethic in me and shaped who I wanted to be.
What motivates you?
Brand: Just being the best. The ultimate goal is to win championships. That’s what I play for. Growing up, no one from Westchester, from my area, was playing professional basketball. (The McCray brothers made it in the late ’70s, early ’80s.) Everyone was telling me, “You can’t do it.” I remember sitting on the train going to an AAU tournament, and one of my friends asked me what colleges I was interested in. “I’ll look at Duke, Kentucky …” He told me maybe I should look at smaller Division I schools like Maine and Buffalo. But I had high aspirations.
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Brand, who injured his Achilles
tendon earlier this month, has
starred on court and off. |
If you were NBA commissioner for a day, what one thing would you change?
Brand: I’d implement a different playoff seeding. If you win the conference, you should definitely get the No. 1 seed. But then [the seeds] should be in order of [won-lost] record because you’re playing the same teams in your conference.
Should the NBA have an age minimum? Do you agree with that rule?
Brand: Yeah, I’m definitely in favor of the age minimum, especially since I’m 28 now and getting older (laughing). Keep the young guys out as long as possible. But you need to be mature to come into the league, and I think that [rule] helps.
What’s the big adjustment for young players entering the league?
Brand: Financially, you have a lot more disposable income. Plus, you’re on the road, and the rigors of the NBA schedule are immense. You’re coming from high school, playing 20-some games, to playing 82 games, half of those on the road traveling city to city. You’re not used to that. I was still getting breakfast from my mom and getting dropped off at school in the 10th grade.
Stephon Marbury said, “Point guards are born; they’re delivered by God. You can’t make point guards.” Where do power forwards come from?
Brand: We come from the earth, from the dirt. We hustle. We rebound. We make ourselves. We rise up. We have to do the dirty work. The point guards pass and facilitate, but they don’t come in the trenches. We have to match up a lot with centers like Shaq and Yao Ming also, not just the rugged power forwards.
What does the U.S. Olympic team need to do to re-establish itself?
Brand: I think we’re going in the right direction by having a national team, growing together, getting better together. The international teams play all year round together. They go to their club leagues and then they come back and play again with each other. They’ve known each other for years. They know the plays. They know the coaches. Now, you can get a band of all-star players, but it’s still a different game. There’s the trapezoid [foul lane], the shorter three-point line and shorter clock. It’s not our NBA game.
You are co-producer of “Rescue Dawn,” which was filmed in Thailand. Were you on location for the shooting?
Brand: I was there for about a month.
What was that like?
Brand: It was definitely intense. Long shooting days, but the cast did it. Werner Herzog has a different style of his own of directing, but it worked. We’re very proud of that movie.
Who’s a tougher one-on-one matchup: Werner Herzog or Tim Duncan?
Brand: Close call, but I have to go with Duncan. Herzog is pretty intense in his own way.
Why a film production company? What drew you into the business?
Brand: My good friend Baron Davis, who I’ve known since middle school and AAU, had a production company. He actually started me, put it in my mind about a production company. I love movies, and being in L.A., I developed relationships with people in the film world.
Did you take anything from the sports world with you into the business world?
Brand: Oh, yeah. Definitely. What I took from the sports world is competition and hard work.
How is business?
Brand: You know, it’s really tough. I wouldn’t suggest this for any pro athlete because, as you know, we have to focus on our main prize. So I’ve looked at this as more of a late spring/summertime hobby. I have a good business partner in Steve Marlton who can handle the day-to-day rigors of it. But the business part of it — it was tough. We lost investors. We lost backing. Now I’m more prepared, and I learned a great deal about business. It was fun, but it’s not all popcorn and Twizzlers.
Any other movies in the works?
Brand: Not yet. I’m trying to savor this moment and relax a little bit.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Brand: Professionally, I’d say it was being the No. 1 draft pick and making it to the NBA. Off the court, it’s just being a good person and trying to be a great citizen.
Is politics in your future?
Brand: I don’t think so. But I would like to help in the Peekskill community and things like that. It just seems like a huge time commitment to really change things. If I can support the people that have that time, and they’re doing the right thing, I’ll do that.
