Jerry Colangelo continues to reshape the 76ers.
The new chairman of basketball operations pushed for Elton Brand to sign with the team, the same way he orchestrated the hiring of Mike D'Antoni as associate head coach and the trade for point guard Ish Smith.
"I think with Jerry's connections with Coach K [Mike Krzyzewski] and [Brand's agent] David Falk, that [helped] our desire to maybe bring in more senior voices in the program," Sixers coach Brett Brown said of the signing of Brand, who played for Krzyzewski at Duke. "We considered a lot. . . . And Elton's name just came up and we are able to get it over the line.