Respect Follows Brand to L.A.

If there was any question about the Clippers’ newfound respect around the NBA, Elton Brand answered it by passing on a chance to veto his draft-day trade from Chicago.

In fact, Brand--among the league’s proven young stars--considered the Clippers a dream team to play for based on the turnaround the franchise has made since his friend, Lamar Odom, was drafted two years ago.

“I thought they were a very exciting team,” said Brand, who has averaged 20.1 points, 10 rebounds and 1.61 blocked shots in two NBA seasons. “I know last season, the Bulls and the Clippers were together in the basement, and then they kept winning games and left us at the bottom.

“I look at them and check the nucleus that they have in Lamar Odom, Darius Miles, Michael Olowokandi, and knowing how well Jeff McInnis played [last season], I knew that I wanted to be a part of that.”

In Brand, the Clippers are getting a player well-respected around the league. Although he played for the laughable Bulls the last two seasons, opponents consider him a consistent force, instead of an unproven high school player like Tyson Chandler, whom the Clippers traded to Chicago for Brand.

“When they said Tyson Chandler [was the team’s No. 2 pick], I went upstairs,” Odom said. “Tyson Chandler couldn’t help us now. It would have been two or three years. Then when somebody told me we got Elton, I couldn’t believe it. I think this is a big piece in the puzzle.”

The hard-working Brand has required double-teams his entire NBA career, and the former No. 1 draft pick is not afraid to mix it up inside and step up in crunch time.

In acquiring Brand, the Clippers have become a playoff contender and a model for struggling teams hoping to turn things around.

“I’m happy for the fact that other teams now look at us as an example,” said Elgin Baylor, vice president of basketball operations. “But when we started to put things together, I just thought this was the best way to go about it.”

The turning point for the Clippers can be traced to the collective bargaining agreement reached between the league and players’ association that ended the lockout before the 1998-99 season.

Once it became evident that teams would be able to lock in first-round draft choices for at least five years, the Clippers turned their rebuilding to youth. With Olowokandi and Brian Skinner already in the fold, Baylor added Odom with the No. 4 pick in 1999. Then, last year, he drafted Miles, Keyon Dooling and Quentin Richardson and traded for second-year player Corey Maggette.

That set the stage for Wednesday, when the Clippers exchanged their No. 2 pick [Chandler] and Skinner for Brand. Just like that, the team is talking about the playoffs.

“I believe we have done more to [improve] our team than anyone in the league in one single move,” Baylor said. “Our goal is to make the playoffs. There will be more parity next season, [and] some of those teams that lost last year will be better and win more games.”

The Clippers finished last season 31-51 and hope the addition of Brand is worth at least 12 more wins in 2001-02 and their first postseason appearance since 1997.

“They have a playoff team now,” Dallas Maverick owner Mark Cuban told the Dallas Morning News.

In a league that rewards players who are big producers, Brand ranks among an elite group capable of averaging at least 20 points and 10 rebounds for a season.

Although he’s listed at 6 feet 8 and 265 pounds, the former Duke All-American plays a lot bigger. When he stood next to Odom at the Clippers’ news conference Thursday, his former New York City AAU teammate was taller than him by at least two inches.

With his long arms, Brand’s wingspan compares to a 7-footer’s. He has been a dominant rebounder since he entered the league and has a 21-rebound game. No longer will teams be able to bully the Clippers inside, a prospect that pleases his new teammates.

“We have a straight East Coast boy playing, and he brings power,” said Odom, who has been wearing a protective soft cast on his left wrist and plans to begin strength exercises with it next week. “We didn’t need a small power forward. We needed someone who could help us now. We needed somebody who could defend [some of the league’s physical power forwards] so we don’t have to double [team].”

Like Odom, Brand is scheduled to be a restricted free agent in two years and an unrestricted free agent after the 2003-04 season. With David Falk as his agent, Brand is well aware of Clipper owner Donald Sterling’s history of not re-signing players. But Brand also knows Sterling said he plans to give the maximum contract extension to Brand and Odom when the time comes.

“That’s exciting because I’m the type of person who feels if I don’t deserve it, I don’t want it,” Brand said. “I want to show that I deserve the max. I know [Sterling] has had a negative [image] for not accommodating his players, but I’m looking forward to showing him what I have this year and next year. I don’t want to be traded again. I love it here already.”

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Powerful Numbers

How Elton Brand’s statistics with Chicago compare to the Clippers’ power forwards last season, Darius Miles and Brian Skinner (Numbers are per 48 minutes):

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Player FG-FGA FG% FT-FTA FT% Reb Ast Pts Skinner 5.3-13.2 .398 2.6-4.8 .542 13.8 1.5 13.2 Miles 7.2-14.2 .505 2.8-5.4 .521 10.7 2.2 17.1 Brand 9.5-20.1 .476 5.5-7.8 .708 12.3 4.0 24.6

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