She certainly feels spurned with her blue and white facepaint evident even via this email. You have by no means proved yourself worthy of that title. You will not be considered part of the Duke family, in my mind as well as many others. I just wish that you has spared us the notion that you were continuing in the tradition of being a Duke student-athlete, in emphasizing excellence in both academics and athletics. If you do not realize the opportunity you has in front of you to play for Coach K and at the same time attain a Duke diploma, then that is certainly your loss. You have not only insulted the current students who are putting in four years at a school they love, but also the thousands of alumni who have realized the value of a Duke education and what an honor and privilege it was to be there for four years. We are first and foremost an academic school, you clearly did not belong at Duke in the first place if this was the extent of your commitment to Duke and a college education in general. As an alum, not only do I hold the school in high regard, but the basketball program as well, especially since both have deservedly garnered such a great deal of respect for their accomplishments.Īs part of our basketball program, you represent Duke as a whole. I graduated from Duke last May and just wanted to express my disgust for your decision to leave the Duke program after only two years. Yes, this took a circuitous route to our little blog. Here's an email exchange from after Brand declared in 1999, via an article from Kentucky Wildcats SBN site A Sea of Blue back in 2007. There were a few more-than-slightly-irked Blue Devil loyalists miffed at Brand, the best among the three, for tarnishing the holier than thou image that is Duke basketball. Brand, along with uninjured (!) freshman Corey Maggette and "Who?" William Avery, all shed their Dookie colors in favor of the NBA pastures. Elton Brand went to Duke University at a time where everyone and their wealthy, wicked-smart mothers stayed four years in Durham. Hopefully having former professional players leading the operations of G-League teams will have positive affect on the young athletes entering the league, furthermore creating a greater image for the league for years to come.That's not to say he's not still awesome as a person or even fairly awesome as a basketball player, but the following story from the archives will solidify his prior awesomeness to a premier standard. Coinciding with that, the Los Angeles Clippers just named Dee “The Inventor of the Dab” Brown as the GM for the Aqua Caliente Clippers of Ontario, their G League affiliate. It was also not too long ago that Anthony Parker took a step up in the Magic organization, from a supporting scout, to the GM of the Lakeland Magic. In April, Malik Rose was promoted by the Hawks, taking the role of GM for their newly introduced Erie BayHawks team. This isn’t the first time this year that we’ve seen former NBA players become well invested into front office roles within G-League organizations. A two-time All-Star, Brand played 17 seasons in the NBA, playing 5 of those with Philadelphia from 2008-2012 and during his retirement season, 2015-2016. It’s great to see Brand stay with the organization that he once thrived under during his true golden days. I look forward to building upon the successes the Sevens have had both on the court and in the community in Delaware.” “I want to thank Josh Harris, David Blitzer, Bryan Colangelo and staff for the opportunity to develop, cultivate and elevate talent in our program. “I’m extremely excited to begin a new role as General Manager of the 87ers,” said Brand. With that said, Brand’s longtime relationship and experience with the Sixers organization should allow him to have a mentor-like affect with the young and developing players, allowing him to turn out to be the trophy GM that the 87ers need. With the tight-knit community relationships the G-League beholds, GM’s are much more likely to have effect on players lives and gameplay. Brand was given the opportunity after former Sixers Vice President of basketball administration Brandon Williams, who also played the role of the 87ers' GM, recently left to take an assistant General Manager position with the Kings.īrand’s experience as a former all-star may seriously come in handy in today’s intimate G-League experience.
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