There is a lot of potential talent in the Sixers frontcourt: Ben Simmons, Dario Saric, Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor, Joel Embiid. There is also a lot of youth.
The Sixers are adding to the depth up front by re-signing veteran Elton Brand, who was on the roster for them the second half of last season (but played sparingly). This was first reported Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical at Yahoo Sports.
Free agent Elton Brand has signed a one-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, league source tells @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 7, 2016
The Sixers have since confirmed the signing, it’s official. It is one year, for the veteran minimum, and is not fully guaranteed.
Jerry Colangelo orchestrated bringing in Brand last season, part of his effort to get some veteran voices onto a young roster. It shouldn’t be a shock that he and GM Bryan Colangelo wanted to add Brand as a continuation of that (the Sixers also now have Jerryd Bayless and Gerald Henderson on the roster).
At age 37 Brand doesn’t have much to contribute on the court (he played in 17 games), although he played decently last season and the Sixers were a little better with him on the court rather than off. He doesn’t move well defensively, and on offense he lives in the midrange — he took 51.4 percent of his shots between 10 and 15 feet out but hit just 27 percent of them.