 |
| | Home | Stats | Profile | Pictures | Wallpapers | Biography | Videos | Honors | Articles | Forums | Misc. | Links | Contact | |
|
-Biography Early years college and the NBA: click here. Brand as a USA team member: click here. Fun facts about Elton: click here. -Early Years, College, and the NBA. -Elton Brand's Kingdom Elton Brand was born on March 11, 1979 in Peekskill, New York. Peekshill is as Brand describes it "A good environmental city" located in Weschester County. Elton grew as a normal kid who like to play any kind of sport. He grew up as a respectfull and intelligent young man. At the age of thirteen he entered Peekskill High School as a freshman and quickly showed that he belonged on the varsity squad. As high school coach Lou Panzanaro remembers, "I met Elton when he was a 13-year-old-freshman at Peekskill High School, after I saw Elton get the ball up for the opening tap, score over 30 points and get every rebound after every shot, I wanted him on the varsity team. He played phenomenally. It made me realize, for him to get better, he needed to play with people who were better than him at that point." To Elton, basketball was a lot of fun and a challenge to play and credits his high school coach with helping put him on the right path. "Various people taught me to play basketball, but my high school coach played an important role," says Brand. Although his coach helped him, at one point Elton decided to quit the team because his coach just worked him to hard and Elton though that it was enough for him. His mother, Daisy, convinced Elton to not give up and not to quit, he was only 13 years old and Elton never had a problem after that incident. Elton's mother taught him a lot and instilled good behavior and a work ethic, his mom's attitude kept him positive. She was always pushing him to be the best, and to read books. Elton and his family have lots of roots in Westchester County. Elton's grandmother lives in Ossining and has uncles and aunts who live throughout the county. He misses the people and being away from his friends. He liked growing up in Westchester County -- it wasn't like a fast-paced city life, it was a good environment. Elton goes back to visit in the offseason because he loves the area, the scenery, and driving up Route 9 and seeing all the trees, as he described. Elton's favorite hangouts in Peekskill is not a basketball court but a restaurant. He liked going to Highland Pizza in Peekskill late at night and talking to his friends for hours and hours. Elton loves the chicken parmesan. Highland Pizza has a Pataki Pizza and will soon be offering an Elton chicken parmesan sandwich. Of course, now that Elton has his lucrative contract with the Clippers he could buy Highland Pizza. He has not forgotten where he came from and who helped him get there. Most people are so impressed by his charm and gentle-nature that after the first time they meet him, they call him a friend. There is definitely a bright future for this young star. Gov. Pataki has even loftier expectations for him though. "There are parallels between Elton and presidential candidate Bill Bradley. Like Elton, Bill was always underestimated and always made the effort to be a great player and citizen," he explained. Brand for president in 2004, anyone?
 By the age of 13, Brand was already touted as a "can't miss" player, as a freshman he was the best player on the team and by his sophomore year, the best in the region. Elton lettered in basketball all four years in high school for coach Panzanaro, as well as lettering one year in football as a tight end. Eventually, he gave up football to concentrate on basketball. As a high school senior, Elton was named a McDonald's All-American after averaging 25.9 ppg, 16.2 rpg and 6.0 bpg. After his high school sophomore year, Elton was getting letters from people who had never even seen him play. Over 250 schools were interested in him. Of course, NCAA rules state schools can't contact high school athletes until their senior year. Elton and his high school coach started planning what college Elton was going to pick. They decided California was too far and New York was too close. They picked out 40 schools and Panzanaro did a lot research with Elton and evaluated the academics and graduation rate. Brand chose Duke because of it's impressive student/player graduation rate, yet, he was the first player to leave the prestigious basketball program early. Coach Panzanaro warned Elton that the Duke basketball team had eight or nine underclassman that were very good, and that he would be lucky if Coach Mike Krzyzewski would let him play a few minutes when they played West Point, since that would be a home game for him. Coach K was the only basketball coach recruiting Elton who gave no assurances of playing him. But once again Elton surpassed expectations. His list of athletic awards in college covers just about every honor a collegiate basketball player can win. One indication of the outstanding career ahead of him in professional basketball was being named "Sporting News Player of the Year" after his sophomore year at Duke. He is one of only three players to receive the award after his sophomore year in college. (The other two were NBA legends Michael Jordan and Bill Walton.) Brand left his highly ranked college team after his sophomore year to enter the draft in '99 and was the number one pick by the Chicago Bulls. He was the first Blue Devil ever to be picked with the number one pick. (Despite only playing two seasons at Duke, Brand left his mark on the Blue Devil record books...His career field goal percentage mark of .621 is the highest ever for players with at least 300 made, and he ranks fifth with 113 career blocked shots...Despite missing 15 games as a freshman due to a broken left foot, he was still named honorable mention All-America by AP after averaging 13.4 ppg and a team-high 7.3 rpg...As a sophomore, he led Duke in scoring (17.7 ppg), rebounding (9.8 rpg) and blocked shots (86) and was the consensus National Player of the Year, as well as a unanimous First Team All-American selection by AP, the ACC Player of the Year and USA Basketball's Man of the Year.) During his first two seasons Elton averaged 20 pts, 10 reb, and 2 blocks per game while being named the NBA's co-rookie of the year. In the spring of 2000 Elton started the Elton Brand Foundation, an organization that provides support to worthy causes in Chicago, Peekskill, NY and Durham, NC. In 2001 Elton was traded to the Clippers and in his first year as a Clipper Elton was named to the 2002 All-Star Game in Philadelphia while averaging 18 pts, 12 rebs, and 2 blocks per game. Elton is now on the brink of becoming an NBA star for the next 15 years.
 -Elton as a USA Team Member. -Elton Brand's Kingdom Elton a veteran of three USA Basketball teams, Brand was one of three collegians selected for the 1999 USA Tournament of the Americas Olympic Qualifying Team that also featured nine NBA standouts. That USA Basketball team rolled to a spotless 10-0 record, won gold and qualified the United States for the 2000 Olympic Games. In 1998 as a member of the gold medal winning 1998 USA Goodwill Games Team that was comprised of college players, Brand averaged a team second best 17.0 points a game, while adding team bests of 7.6 rebounds, 1.2 blocked shots and 65.0 percent shooting from the field. In the gold medal final against Australia, Brand finished with 15 points and nine rebounds to help the U.S. to its 93-85 overtime victory. For his outstanding performance at the Goodwill Games, he was tagged by USA Basketball as its 1998 Male Athlete of the Year. Brand made his USA Basketball debut in 1997 as a heralded high school senior with the USA Basketball Hoop Summit Team. The USA, behind Brand's 15 points and seven boards, defeated an International Select Team 97-90.
 -Fun Facts about Elton. -Elton Brand's Kingdom
- Major: Sociology
|