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Lockout no hindrance to Brand's offseason workouts

SIXERS FORWARD Elton Brand spends his summers at his home in the Los Angeles area. He calls it his "vacation spot," though he rarely allows himself to kick back and chill.

"I don't want to lose the momentum that this team had last season," Elton Brand said. (Ron Cortes/Staff Photographer)
"I don't want to lose the momentum that this team had last season," Elton Brand said. (Ron Cortes/Staff Photographer)Read more

SIXERS FORWARD Elton Brand spends his summers at his home in the Los Angeles area. He calls it his "vacation spot," though he rarely allows himself to kick back and chill.

Brand, who will be 33 in March, knows that the end of his NBA future is like an oncoming wave at the beach - it can't be stopped. He does his best each summer to stall the inevitable - riding his bike for endless hours and miles, swimming lap after lap after lap in the pool and working on his basketball game at a local gym. He wants to squeeze as many seasons as he can out of his body, and that is why the potential of losing this season to a lockout is so bothersome.

"It is frustrating," Brand said of the lockout. "It's not the finances, it's the game. I don't want to lose the momentum that this team had last season, the momentum that I had. I want to show more. I want to be a part of keeping the city excited about the the Sixers. I don't want to lose a season because of this. I've lost enough games over the past few seasons. I don't want to lose more."

In 2007-08 with the Los Angeles Clippers, Brand tore an Achilles' tendon and played in only eight games. During the offseason, he signed with the Sixers and played in only 29 contests because of a shoulder injury. Then came a dismal 55-loss season in which Brand and coach Eddie Jordan never quite saw eye-to-eye.

The hiring of Doug Collins as head coach seemed to rejuvenate Brand and raise his game close to the level of where it was in Los Angeles. He averaged 15.0 points and 8.3 rebounds and Collins consistently said that if Brand needed to be a 20-point scorer, he still could.

Brand, who says he is the Sixers' unofficial team representative, is a tireless worker throughout the season, ever conscious of finding that balance of taking care of his body during the rigors of a season and putting in the extra work to keep his playing level high.

It all begins, though, during the offseason.

"I really didn't change anything during this offseason as far as my workouts, even if there is a lockout," Brand said. "I always take my offseason training seriously and work extremely hard. Now that I'm getting older, I know I have to do it. I don't want anyone to have a leg up on me when the season starts. I came back to Philly anticipating that we will begin training camp on time and that the season will be on. I'm optimistic. But whatever happens, I'll be ready."

Six shots

Elton Brand said that forward Marreese Speights didn't attend the recent player workouts in Los Angeles that Brand coordinated, because, "he is in a serious workout program in Las Vegas and didn't want to interrupt that." Brand said he talks to Speights about three times a week . . . Jason Kapono, who is a free agent, was the Sixers' player rep last season . . . The start of training camp is scheduled for Oct. 5 and the first preseason game Oct. 10 against Boston.