Colangelo engineered Brand's signing with Sixers

Jerry Colangelo continues to reshape the 76ers.

The new chairman of basketball operations pushed for Elton Brand to sign with the team, the same way he orchestrated the hiring of Mike D'Antoni as associate head coach and the trade for point guard Ish Smith.

"I think with Jerry's connections with Coach K [Mike Krzyzewski] and [Brand's agent] David Falk, that [helped] our desire to maybe bring in more senior voices in the program," Sixers coach Brett Brown said of the signing of Brand, who played for Krzyzewski at Duke. "We considered a lot. . . . And Elton's name just came up and we are able to get it over the line. But I kind of give Jerry a lot of credit for this one."

The team reached out to former Sixer Jason Richardson in an effort to add veteran leadership. But Brand, also a former Sixer, was always the team's No. 1 target.

Brand, 36, still lives with his family in the area and he signed with the Sixers on Monday. He took a physical before the Sixers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 109-99, and sat with the team on the bench. The team cut rookie power forward Christian Wood to make room on the 15-man roster.

Brand will serve as a mentor for the young players, including rookie center Jahlil Okafor. Okafor, 20, has had his share of publicized off-court incidents. Okafor also played for Krzyzewski at Duke.

Brand knows about Okafor "just from what Coach K said and hearing about this young, talented kid from Chicago and the moves he had," Brand said. "Great kid. Just his basketball stuff. I didn't know him personally. He might not have been born when I was with the Bulls."

Chicago made Brand the first overall pick in the 1999 NBA draft. The 6-foot-8 power forward has played 16 seasons in the NBA, his last stop being with the Atlanta Hawks for the previous two seasons. Brand played four seasons for the Sixers before he was waived on July 12, 2012.

He has averaged 16.1 points and 8.6 rebounds during his career. Also, Brand was regarded as one of the best locker room guys in the league.

Okafor said he hopes to learn "whatever he can offer me on the floor, off the floor, how he is able to be successful so long in this league, and how he's still able to be in the NBA. I think I can learn a lot from Elton."

Brand is not expected to play much for the Sixers. They were intent on hiring him as a player to mentor his new teammates as opposed to a coach or an adviser.

"You wouldn't believe what goes on at halftime when a coaching staff is in another room," Brown said of the reasoning. "You wouldn't believe what goes on on a bench when you are down 20. You wouldn't believe what goes on in players' minds when it's a two-point game with a minute and half left and do they know their assignments.

"It is so much deeper than putting a suit on him and thinking you are going to get the value out of him that I want to get out of him."

Colangelo contacted Brand shortly after being hired by the Sixers on Dec. 8. Then Brand had a breakfast meeting with general manager Sam Hinkie.

"Then Jerry and I spoke again and it got from 'We'd love to have you around [a few] hours a week' to really coming on and being a part of this to 'What about you as a player?' " Brand said. At first, "I was just like, 'Nah, I'm not a player.' That's why it took so long."