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Brand: 'I'm excited to be healthy'

When Elton Brand signed with the Sixers last offseason, he was coming off a season in which he played only eight games due to a ruptured left Achilles tendon.

With the big contract (close to $80 million) came enormous expectations from Sixers' fans. But Brand was far from himself during his brief stint last season when he appeared in only 28 games after dislocating his right shoulder in mid-December and subsequently undergoing surgery close to two months later.

He conceded today that his left leg was far from 100 percent.

"When I started last season, it wasn't 100 (percent), it wasn't there explosion-wise," Brand said during an event to unveil the Sixers' new uniforms. "But now I have the one-leg strength back, I have the two legs to bounce back. I've been training here the last two weeks so it feels good."

Brand and the Sixers are only looking forward with training camp set to begin next week.

"I'm excited to be healthy, I'm excited to add to the team," Brand admitted. "Two first round (playoff) losses the last two years for a young team is OK, but I was brought in here to go farther than that and that's my goal and that's what I've been thinking about the entire offseason."

Read more in tomorrow's Daily News