When Brand was a sophomore in 1998, he was, in Krzyzewski's opinion, slacking off, relying on glossy magazine covers, not hard work, to carry him into the NBA. So, before one December game, Krzyzewski called out Brand in front of his teammates, and sent him to the bench for two games.

"Absolutely, it was the turning point of his career," said new Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins, who was an assistant at Duke during Brand's two years.

That turning point led the Blue Devils to the NCAA championship game that season and Brand to national player-of-the-year honors. The Chicago Bulls made Brand the No. 1 overall pick that spring, and he has made millions during a nine-year career that included stints with the Bulls and the Los Angeles Clippers. Yesterday, Brand officially guaranteed he will haul in $82 million more when he signed a five-year deal with the 76ers, a deal he playfully described as "the Phillymax."

It was a slam dunk for a team in need of a superstar since Allen Iverson was traded to Denver. Brand is one of the most popular, pleasant players in the league, and has a reputation for hard work and doing whatever a coach asks.

Post up? No problem. Play defense? OK. Run? How fast?

Brand's work ethic was born from his single mother, who raised two sons in the Dunbar Heights housing project in little Peekskill, N.Y., a 50-mile trip from New York City. Daisy Brand worked two jobs to provide for her boys, and kept a strong hand on Elton in an effort to keep him away from the problems of life in the projects.

Brand was a worker. He shoveled snow and delivered newspapers, and he played the clarinet because all of the saxophones at school were taken. Daisy insisted, when Elton was 8 or 9 years old, that he study taekwondo and always attend church. It was discipline, but it wasn't always easy to handle as a young boy in public housing.

"I'm walking outside with a karate suit on, and there's a lot of jokes," Brand said yesterday while his mother sat nearby, beside Brand's pregnant wife, Shahara. "Walking outside with your church clothes on, there's a lot of jokes. But she instilled in me just being a better person, knowing about your body and just being the best person you can be.

"My mom had a very strong hand, and I actually felt that hand a few times."

Brand, whose father reportedly left the family when Elton was 2, didn't always understand the lessons his mom was trying to teach, but he had a basketball in his hands before he was 10 years old. When he sprouted to 6-foot-8 and led Peekskill High School to consecutive championships, he had options for college because he was an excellent student. And he was toughened from playing with Ron Artest and Lamar Odom for the AAU titan Riverside Church in New York City.

Daisy Brand said that Elton had an offer to play in Greece when he was 14 years old. That would have compromised Elton's college eligibility, among other things, and she wanted her son to go to college.

As one of the most-sought-after players at the time, Brand chose Duke, the Cadillac of basketball programs, especially in the 1990s.

In two seasons at Duke, Brand averaged 16.2 points and 8.9 rebounds in 60 games. He had that early issue with Krzyzewski his sophomore year, and while Brand's mother painted a more complicated picture of the circumstances surrounding his benching, there was little question of the effect and aftermath.

"It probably did push him to do more and be more diligent," Daisy Brand said.

Said Elton Brand: "Besides my mother, that's when it got instilled, that blue-collar work ethic, in me to always give my best. The two games I sat registered in me with wanting to learn how to work hard and always give my best."

Now, Brand finds himself in the ultimate blue-collar city, and those who know him and this town think the union will be a perfect one.

"He's got a great, great work ethic, and is a great teammate," said former Sixers president Billy King, who has known Brand since he was a Duke freshman. "He'll fit into that locker room perfectly, and he's the perfect fit for the Philadelphia mentality. He's blue collar. He doesn't get it done fancy, but he gets it done."

"His desire to be successful and desire for his team to win is at a high level," Dawkins said. "Philadelphia has always had players like him throughout the years that were driven. . . . I think every day they have him, they'll be happy they have Elton Brand on the team."

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