"But on defense I want [Brand] to be a leader, talking. I want people to feed off of him, to play off of him."
Jordan is not the only one who sees the leadership qualities in the 10-year pro. Monday night, Jordan asked his players who they thought the leaders are. Brand graded out very high.
"We did a little exercise [asking] who do you think our leaders are - sort of a questionnaire, a quiz - and Elton came back with flying colors," Jordan said. "That's from his peers, not from us. No name [on the quizzes], nobody being implicated. Elton, Andre [Iguodala] and Willie [Green], they came up big time."
Brand has twice been an All-Star, in 2002 and '06, but has only once been on a winning team when the 2005-06 Los Angeles Clippers went 47-35. He is coming back from two injury-shortened seasons and says his engine is as revved as it has ever been.
"I'm excited to be healthy and I'm excited to add to the team," said Brand, who appeared in only 29 games last season before shoulder surgery. "We are a young team but we have guys who are capable of leading. I'm definitely going to have to be one of the guys to take that role."
Attention to detail
Some players talked about Eddie Jordan's keen attention to detail, and Lou Williams was surprised when the coach stopped practice at one point during the morning session.
"He's very strict on things," Williams said. "One of the many things was he stopped a drill and told us to tuck our shirts in. I think that's the first time we had a coach be so set on his ways. I think it's the type of team that we are going to need that. We're going to need our coach to be our leader.
"That's the great thing about coach Jordan. We don't do anything for no reason. Everything we try to do right on the basketball court and off the basketball court. He wants us to be professionals. He wants us to pay attention and keep paying attention to detail."
Six shots
