Elton Brand

American college basketball player who starred at Duke, winning the Naismith Player of the Year Award in 1999 before becoming NBA's 1st overall draft pick.

Elton Brand was born in Cortland, New York in 1979. He attended Duke University under coach Mike Krzyzewski and won the Naismith Award as national player of the year in 1999 after two seasons. He averaged 17.7 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. He led Duke to the 1999 national championship game — losing to Connecticut — and was one of the tournament's most dominant interior players. He was the ACC Player of the Year. Chicago Bulls selected him first overall in the 1999 NBA Draft. His two-year Duke career — one championship game, one Naismith Award — is the blueprint for the one-and-done era before it truly began: a player so clearly ready for professional competition that remaining for additional college seasons would have made no financial or developmental sense. He went on to a 15-season NBA career with seven double-figures scoring seasons. His Duke career — brief but decorated — represented the early wave of players who demonstrated that two college seasons could be sufficient preparation for the highest professional level.

Brand was a skilled power forward with excellent footwork and a soft shooting touch around the basket. He combined size, strength, and mobility to dominate in the post while also possessing the ability to face up and shoot from mid-range. His fundamentally sound approach and basketball IQ made him effective on both ends of the court.

Brand helped establish Duke as a premier destination for elite big men and demonstrated that underclassmen could leave college basketball at the peak of their success.

• Naismith Award (1999)
• ACC Player of Year
• Tournament MOP finalist
• National Championship runner-up