A BRAND NEW GAME

Yeah, Elton Brand heard the digs.

He was too small to bang with the big boys. He’d never carry a team like Steve Francis or Lamar Odom. Didn’t have their flash or flair, either.

In short, the No. 1 pick of the draft was, well, a little bland.

“I’ll take another bland one just like him,” Chicago Bulls coach Tim Floyd said. “I don’t see anything bland about him.”

While Francis and Odom get most of the hype, Brand has quietly made a solid case for the rookie of the year award. He’s the leading rookie in just about every category that counts, and his numbers stack up pretty well against his NBA elders, too.

If that’s not flashy enough, too bad. That’s Brand’s game, and he’s sticking with it.

“I always want to prove myself to naysayers, people who say, ‘He’s not this, he can’t do this.’ I take that as a challenge,” he said. “Let the stats and the games do the talking and the people will see. They don’t need me to go out and say it.”

A sophomore at Duke last year, Brand was a man-child as the Blue Devils rolled through the regular season on their way to the national championship game. Bigger and stronger than everyone else, he averaged 17.7 points, 9.8 rebounds and two blocked shots on a team that also had Trajan Langdon, William Avery and Corey Maggette.

The consensus national player of the year, Brand was only the fourth player in the 1990s to be a unanimous All-American pick. When it came time to declare for the draft, he had coach Mike Krzyzewski’s blessing to become the first Blue Devil to leave early.

But with draft day looming, the sniping started. Brand was too small, and would get pushed around by the likes of Alonzo Mourning and Shaquille O’Neal. When he measured 6-foot-8 in his stocking feet with a wingspan wider than most small planes, the knock was he didn’t have the spectacular offensive skills of Francis and Odom. He’d end up more like Sam Bowie than Michael Jordan.

“Of course, I heard that. You can’t help but to hear it,” the 20-year-old Brand said. “It does bother you, but you have to stay focused.”

So he worked. And worked. And worked. Then he worked some more. A few days before training camp opened, Floyd walked into the Bulls’ practice facility late one night and heard music playing. Brand was in the gym, working.

He was a starter by the time the season began, and he got his first double-double in the third game. While Chicago got off to a dreadful start, losing 25 of its first 27 games, Brand was consistently solid, night after night.

Just as important, the player who only lost six games in his two years at Duke never got discouraged. No matter how badly the Bulls lost, he never ditched reporters. He doesn’t whine, complain or criticize his teammates, and he’s unfailingly polite.

“The losing has been the toughest part,” he admitted. “From rec. center on, I don’t think I’ve lost this many games--I know I haven’t.

“I just try to keep improving my game, have faith that we’re going to get better. Someday, I’ll look back at this time and be like, ‘Oh, man, we were bad. But now we’re good.”’

Though Floyd touted Brand for rookie of the year like a campaign manager on his way to a caucus, it took Brand winning the MVP award in the All-Star rookie game for most people to realize the No. 1 pick is playing like one.

“I think he’s better--a lot better--than I thought,” Floyd said.

Second to Odom in minutes, Brand leads all rookies in scoring (18.6 points a game), rebounds (9.7), blocked shots (1.57) and double-doubles (24). He’s third in field goal percentage (48 percent), but he’s taken three times as many shots (777) as Eddie Robinson, whose 52 percent (118-of-226) leads that category.

Brand also leads the NBA--yes, the entire NBA--in offensive rebounds with 4.6 a game. He’s 12th in the league in total rebounding average, and is 11th in double-doubles.

“He’s not smooth and fluid or all these other adjectives people talk about when they talk about Odom or Francis. Those guys are, ‘Exciting,’ ‘Explosive,”’ said Will Perdue, the Bulls’ veteran center. “Elton has those qualities, but he just goes out and does his job. Then you look at the stat sheet and he’s got 20 points and 16, 17 rebounds.

“That’s where he’s a lot like Tim,” added Perdue, who was in San Antonio for Tim Duncan’s first two seasons. “He very quietly goes out and does his job, and you really don’t realize how good a game he’s had until after it’s over.”

Even Brand rarely realizes how well he’s playing. While some players do mental gymnastics on their personal scoreboards during games, he doesn’t look at his stats. Doesn’t track Francis or Odom’s, either, unless someone happens to mention them or he comes across them watching TV or reading the paper.

“I don’t try to follow it too tight or I’d go crazy,” he said, laughing. “Oh, ‘This guy had 30, so I have to go out and do this to average the most.’ I can’t get into all that.”

Don’t get Brand wrong. He wants the rookie of the year award--badly. Winning it has been a goal since he was drafted.

Of course, he wants to grab 1,000 rebounds, too.

“You win with grit, you win with toughness and you win with guys that show up every night,” Floyd said. “I’m sure the other rookies do, too, but we know who our guy is.

“I just love him. Absolutely love him.”