Brand Thinks Clippers Will Surprise the NBA

Tuning in to the NBA playoffs last spring, Elton Brand couldn’t help but feel as if he’d been cruelly left behind.

Former Clipper teammates Lamar Odom, Michael Olowokandi and Andre Miller all made their playoff debuts -- with the Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets, respectively.

Steve Francis, co-rookie of the year with Brand in the 1999-2000 season, made his playoff debut with the Houston Rockets.

Meanwhile, Brand was free to line up surgeries on his left knee and right ring finger. The Clippers had already fallen short of the playoffs for the seventh consecutive year.

In five pro seasons Brand has proven himself one of the NBA’s most consistently productive power forwards, a double-double demon with career averages of 19.4 points and 10.7 rebounds. He was the No. 1 pick in the 1999 draft, an All-Star in the 2001-02 season and, after helping the U.S. qualify, was summoned to play in the Athens Olympics, an invitation he declined.

The playoffs, though, have eluded him, and it gnaws at him.

“Especially after last season, seeing a lot of my friends [in their] first time in the playoffs -- guys I’ve played with and known forever,” Brand said on the eve of training camp, which opens Tuesday in Santa Barbara. “Before, we all weren’t in the playoffs, so it was like, ‘We’ll get there when it’s our turn.’

“But they were there. It’s like, ‘Man, I need to get there.’ ”

The sooner the better, he said.

Unlike most prognosticators, who see another season of disappointment looming for the Clippers, Brand envisions a red, white and blue breakthrough.

“I’m pretty sure it’s going to happen soon,” he said of a Clipper return to the playoffs for the first time since 1997. “I think if we keep going this could be the year, and I haven’t said that ... I don’t think I’ve ever said that.

“But I think this is the year.”

Brand said he likes the makeup of the team, with the addition of veteran guard Kerry Kittles and departure of Quentin Richardson the most significant changes to the Clippers’ nucleus, and the bottom of the roster revamped.

Of course, he would have liked it better if the Clippers had succeeded in landing Kobe Bryant, who re-signed with the Lakers.

Brand left phone messages for Bryant during the recruiting process in early July, hoping to coax him into a Clipper uniform. “Anytime you can get a player of that caliber,” he said, “you give your all, and I definitely tried my best.”

But he never heard back and, after Bryant stayed put, Brand wondered like many others if the Laker star had ever really been serious about joining the Clippers or was simply “flirting with us a little bit....

“Some of his quotes about wanting to be a Laker forever and Magic Johnson being his favorite player ... I don’t know. That says it right there to me.”

Still, Brand appreciated the Clippers’ effort. They had signed Brand and Corey Maggette to long-term contracts in the summer of 2003, also bringing in respected Coach Mike Dunleavy. They had pursued Bryant into the 11th hour and, later in July, had dealt for Kittles.

Injuries and a lack of depth contributed to a 28-54 record last season, the Clippers’ 11th consecutive sub-.500 season, but Brand said he saw only brighter days ahead.

“I’m glad to be here,” he said, 15 months after signing an offer sheet with the Heat, only to have the Clippers match it. “Coach Dunleavy really knows what he’s doing. Management’s tried to get some players in here that can play.... I feel it turning. I see guys working hard. I see young draft picks with a lot of talent coming in. I see older guys [added for depth] that have been in the league for awhile. It’s not just a bunch of young guys, young gunners. It’s a nice mix....

“I’m really very much looking forward to this season.”