If you didn’t know better, the Wells Fargo Center looked like a Duke University alumni meeting.
Newly unretired Elton Brand was in uniform to work out before Thursday night’s game against the Atlanta Hawks, sharing wisdom with fellow alum Jahlil Okafor on how to guard the Hawks’ Paul Millsap.
Broadcaster Alaa Abdelnaby, a member of three Final Four teams at Duke, was preparing to call the game when he crossed paths with another Duke player, Shane Battier, who was seated on the Sixers’ bench as players began pregame warmups.
Shane Battier? Could the Sixers be looking to lure another well-respected veteran influence out of retirement to join the youthful roster?
No chance, Battier said.
“I’m just passing through,” Battier said. “The playing ship has sailed.”
Passing through? Philadelphia? Fat chance. Actually, Battier was in town to have coffee and talk with general manager Sam Hinkie in Fishtown. You know, coffee talk, no big whoop. According to Battier, that’s all it was.
NBA
Asked what role Battier could play with the Sixers, head coach Brett Brown said the team was simply tapping into Battier’s years of basketball wisdom.
“It wasn’t about playing at all,” Brown said. “It’s just about reaching out to basketball people and picking their brains. Any chance you can get with a guy of Shane’s intellect and class, you talk to him.”
Battier, of course, played 13 years in the NBA for Memphis, Houston and Miami, winning the NBA Finals with the Heat in 2012 and 2013. But he says he has not played basketball since suiting up for Game 5 of the 2014 NBA Finals.
That’s going to remain his last game, he says.
But whether another role within the organization is available for Battier remains to be seen. Battier and Hinkie have a relationship going back to their days with the Rockets when the GM was working under Carroll Dawson and Daryl Morey and the player was the defensive stopper known as the “no-stats All-Star.”
Battier’s calling card in the NBA was his defense, passing and knack for the intangibles. He averaged just 8.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in his career, but had an uncanny ability to keep the man he was guarding from even touching the ball.
Could there be a job for Battier with the Sixers? Maybe, he said, as long as it’s not as a player.
“As long as I look this good in a pair of corduroys, Sam says I should stay on the sidelines,” the nattily attired Battier said.
But neither Hinkie nor Battier said anything about corduroy wearers taking a seat in the front office. Perhaps the coffee talk could lead to bigger things.
Stay tuned.