July 27, 1999

CHICAGO (AP) - With Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman long gone, the Chicago Bulls welcomed Elton Brand as the team tries to return to championship form.

Brand, the NBA's top draft pick last month, signed a three-year contract Monday. He was to report Tuesday to the Bulls, who are participating in the Rocky Mountain Summer League in Utah.

A team source who requested anonymity said the package totals about $10 million, with most of the money coming at the end of the contract.

"It's been a dream of mine. I've been working hard for it," Brand said after emerging from Bulls headquarters with his mother in suburban Deerfield. "I'm ready to get started and help the Bulls. We want to start with the rebuilding and try to get back in the win column and get into the playoffs."

The 6-foot-8, 260-pound forward who spent the last month playing with the U.S. national team in the Olympic-qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico is a solid building block for the Bulls.

Brand said there's plenty he can do — a short-range jumper and a perimeter game — that he just never got to show at Duke.

"I realize the expectations that come with being the overall No. 1 draft pick, and I'm going to work hard to live up to those expectations," Brand said.

In Salt Lake City, Bulls coach Tim Floyd on Monday night didn't immediately return a telephone message.

The Bulls got the first pick by winning the draft lottery drawing on May 22. They finished 13-37 during the season and got into the lottery by virtue of not making the playoffs.

The Bulls were six-time NBA champions in the 1990s, but slipped to near the bottom of the league when Jordan retired and Pippen was traded. Role players such as Rodman, Luc Longley, Steve Kerr also left the team.

Their .260 winning percentage was the lowest in franchise history, beating out the 1975-76 squad, which finished 24-58 with a .293 winning percentage.

Their average of 81.9 points was the lowest scoring average in NBA history since the inception of the shot clock. Entering this season, the lowest average was 87.4 points in 72 games by the Milwaukee Hawks in 1954-55, the season the clock was adopted.

Brand, a unanimous AP All-American this spring, averaged 16.2 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.88 blocks his two years at Duke. As a sophomore, he led the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring with a 17.7 average and rebounding with a 9.8 average. Brand averaged 17 points and 9.2 rebounds in six NCAA tournament games as Duke finished as the 1999 runnerup.

Chicago's other first-round selection, Ron Artest of St. John's, signed a three-year pact on July 15.