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Nobody likes to be the bad guy. In pro sports, that’s a tough thing to manage. Just about every athlete has to play the villain at one point or another over the course of his career. Elton Brand had been an exception. Over seven years in LA, he built a clean reputation and a well and honestly earned level of goodwill unusual for an NBA player generally and unheard of for a Clipper particularly. No player had spent so much time so successfully as the face of Donald Sterling’s historically wayward franchise. He said all the right things, did all the right things, and was an anchor for the Clipper Nation.

No question Brand was aware of reputation he’d built, and was savvy about preserving it. Still, I had the chance to talk with Elton on countless occasions during his tenure in LA, and if it’s all a front he had me fooled. Over the last 48 hours, though, we’ve seen a crash at the intersection between Brand the basketball businessman and Brand the person, and the results locally have been ugly.

With Brand’s defection to Philadelphia now official, the focus has away from that it happened towards figuring out how, when ten days ago the assumption was he’d be in LA, especially after the Clippers brought Baron Davis home from Golden State, it all went down. There’s been no shortage of finger pointing, from the organization towards Brand’s agent David Falk, from Falk to the organization, from Brand to the Clippers, from Mike Dunleavy to Brand. (For a great summary of what’s out there on the situation and to measure the mood of the Clipper Nation, check out this post at ClipperBlog, run by SHLA contributor Kevin Arnovitz.)

To me, though, it’s pretty simple.

Brand and Falk can talk about ultimatums or bad faith negotiations from the Clippers, absentee owners or whatever. Bottom line is that Donald Sterling ponied up a big hunk of cash and brought in an elite PG to run the show. The organization (or the media) can question whether or not he wanted to be in LA to begin with, and if all the talk of intending to come back, of opting out to give the Clippers a chance to use some cap space and improve the team, and wanting to remain out west was a pile of hooey. (Yeah, I said hooey. We’re not afraid to use strong language at SHLA…)

In the end, Brand simply changed his mind.

I don’t doubt that for a long time through this process, Brand figured when it was over he’d still be wearing the red, white, and blue. But other options surfaced, and at that moment of truth, when it came time to sign away the second half of his career- albeit for a massive pile of cash- he just couldn’t pull the trigger. Not with the same massive pile of cash available to go to a young, up and coming squad in a conference where the path to the Finals is a lot easier. Not, ultimately, when he’d be placing his faith and legacy in the hands of a Clippers organization that, while on the upswing since the Keith Closs days, is still a massive question mark, seems cursed, has a GM with no real power and a de-facto GM who doesn’t seem to get along with the owner.

Brand doesn’t know if he’ll win a title in Philly… but should he have believed he’d win one with the Clippers? I realize looking at the AL East standings and seeing the Tampa Bay Rays in first place emboldens everyone with a certain “anything is possible” outlook, but really, would you bet your last nickel on Donald Sterling kissing the Larry O’Brien? I don’t believe in curses, but I do believe that some teams, some organizations, operate underneath a big black cloud filled with enough soon-to-drop shoes to stock your local Foot Locker.

Breaking through that barrier is incredibly difficult.

The problem for Brand wasn’t that he changed his mind- if it was a wedding, they’d have called it cold feet- but that he tried to have it both ways. So accustomed to playing that good guy role in the media, Brand wasn’t able to step up and take the heat for what he knew would be a very unpopular decision in the local media. I doubt, as some have theorized, that Brand has been poised to screw the Clippers for months, but after a process through which he defaulted to saying the right thing, he didn’t take enough responsibility for seeming to walk away from his word.

Brand couldn’t get himself to say simply that he changed his mind. That in the end, the Philly situation was a better one for him, for his family, where he felt more comfortable. He’s sorry, didn’t mean to lead anyone on, and in hindsight probably shouldn’t have said what he did about staying in LA or the Clippers putting a better team around him, but when push came to shove, he couldn’t sign on for more time. He tried to have it both ways, pass off responsibility to the NBA’s perennial whipping boy, and still seem like the unselfish guy he was a month ago.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t work with free agency, a process inherently built on selfishness. Intentionally or not, he was misleading to the Clippers, and to fans that have supported him.

Now he’s in Philly, where Brand will continue to be one of the best ambassadors for the NBA and a rock solid citizen. They’ll love him there, as they loved him here. One business negotiation gone sour doesn’t suddenly turn a good person into a lout. But the guy stand up guy he is (by reputation now, in the minds of Clipper fans) should have explained himself instead of passing the buck.

Brian Kamenetzky hosts the Lakers Blog and Blue Notes: A Dodgers Blog for the LA Times.com. He’s a contributing writer to ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com. Write him at bk@sportshubla.com.

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