None of them won Rookie of the Year. On the list of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA history, only 17 were named Rookie of the Year. But 41 of them won a championship. What this says is that it's not how you start but how you finish that truly matters. Francis is a guard.
Brand is a forward.
Brand is as hulking, as dependable, as quiet as a St. Bernard. Francis is as frantic, as hyper, as noisy as a Chihuahua. Brand comes with the refined pedigree of Duke University, which is as close to royalty as it gets in college basketball these days. Or maybe in Francis' case, tutti-frutti. Brand is mature and wise beyond his years, a basketball perfectionist who goes about his business with the precision of a Swiss watchmaker or a member of the bomb squad.