Random NBA Players: Terrell Brandon
The internet is filled with hundreds of thousands of nostalgic tales, but that’s to be expected. As a wise man once said, “Nostalgia is a mild form of depression,” and everyone can get a little blue when thinking back to 1997. With the summer sun shining, however, we’re in a cheery mood. And with the NBA having settled down after a busy first few weeks of offseason transactions, we thought it best to highlight some random NBA players who may have done their best work a decade or two ago.
This isn’t a list of your “Top 12 File Sharing Services of 2002” or “27 Ways Britney Ruled the VMAs.” No, this is …
Random Players, NBA Edition
We continue with Terrell Brandon.
Even in the years before hand-checking was outlawed (well, they tried in 1994, but Derek Harper made sure it didn’t take), point guards still ruled the roost all the way back in 1996-97.
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John Stockton was on his way toward leading the Utah Jazz to the team’s first Finals appearance. Tim Hardaway was in the midst of a career rebirth with the contending Miami Heat. Rod Strickland was leading the Washington Bullets to the team’s first playoff appearance in nine years, Mark Jackson was dishing an incredible amount of dimes for the slow-down era, Allen Iverson was in his first year, same as Stephon Marbury, and Damon Stoudamire was in his second. Steve Nash was just drafted.
Gary Payton was out there in Seattle, dominating. Anfernee Hardaway, still technically a point guard! Mookie Blaylock was nailing threes and shutting you down. Ahead of Nash in the Phoenix depth chart were legends Sam Cassell and Kevin Johnson, and Cassell was dealt for Jason Kidd midseason. Kenny Anderson and Nick Van Exel were still working it. Amongst the chief concerns for championship contenders in Houston and New York was the team’s inability to find a star-level point guard to put them over the top.
And yet, midway through a season that saw his team miss the playoffs, Cleveland Cavalier point guard Terrell Brandon took in this accolade:
The story behind the declaration is a bit much. Brandon is credited for not kicking cameramen (“Get me a re-write, Rodman just kicked a guy!”) and for hanging out in his hotel room after games rather than carousing as Chris Broussard looked on.
The reasoning behind the assertion that Brandon was the NBA’s best point guard was even more dubious. Sports Illustrated basically ranked each point guard by their averages in comparison to other NBA point men – Iverson would rank first in points, Stockton second in assists, Brandon best in turnovers, Kidd first in rebounds – and add all the rankings up. Tie that in with an “isn’t he a sweet guy, and just 5-11!” piece, and you have a cover story.
None of it was fair to anyone. Including Terrell Brandon.
Brandon ran point for the 42-40 and lottery-bound Cleveland Cavaliers, a Mike Fratello-led team that was far and away the slowest squad in the NBA by far. He per-game numbers were limited as a result (which makes his sparkling Sports Illustrated showing all the more impressive), and he averaged 19.5 points on 43 percent shooting with 9.3 assists and 2.3 turnovers that campaign.
Frustrated by a 9-13 end to the season, as Strickland’s Bullets slid past the Cavaliers for the right to be swept by the Ron Harper-led Chicago Bulls in the first round of the playoffs, the Cavaliers ignored Sports Illustrated’s claims and dealt TB seven months after the publishing date as part of a package that would land Cleveland Shawn Kemp.
Kemp and a group of emerging Cavs rookies would lead the team back to the playoffs in 1997-98, while Brandon once again missed the postseason (this time in Milwaukee). After the lockout, he was dealt a month into the 1999 season to Minnesota as part of a disappointing consolation prize for the unhappy and emerging Stephon Marbury. Following a few first round playoff cameos, Brandon’s career was cut short following a microfracture surgery, prior to retirement and moving back home to Oregon to run a barber shop.
This is not how this story ends. This isn’t some silly Sports Illustrated jinx story, either, because Terrell Brandon might have deserved that cover.
Even in 1997, with the shortened arc, Terrell Brandon averaged just 3.5 three-pointers a game. He averaged fewer than three free throws a game in his career. His killer move came after a guard-around screen that would lead to a pull-up 19-footer for two points. There are ways of looking at his game that make him appear as an anachronism in the modern and self-aware NBA. A too-cute story to pitch while waiting for the Swimsuit Issue to roll around.
The year prior to that pitch, however, saw Brandon working with a Player Efficiency Rating over 25. Only three players – MVP candidates Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, and Chris Paul – had a mark higher last season. Brandon’s PER mark, mind you, was created when it was legal as whole milk to shove a forearm into your chest while you attempted to drive.
Chris Mills, at 15 points per game, was the second-leading scorer on a team that Brandon drove toward 47 wins and a top ten offensive efficiency rating. Danny Ferry was the team’s fourth-leading scorer. Michael Cage started 80 games. And the East was really, really good back then.
Brandon dipped slightly during his cover boy year to a 21 PER (we’re using this admittedly-flawed stat because, again, Fratello’s offense rendered per game stats almost meaningless), but that drop and the mawkish Sports Illustrated feature shouldn’t take away from his brilliance. You wouldn’t take him over Payton that season or Stockton for a career, but even in spite of that national showcase he remains terribly underrated.
The tagline for that feature called Terrell Brandon “the best pure point guard in the NBA, and its best-kept secret.” They may have whiffed on the first assertion, but the second part was spot-on.
Previous entries: Tom Gugliotta.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
