PORTLAND — He couldn’t even walk the short distance from his team bus to the Rose Garden locker room without being noticed.
At 10:30 a.m. on a recent Sunday in April, nicely dressed Minnesota Timberwolves’ point guard Terrell Brandon casually steps foot inside the building where he will play in a game in an hour-and-a-half and as he does so, two television cameramen rush over to film his every move.
Once Brandon reaches the visiting locker room, he is greeted by two men wearing collared Portland Trail Blazers shirts. One is holding a cell phone for Brandon to use. The other is clutching onto a thick pile of game tickets bundled up in a rubber band for this day’s Portland-Minnesota National Basketball Association contest.
“Do you know who gets which ticket?” a Blazers official asks.
“Yeah, let me see those; I’ll take care of it,” Brandon says.
The cell phone rings.
“Hello … oh hey, yeah no problem,” Brandon says. “It’s all hooked up. Sounds good, my man. All right, I’ll talk to you later.”
While All-Star teammate Kevin Garnett begins to strap on his sneakers and menacing game face on one side of the locker room and Wally Szczerbiak dribbles a basketball in circles on the other, Brandon is counting a wad of tickets quietly with his mouth and fingers.
“That’s 22 … 23 … 24 … 25 … ,” Brandon says softly.
Soon, Brandon is the only Timberwolves player in the room as all the others have gone onto the Rose Garden floor to shoot around. Usually, Brandon is one of the first players to leave the locker room, but not on this morning.
This can only mean one thing.
Terrell Brandon is in his beloved hometown of Portland, Oregon.

***
Ten years have passed since Brandon electrified the McArthur Court crowd with his dazzling passes and uncanny shooting touch as the starting point guard for the Oregon Ducks.
The 1991 Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year led the league in scoring that season with 26.6 points per game and set eight Oregon records, including most points in a season and highest scoring average.
His record-setting junior season was his last on the college level, though, as he decided to leave school a year early amid all sorts of speculation and doubt.
“It’s not about money,” Brandon told the Emerald on April 5, 1991. “It’s something I wanted to do all my life; ever since I knew what the NBA was about from a young age to now.”
The book on Brandon as he entered the NBA draft that spring was that he was too short, didn’t play enough defense and suffered from a lack of experience. After all, Brandon had only played two years of collegiate basketball.
The Grant High School graduate from Northeast Portland was forced to sit out his freshman year due to Proposition 48, which began in 1986 and states that high school seniors not meeting the minimum requirement on their SAT’s or ACT’s must lose a season of eligibility.
Brandon looks back on that experience as a strong life lesson.
“School was tougher for me than others at first, but I worked on it and I’m a better man for it,” he said.
He proceeded to make an immediate impact in the Pac-10 during his sophomore campaign when he led the Ducks to the NIT with his 17.9 points-per-game and was selected to the all-Pac-10 team.
And then, despite his sensational junior season, the critics came out in full force when Brandon announced he was heading to the NBA.

“Honestly, I’m disappointed with his decision to go,” then-UCLA head coach Jim Harrick said at the time. “He’s certainly not ready for the NBA. The players there are all bigger, all older, all stronger better players.
“The question is, ‘Will he make it?’”
A few months later, there came the words from the NBA commissioner’s mouth:
“With the 11th pick in the 1991 NBA draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers select Terrell Brandon from the University of Oregon.”

***
As the starting five for the Blazers and Timberwolves walk onto the court for the noon tip-off, there are the usual pre-game “whassups” and half-hugs.
But each Blazer is seen spending a little extra time with Brandon, showing how respected the former Duck is throughout the league.
Once the game begins, though, Brandon turns into the tenacious point guard that will do whatever it takes to win.
Brandon hits his first jump shot at the 9:02 mark of the first quarter to give his team the early 8-2 lead. Then he drains the technical free throw after Portland head coach Mike Dunleavy’s outburst, and follows that up with a soft arching jumper over Damon Stoudamire’s outstretched hand.
“When he gets in a nice rhythm like that, you want to feed him the ball as much as you can and build off his aggressiveness,” Garnett would say after the game.
Then Brandon snags a steal and takes it all the way down the court for the wide-open fast break lay-in.
Soon after that, he rolls off a screen and drills his quick-release jumper.
And that’s just the first quarter: Minnesota-33 Portland-28.

***
When Cleveland selected Brandon, it hoped for a player who could learn under the guidance of veteran All-Star Mark Price.
He spent his first four seasons in the background, but was given an opportunity to shine when Price was traded in 1995. And shine he did.
The 5-foot-11, 173-pounder took over the reins of the Cavs and led the team in scoring, assists, steals and free-throw percentage. Brandon was rewarded for his efforts by being selected to the prestigious NBA All-Star team.
During the following season, he started making people believers when he excelled again and made his second straight All-Star team.
Brandon further was splattered across the national spotlight when his back-to-back elite seasons prompted Sports Illustrated to put him on its cover and proclaim him as “The Best Point Guard in the NBA.” In smaller print on the splashy magazine front it says, “We rated the playmakers and, surprise, Terrell Brandon came out on top.”
The newfound acclaim never appeared to go to Brandon’s head, and his success made him a wanted man among other NBA teams. On Sept. 25, 1997 Brandon was traded to Milwaukee in a three-way deal that involved Shawn Kemp and Vin Baker.
After two solid seasons with the Bucks, he was traded on March 11, 1999 to the Timberwolves in another three way-deal that involved nine players, including fan-favorite then-Minnesota guard Stephon Marbury.
Marbury and Brandon are the contrasting styles of NBA players.
One is tattooed, stylish and will pound his chest after plays as if to remind people that, “I’m the man!”
The other is clean cut, with his jersey always tucked in and the same stoic expression on his face whether he’s playing in an intense playoff game or an exhibition.
When Marbury was sent packing to New Jersey, many Minnesota fans were not pleased. They had grown to love the combination of Marbury to Garnett and all the flash that came with those two.
So once again Brandon had to make believers out of people and did so in his typical Terrell-style of a way.
“First of all, he’s a very excellent basketball player,” said Minnesota assistant coach Greg Ballard, who graduated from Oregon in 1977. “He’s a smart leader that leads in his own quiet way. He’s not an emotional rah-rah-type of leader, but rather he leads by example. He leads by talking to you individually in a calm matter and then steadies the offense on the floor and controls the tempo of the game.”
Just recently Brandon went head-to-head against Marbury and the New Jersey Nets leading with 34 points in Minnesota’s 105-91 victory. Even two years after the t
rade between those two, Brandon still has to deal with inquiries about the trade and whether a solid 34-point outing would put the situation to rest.
“Honestly, I don’t think it’ll probably ever be at rest,” Brandon said. “Every time we play against
each other, people are going to make a big deal about it. But I don’t even think about it. Nothing special.”

***
Brandon’s onslaught continues in the second quarter.
He scores his team’s first two baskets of the period off long jumpers, causing one Blazers fan to yell, “A sign-and-trade for Damon, please!”
Brandon finishes the quarter with a slashing layin and a fadeaway jumper to give him 19 points in the first half as the teams head to halftime with Portland leading 62-59.
The third-quarter turns ugly fast for Portland when center Arvydas Sabonis shows his disgust over a call and chucks his mouthpiece 30 feet into the crowd, nailing a little girl who borrows a towel to wipe off the saliva.
And then Portland’s time-bomb Rasheed Wallace explodes on two referees in a matter of 10 seconds, both of whom issue Wallace his record-setting 39th and 40th technicals for his ejection.
Meanwhile, calm-looking Brandon makes both technical free throws and lets you realize that not all NBA players act like hooligans when they play.
Minnesota enters the fourth quarter down 85-81, and Brandon continues to stay on the floor — he has yet to rest. He knocks home a jumper and then scores again to bring his team to within 93-92 with 4:55 to play.
Then, with Minnesota clinging to a 97-95 lead with 13.1 seconds left, Portland’s Scottie Pippen dribbles around and launches a potential game-winning three-pointer.

The ball clangs off the rim and ends up in the hands of the shortest man on the court: Brandon’s. He sinks both free throws to clinch a 99-95 road victory. Brandon leads the way with a game-high 30 points while playing all 48 minutes in his once-a-year homecoming.
“Terrell loves Portland and he’s got a sense of pride when he comes back here because he has so many people that are so close to him here,” Minnesota head coach Flip Saunders said.
“We all understand what it means to play at home in front of your friends, your boys, your girls, your ex-girlfriends and your family,” Garnett said. “You always want to do well when you play where you’re from and he played like the TB that I know and love today.”

***
Brandon politely deals with the herd of media that surrounds him following his solid game against Portland. He answers question after question in the humble way that he is renowned for, despite having numerous family and friends waiting outside the locker room for him.
“I just try to be consistent and keep the morals that my parents have given me over the years,” he said. “And not get out of character because of a game. I mean, it’s only a basketball game.”
His parents Charles and Charlotte Brandon deserve much of the credit for Terrell’s tale. They are the two people who have raised Brandon in inner-city Northeast Portland and instilled in him the values that make it practically impossible for the NBA life to go to Brandon’s head, even with his recent six year, $60 million dollar contract.
“I’m very, very proud of my son,” Charles said. “He’s come a long way in 10 years and has done a fantastic job at keeping himself grounded and humble, having a banner life and keeping ahold of the things we taught him. No such stardom, money figures or distractions can change that.”
The night before the game, Brandon took his team and staff to one of his prized possessions: Tee Bee’s Place, a two-story building in Northeast Portland. It is here where the TB’s Apparel Store is, as well as the corporate offices of Terrell Brandon and, of course, the popular TB Barber Shop, which cuts around 50 heads a day (including Blazers Pippen and Steve Smith).
“My teammates were surprised by it all, but they liked how it was in the inner city where I grew up and continue to live in the off-season,” Brandon said.
“TB has a very first class personality and a great heart and that building is a great example of what he brings to the community of Portland,” teammate LaPhonso Ellis said.

***
At 3:17 p.m., Brandon finally comes out of the locker room to greet his friends and family.
Everyone is dressed as if they were in church as opposed to the basement of an NBA arena and they are all gushing over their Terrell.
Little kids want to give him high-fives, older relatives want to embrace their grown-up NBA star and outsiders just want to watch this touching family reunion.
He signs a few autographs. He poses for a few pictures.
His teammates walk past him toward the bus, with Garnett and Ellis sharing a few laughs with some of the Brandon family.
Finally, at 3:47 p.m., Brandon breaks away from his clan and heads to the Timberwolves’ bus. Before he can get on, however, he spends 10 or so more minutes signing as many items as he can for the group of autograph-seekers lingering around him.
He even poses for more pictures with fans as his teammates continue to wait for him on the bus. Then, five-and-half hours after he arrived, Brandon looks exhausted as he hops aboard to join his team and officially end his short visit to the city he holds dear to his heart.
“When I come home, man I’m happy, but even more happy when I leave,” Brandon says with a smile.
Who could blame the guy after the day he just had?
After all, he couldn’t even walk the short distance from the Rose Garden locker room to his team bus without being noticed.