From the Vault: TB is top PG

This caused a little stir back in the day.

Heck, I was 13-years old when this went to print, and I even remembered it as a big deal. Sports Illustrated rated Cleveland’s Terrell Brandon the leagues best point guard, this ahead of guys like Stockton, Payton, Blaylock, KJ, Mark Jackson, Tim Hardaway – man what a great time for PG’s – Van Exel, Strickland, Stoudamire, Kidd, Marbury… oh, and Iverson.

Phil Taylor, who covered the NBA for SI at the time, was the culprit. He used a formula – using all the major statistical categories (even the “bad stuff,” meaning turnovers) - to come up with his answer.

In my opinion, you didn’t need a formula to get an answer; just watch the guys play. By that rationale, it would be hard to argue against Gary Payton, perhaps at the peak of his powers and just one year removed from holding MJ to 41% shooting in the ’96 Finals. What about John Stockton? Despite being 34, Stock was still as good as ever; this was the year he carried Utah to the Finals. (If you don’t buy that, just watch Game 6 of the WCF against Houston, Stock had the final 10 Utah points down the stretch, including the game-winning three, to send the Jazz to the Finals). Of course, there were other worthy nominees (as previously mentioned).

But Terrell Brandon?

Really?

Sure, he was good, even played in two All-Star Games, but the best PG in the game? Nah. The guys playing the position then were just too good to have a guy like Brandon, who, still, while a very good player in his own right, to be deemed top dog. He ran Mike Fratello’s slow-it-down offense, put up numbers for a team that actually didn’t make the playoffs the year this story came out (’97), and was an understudy to Mark Price (much like KJ) the first four years of his career.

Anyway, TB has his moment of fame. His career was kind of like 15 seconds of fame, which oddly enough is probably the same amount of time he goes without knee pain these days; his chronically bad knees forced him out earlier this decade. But there’s no doubt he has a cover of SI tucked away somewhere, bragging that he was top PG of his day.

ALSO SEE: A shot of the cover; Brandon's career stats