From PRO to CEO
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On one side of the office there are windows overlooking a barbershop, on the other it’s a retail store with an indoor basketball court. Looming next to the desk there is a TV that displays the few hidden spots via several security cameras.
Most noticeable, however, is the two-time NBA All-Star turned businessman behind the desk. It is from this inner-city locale in his hometown of Portland, Ore. that Terrell Brandon is keeping an eye on the community that he was raised in.
Never known as a selfish player, Brandon was widely regarded for much of his career as one of the best pure point guards in the game. Flip Saunders, now the new coach of the Detroit Pistons, once said that Brandon had the best mid-range jumper in the league. Local sportswriters in Cleveland and Minnesota, two of the cities in which Brandon played, often referred to him as the best player NBA fans have never heard of.
The final stages of Brandon’s NBA career were littered with injuries and sometimes-public ridicule for being soft. What many skeptics didn’t know was that Brandon kept dishing dimes when he was only the eighth player less than 6 feet tall to get drafted in the NBA. He kept reliably sinking free throws even though he had a steel rod in his leg from a broken tibia. And he kept winning ball games even after numerous knee surgeries.
“After the second one (knee surgery), I thought, something’s going on here,” says Brandon. Well before any of these potential career ending injuries began to surface, however, Brandon was already positioning himself for life after hoops.
“Early in my career, before I got close to retirement, I said I was gonna do some business things,” says Brandon. He credits his ambitious, early involvement in money matters with helping him make a relatively smooth transition from professional athletics.
Brandon has owned the complex that bears his name for about 10 years, which at the time was a $600,000 investment into a troubled neighborhood. But it was his neighborhood.
“I’m proud of this spot,” says Brandon. “I got letters from thousands of Oregonians telling me this is the wrong spot.”
Brandon’s perched office also serves as headquarters for Tee Bee Enterprises, the corporation that bears his nick name. Tee Bee says that he has many ongoing undertakings, such as establishing a record label, but Brandon is predominantly known for helping those in need.
“I’m a nosey guy in the community,” he says. “I find out who needs help.” Brandon went on to explain that people need help with every day types of things, different from the annual free basketball clinics he holds in Portland and Cleveland. Whether it’s keeping his community members warm by paying their heating bills or providing school supplies to a family of four, Brandon is practicing human based business.
“He’s constantly thinking of others, because of his unselfishness,” says Tracy Brandon Crittenden, Brandon’s sister. Both siblings say they learned their values from their parents, Charles and Charlotte, who have been married for 40 years. During the ’96-’97 season, Brandon’s personality traits and upbringing were honored when he was awarded the NBA Sportsmanship Award.
On the court, one could argue that Brandon’s game directly reflected the person he is and the life he now leads. The point guard position demands leadership and effectiveness as much as it does sharing and distribution. As a player, Brandon was a perennial NBA leader in assists-to-turnovers ratio—a statistical way to measure a point guard’s efficiency. These days Brandon has all the same responsibilities of a point guard, only the size of the team he is looking after is countless times bigger.
“I’m more tired now than when I was a player,” said Brandon. He also seems to have put his playing days behind him, saying he hasn’t touched a basketball since his last clinic he organized, almost a year from the time of this interview. A few missed shots shy of 10,000 career points and 14 years removed from when he was the eleventh pick in the NBA Draft, Brandon seems content to be the businessman who used to play basketball, not vice versa.
“Playoff time is when I miss it sometimes,” reflects Brandon upon his playing days, quickly admitting the downsides of life during the NBA regular season included jet lag, nagging injuries and occasionally forgetting his hotel room number. “I don’t miss any of that.”
When asked which of his careers he would prefer to be known for, Brandon hesitated briefly, then replied, “I hope people can say I’m still a better businessman when I die.”
This may prove to be an impossible task for Brandon, who will always be admired as one of the most successful athletes to come from northeast Portland—regardless of how much money he makes or good he does.
There are not many business professionals that sport tightly woven cornrows, or have competed head-to-head against Michael Jordan for that matter, but this is not what makes Brandon unique.
Once a local hero with financial investment plans, Brandon has clearly transformed into a community leader. Just like the atmosphere downstairs in the barbershop, where people are either family or act is if they are, Brandon is putting people first and enjoying success because of it.
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This article was originally published in Flossin Magazine. This article is edited by Edna Waters. This article is optimized for web by Steven Christian (Artist | Author | Podcaster).
