Terrell Brandon called me on Tuesday night. He was on his way home from the Barbershop he owns in Portland, OR. I had gotten a message into him earlier that day. The call came back from an unknown number. I offered a 'who is this?' in response. I may have sounded rattled by the unidentified contact. 

'Terrell Brandon, oh hey, what's up man, thanks for calling me back'. 

From there I stepped into the Wine and Gold DeLorean. Brandon dove. Or maybe it was the Powder Blue and Black version. Whatever the case, for the next half-hour I traveled back through Cavaliers' history with Terrell Brandon as my tour guide. 


His answers were honest, his recollections vivid. The passion he still has for Cleveland and its Cavaliers jumped through the phone with every story he told. 

The details from our conversation will be featured in Cavs Zine 3. 

I told Mr. Brandon this; describing briefly the Cavaliers Fan Magazine I was referencing. He said he was thrilled to be a part of it, and really appreciated the Cavs fans remembering and celebrating his career this way. It honestly meant something to him.

I'd come to find out that is probably because Terrell Brandon never wanted to leave Cleveland in the first place. He said he dreamed of playing 15 years as a member of the Cavaliers. He was devastated when he left. He loved the city, loved the fans, and had a personal relationship with everyone in the organization - from his teammates to the workers who filled Gund Arena. 

Despite that, in late September, 1997, Terrell Brandon would be forced to leave. He had spent his NBA career to that point a Cavalier, after being drafted 11th overall in 1991 from Oregon. Along with Brandon, the Cavs also sent Tyrone Hill and a 1998 1st round pick (top-10 protected) to the Milwaukee Bucks. They traded Vin Baker to Seattle, and the Supersonics dealt Shawn Kemp to Cleveland.

In an early October article discussing the trade, Sports Illustrated's Jackie MacMullen included the following line: "Embry is optimistic about how Kemp will fit in with the Cavs. "Actually, we look at it as a fresh start," Embry says. "I don't anticipate any problems with Shawn."'

The magnitude with which that prediction was wrong is something that will forever live in Cavaliers history. Mark Price we always remember too. But there was greatness in between those two moments. Terrell Brandon, for a time, was arguably the best at his position in all the NBA. The only other Cavalier you could ever say that about is LeBron James. 

Zydrunas was never better than Shaq, Price wasn't better than Isiah, Daugherty wasn't better than Ewing, and on it goes.

Terrell Brandon did tell me that he still receives mail from Cleveland fans on a regular basis. He hasn't been forgotten by those who truly understand his impact. They remember that NBA All Star Game HE hosted in CLEVELAND, OHIO. 

They remember the NBA universe surrounding the player featured on Sports Illustrated's cover in the weeks leading up to All Star Weekend. They remember how proud he was to serve as Ambassador for Cleveland that weekend, on a stage this city may never see again.

We will remember all of that about Terrell Brandon in Cavs Zine 3, and much more. I haven't even mentioned one tenth of our conversation. It was a discussion I was thrilled to be a part of, and an article I hope you get a chance to read. 

Terrell Brandon forever. Cavs Zine 3.

I really can't believe the NBA season has crept back around this quickly. It has though. In less than three weeks, the Cleveland Cavaliers will be inviting fans down to Quicken Loans Arena for their annual Wine and Gold intra-squad scrimmage. Tip-off is scheduled for Saturday, October 6th, at 5pm.

This will give us all our first look at Dion Waiters playing in the city of Cleveland. Tyler Zeller too, along with CJ Miles, Jon Leur, and whoever else. Will be interesting to see the new guys, as well as get an idea of what type of progress the returning vets made this summer.

Those guys probably won't be playing with Kyrie Irving that day though, so for however good they play we can all assume they'll eventually be a little better. I'd imagine they'll keep Kyrie out of just about everything they can in anticipation of having him one hundred percent and ready to go by opening night, but that's me speculating.

For whatever it is or isn't worth though, the Cavaliers email announcing the Wine and Gold game features pictures of Tristan Thompson, Alonzo Gee, and a few Cavs fans. No Uncle Drew.

Anyways, more from that announcement:

The Cavaliers annual prelude to the tip off of a new season starts with the team’s intra-squad scrimmage where Wine meets Gold to give fans their first look at the 2012-13 Cavs on the court. The Wine & Gold Scrimmage presented by FirstEnergy Solutions takes place on Saturday, October 6th at Quicken Loans Arena at 5:00 p.m. This special preseason event features everything that makes attending a Cavaliers home game an incredible fan entertainment experience— and it’s FREE!

Fans will be treated to the full-blown production of the Cavs’ award-winning game presentation featuring lights-out player introductions with Q-Tube flames. The Cavalier Girls and Scream Team will perform, mascots Moondog and Sir C.C. will stir things up, and in-arena host Ahmaad Crump will oversee all the fun. There will also be many other special fan activities and team interaction elements and giveaways both on and off the court during the evening. Doors will open at 4:00 p.m. so fans can enjoy concourse activities and $1 hot dogs and $1 sodas while taking in the excitement of being back at The Q for Cavs basketball.

Awesome that it's free. Great opportunity for fans to get down to the Q and check these guys out. Free tickets, and even if you are Antonio Cromartie you can still buy all your kids a hot dog and a soda each while you're there for under $20. 

If you ask Dion Waiters a question on Twitter, he will answer it. This was never more apparent than it was on Wednesday night. I'm not sure exactly how many fans tweeted at the Cleveland Cavaliers rookie guard yesterday, but it's reasonable to assume he answered just about everyone.  

When I first met Dion at Vegas Summer League, I asked him about why he's so willing to engage fans through social media. He told me, "I just try to show everybody love, talk to them as much as I can, interact with them, and just be a regular person".

On Wednesday he let fans know that he's a regular person who hasn't eaten at Hot Sauce Williams yet, likes taking game winning shots, and hasn't been to Cleveland's new Casino owned by Dan Gilbert.




He also said that he hopes to go support the Ohio State Buckeyes when they play a big game, and retweeted a guy who said he plans to paint Dion's number on his chest for the Cavs opener. 


As the night went on, Waiters noted that he's more Batman than Spiderman. He's looking for a favorite restaurant in Cleveland too, and dropped a "Waddup" on a person who's goal was to get Waiters to "at least notice" him.


He also said that he's still unsure about what he thinks of Anderson Varejao's hair, and that he's never been a waiter.

The ink is dry on Chris Grant's biggest free agent signing of the off-season. Alonzo Gee will be dunking in Cleveland for two more years, maybe even three.

In a deal structured to reward Gee for his development, while at the same time not over-committing in terms of years, Alonzo is scheduled to earn $3.5 million in 2012-13, $3.25 in 2013-14 and another $3.25 in 2014-15 if the Cavs exercise a team option they hold in year three.

That's a winning contract for Chris Grant based on where the market could've gone for Gee. At the same time, for Alonzo, a $10 million deal with $6.75 guaranteed over the next three years is also realizing the NBA hoop dream. A dream that had to seem pretty elusive at times only a few years ago in the D-League.

Gee, 25, cashed in by posting career bests in scoring (10.6), rebounding (5.1), assists (1.8), steals (1.3), free throw percentage (.788) and minutes per game (29.0) in 63 games (31 starts) during the 2011-12 season. In his 31 starts, the 6-foot-6, 219-pounder increased his averages to 11.5 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 31.7 minutes per game.

“From the start of free agency, we made it clear that re-signing Alonzo was important to us and we’re happy we’ve been able to do that,” Grant said. “Alonzo has worked very hard to make the most of the opportunities he has had thus far and it has been great to see his development and growth as a Cavalier. We’re excited he will be part of our team as our young group of players continues to grow together.”

Off the court, Alonzo Gee has developed good relationships with Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson. I'm sure the Cavaliers two rookies from a season ago are glad to have Gee back in the fold, and he is too.

“I am excited to be back with the Cavs and be a part of what is being built here in Cleveland", Gee said in a statement released by the team. "I wanted things to work out for me to be here and I’m really happy that they did. I’m really thankful that the Cavs gave me an opportunity and I can’t wait to get back to work with Coach Scott and our coaches and my teammates.”

According to agent Bill Neff, the Cleveland Cavaliers will be officially agreeing to terms with free agent rookie Kevin Jones today. Hoopshype.com broke the following news earlier this morning:

"Undrafted free agent Kevin Jones will finally sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers today, agent Bill Neff told HoopsHype. Jones, a 6-foot-8 forward out of West Virginia, will get a partially guaranteed deal."The Cavaliers hung with Kevin during his (foot) injury, which is great," Neff said. "The injury set him back during the workout process. He is healthy now."Jones averaged 19.9 ppg and 10.0 rpg in his senior year with the Mountaineers and was named to the All-Big East 1st Team."

Not unlike Cavaliers power forward Luke Harangody, Jones did everything he could during his four year career in the Big East. The 20-10 stat-line he hung on the board was good enough to earn 2nd Team All American Honors, in addition to being named All Big East 1st Team. He graduated with a cumulative GPA better than 3.0, and was named to the Garret Ford Academic Honor Roll and Big East Academic All Star Team. He finished 29th in school history with 1,165 career points and 2nd in school history with 309 career offensive rebounds. 

The Cavs are betting on the idea that Jones will keep winning on and off the court at the professional level as well. His natural position is power forward, but I'd imagine they hope he can step out and play some SF as well next season. I'm not sure what this signing means with respect to Alonzo Gee, if anything, but Jones' story is a good one and I hope he ends up having a solid career. I think sometimes that potential and upside are over-valued to an exent where it diminishes the value of actual production from the true student-athlete during the draft process. Jones going undrafted sends the wrong kind of message. Glad to see he worked his way through that, and his injury, to end up inking this deal. 

Image: Syracuse.com

The website TuBasket.com is reporting that the Dallas Mavericks and Cleveland Cavaliers are "very interested" in Brazilian Center Rafael Hettsheimeir. The translated report suggests that Dallas appears to be more interested, but that both teams are considering contract offers within the one-year, fifty percent guaranteed range. No indication of proposed dollar values associated with each potential contract offer were indicated. 


Hettsheimer is a 6-10, 260-pound, 26-year old center from Araçatuba, Brazil. Playing 33 games for CAI Zaragoza in Spain last season, Hettsheimer averaged 13.3 points and 6.4 rebounds on 55-percent shooting from the field. He would've played with Anderson Varejao on the Brazilian national team during Olympic competition, but he was sidelined this summer while recovering from knee surgery. He's reportedly back healthy and ready to go now.

For more on Rafa, here are some highlights:



I'll be reaching out to my sources in Brazil later this afternoon and be sure to include a further update on this should anything break. Enjoy the Friday people.

JJ Hickson is 24-years old today. In light of it being his birthday, we wanted to take a brief look back at arguably his best play as a member of the Cavaliers. He turned in some big performances during an up-and-down season under Byron Scott, before being dealt for Omri Casspi, but this game might have been his best.

It was moments like this that left Cavs fans wanting more from the young power forward from NC State.



After being bought out by the Sacramento Kings this past season, JJ finished the year strong in Portland as a member of the Traiblazers. Strong enough to re-sign in Rip City for a one-year deal.

This season will be big for JJ. He needs to do what he once did against Blake Griffin to as many people as possible, as many times as he can. He still has that same upside these days, The Hickson's just not getting any younger.  

Tristan Thompson is featured in a new Foot Locker / Nike spot which dropped yesterday. The campaign slogan is "Comeback Season", and it highlights the fact that only big dogs play in Tristan Thompson's yard. Something we knew already, but always worth noting. 

Below is that video, scored by JD Era, also featuring Montreal Canadiens P.K. Subban.



This commercial will be on heavy rotation in Canada, but we won't likely see it in the states. Even though a "comeback season" would certainly be welcomed around here in Cleveland too. 

YouTube: FLLocker 

Tristan Thompson is the highest drafted Canadian-born player of all-time. After being selected by the Cavaliers last off-season, prior to inking his rookie deal due to the lockout, he did not play for Team Canada during international competition. Since then, the Canadians have appointed Steve Nash General Manager of their National Team. Jay Traino was also recently named Head Coach. This week Traino and company are holding a Team Canada mini-camp of sorts, and Tristan Thompson is participating. 


From Steve Kyler at Hoopsworld:

Traino held something of a mini-camp for prospective Team Canada player this week which included Joel Anthony, Tristan Thompson, Kris Joseph, Cory Joseph, Robert Sacre, and Andrew Nicholson. Tyler Ennis, one of the top college prospects, also took part and could be a key part of a 2016 Canadian team vying for a spot in the 2016 Olympic games in Rio.   

Traino and Nash are hoping to secure three-year commitments from Canada's top stars. To that point, Traino added the following according to Hoopsworld:

“Jerry Colangelo asked those players for a three-year commitment. When they did that and the players became committed, that’s when they became successful and won back-to-back gold medals.

“If we’re going to be successful guys are going to commit. The fact that they’re here working as hard as they are right now speaks volumes to their commitment. We’re going to have to decide as a staff which players we want to move forward and be part of our commitment to the program.”

I have not heard whether or not Tristan plans to offer his three-year commitment to Traino and Nash's program, but it's certainly a good sign for Canada that he's involved this week. 

Kyrie Irving is on the cover of KICKS Magazine volume 15. The latest issue presented by SLAM is on newsstands now. If you're in the Cleveland area, it's being sold at the Giant Eagle on West 117th street, amongst other places too I imagine. Tzvi Twersky penned the cover story and it's a must read for all Cavaliers fans.

The Nike pitchman notes in the article, with respect to his sneaker-game as a kid, "My Dad always made me earn all my kicks. If I played well, he'd let me create some shoes on NikeiD or buy me some sneakers as a sort of incentive". The pictures were taken by Trevor Paulhus, and shot in Cleveland over at Quicken Loans Arena. It'd be a good move to pick this magazine up just for the story on Kyrie.

Another reason to buy a copy would be the article that I wrote on Isaiah Thomas. On Page 50 I wrote about the NBA's "Hidden Gem", and the labels he's shed throughout his basketball career as a 5-9 NBA Point Guard nobody wanted to draft. Thomas and I talked about the season he just completed, growing up an Allen Iverson fan, being affiliated with Reebok, and what he's trying to do off the court in order to give back to his community. 

This issue also features an article on Ricky Rubio, Chris Paul, Under Armour, And 1, Brandon Jennings, Vince Carter, the Morris Twins, and more. Get yourself a copy today peoples. Enjoy the Tuesday.