Cleveland Cavaliers: Brevin Knight speaks on playing with Shawn Kemp

Brevin Knight gives fans an interesting look at his time with the Shawn-Kemp led Cleveland Cavaliers.

Brevin Knight’s career with the Shawn Kemp-led Cleveland Cavaliers was short-lived but memorable. He averaged 9.2 points, 7.7 assists and 2.0 steals per game in three seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers and in his rookie season, Knight was 1st in the NBA in steals with 196, 7th in assists with 656, had the 8th-best defensive rating (97.4) and 10th-highest total in defensive win shares (4.9). This led to Knight being named to the NBA’s all-rookie first team.

Drafted with the 16th overall pick in the 1997 NBA Draft, Knight came to the Cavs as a pure point guard with grit and a knack for grand larceny as he left the Stanford Cardinals as the school’s leader is assists and steals. Knight was second in Pac-12 history in career steals with 298, only trailing Hall of Famer Gary Payton’s 321. He was third in Pac-12 history in career assists with 780, behind Payton (938) and UCLA’s Pooh Richardson (833).

I have yet to mention that Knight was only 5-foot-10, adding to the impressiveness of his production. Unfortunately, the Cleveland Cavaliers traded Knight at the beginning of the 2000-2001 season after he had surgery on his right knee and then-rookie Andre Miller assumed and excelled in a starting role.

Knight spoke to radio host Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson on Scoop B Radio on Monday, telling Robinson about his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers and giving enlightening stories on what it was like to play in a more blue-collar era in Cavs history. He also spoke on his relationship with Zydrunas Ilgauskus, playing with Kemp and the benefits of being coached by Mike Fratello.

In the end, Knight speaks about the chance he believes the Cavs had to make it to an NBA Finals while he was there.

[*Interview has been edited and condensed for clarity*]

Scoop B: The Cavs are in the Finals and they’re not looking good but before all the LeBron, before all the Kyrie talk, I was fascinated with the 97-99 Cavs team that you were drafted to. They were a special team. You guys were coached by Mike Fratello; there was you, Derek Anderson, Vitaly Potapenko and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. What were those early days with the Cavs like.

Knight: The early days were fun. It was a bunch of kids and Shawn Kemp running around on that floor. Mike Fratello was the orchestrator of it all. He made sure that we played the right way. Defensively, we were there and offensively we got the ball to Shawn as much as we could and ran but it was like college extended into the NBA because of all of the young guys that we had on the team.

Scoop B: You mentioned the young guys, you and I go back obviously with the New Jersey ties, Orange and Essex County ties. I remember when you were my coach at basketball camp and just seeing your ride you went from Stanford to the Cavaliers. That being said, I used to see you in the locker room when the Nets were playing the Cavs and ya’ll were just cool, you were young and cool. You talk about Derek Anderson, you talk about Ilgauskas. Number on,e what was Zydrunas Ilgauskas like early in his career?

Knight: Z was the third member. The people who really hung out were myself, Cedric Henderson, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Vitaly Potapenko. So now you think about that, you got two international players who at that point they were really just starting to speak the language well and then you got two inner-city kids in me and Cedric Henderson from Memphis, Tennessee.

Somehow, someway the game of basketball is so special that we had the common thread of basketball but it also enabled us to become friends away from basketball because of the time that we spent together; to be around people who are experiencing something for the first time together, it’s cool to have guys who are peers and have the same enthusiasm to learn as you did. I think that is what made us so special together and why when we all see each other today have great conversations.

Scoop B: So I read one time that Al Harrington helped Samuel Dalembert adjust to U.S. culture by listening to Biggie Smalls. What did you guys do bonding wise to get Zydrunas and Vitaly acclimated to the American culture or even hip-hop?

Knight: We clubbed, that’s what we did. We went out… When we got into a city, as long as there was something open we were there and we did it almost every road trip… I tell everybody, for young guys it’s a brand new experience to be able to have the finances to go out but also have the flexibility to go out… the combination of the two led to a very fun rookie season.

I think because of the going out, the hanging out, the dinners that we had together, it enabled us to be a better basketball team but it also enabled us to get to know people who you otherwise would not have known. So for them to understand our culture more but also [get] a chance to understand where they came from and what it was like growing up in their home countries… I think it was a great trade-off.

Scoop B: What was Cleveland like early on? Obviously everybody is a Cavs fans because of LeBron and Kyrie. I visited Cleveland once; I stayed at the nine, I could see Jacobs Field and I could see Quicken Loans Arena at the time you played (it was Gund Arena then)… I would imagine Cleveland wasn’t always that cool.

Knight: Cleveland, to us, was always that cool… I get ridiculed now because when we always talk about what were some of the coolest, what were some of the best places to go I would always say Cleveland… A big reason for that is aside from the weather in the winter which, I tell a lot of guys you’ve only been in the winter but if you go in the spring or summer it’s one of the most beautiful places in the country with the lake and the temperatures. Because of the lake at that time it’s a beautiful place to be.

The fans are what make Cleveland great if you play for a Cleveland professional team and you give it your all and you enjoy the city, they’ll never forget their players… That, to me, is great… I can still go back there [and] people will say “Hey Brev’, good to see you. We liked when you played.”.

We played for them and they appreciated it… I think that is what really makes the Cleveland city what it is.

Scoop B: What was Gund Arena like? What was the feel of it when you were playing there?

Knight: Blue, it was very blue but it was enthusiastic. Because the arena had not been around for long before we got there, it was still a novelty. People loved to be able to come downtown and come to the arena and come to the games and for them to be able to go and see Shawn Kemp every night… When we first got there, [Kemp] was still on top of his game and even there when the lockout happened… which I think really was the demise of our entire team… the next season he still came back and was a 20 and 10 guy… he just did it in a different way but the building was electric, the fans.. I think because of the youth of the team people were really able to get behind us.

Scoop B: You talked about the infrastructure; I’m really fascinated by old arenas. The Boston Garden is old to be renovated into TD Bank North Garden now, in my era the United Center was the shift of when NBA arenas were more modern. Now new arenas like the Barclays Center are there.

You said it was electric in the arena. What kind of people came? Was it people who maybe were like artists on tour that you would see sitting courtside? What kind of people would you see going to Cavs games?

Knight: No, now those people go to Cavs games. When we went to Cavs games it was the blue-collar, hard-working people of the city of Cleveland and I think we mirrored what the city was. I think they appreciated that effort that we put forth every night. We were a defensive team. We were going to get after you… trap, rotate and everybody would be in it. I think that mentality of how we played the game and the people who came to the games were in-line with each other. Very similar to the job I do now with the Memphis Grizzlies, the team was in-line with the city… when that can happen, you get fans that come no matter who you’re playing.

Scoop B: How did you feel when the Cavs won their first championship last year?

Knight: I felt like it was a win for all of us that came through the organization, especially those of us who still consider ourselves to be Cavaliers. There’s some people who go and leave a place and that’s it. You really have no feelings toward it. But for those of us who still have an affection for the city, for those fans and the organization itself, it felt really good to see them win a championship. [To] do it in the fashion that they did made it that much more exciting.

Scoop B: We were talking a little bit about uniforms. Mark Price, Steve Kerr, Craig Ehlo and those guys wore a different set of uniforms than the ones you guys wore ’97 through ’99. The Cavaliers jerseys that Mark Price and them wore had white writing with gold trim and when you played it was white writing with gold trim. The Cavs have the coolest uniforms in the game besides the Golden State Warriors, would you agree?

Knight: I love them. I say they’re fashion-forward. People might not have been ready for them at that time but we enjoyed them.

Scoop B: If you could pick your three favorite Cavs jerseys from past and present, which ones would they be?

Knight: Well, first I’m gonna go with our dinosaur jerseys but blue and white ones. Like I said they were different but I enjoyed them. I love the wine and gold. I think that the wine and gold watching them when Austin Carr wore it when he was there playing and the season they brought it back I thought it was the right time for it and it’s a great fit. Those two sit very well with me and I think that they can continue with where they are right now and they’ll be absolutely fine.

Scoop B: What do the Cavs have to do to right the ship?

Knight: They need a huge performance from Kyrie Irving. At the end of the day the deck is stacked against them [with] the addition of Kevin Durant and when you have a team that individually is more talented than you but plays as a unit you have to play extraordinary basketball to be able to beat them, and Cleveland did not do it the first two games. Now, this happened last year also. The difference is that you’re talking about Kevin Durant instead of Harrison Barnes. No disrespect to Harrison Barnes but Kevin Durant is a better player on both ends of the floor and he is showing himself.

Cleveland will have to slow the game down and make it a more physical game. They can’t allow Golden State to just pass the ball where they want to and allow guys to run where they want to. They’re going to have to make it a more physical basketball game to give themselves a chance.

Scoop B: The last time I asked somebody a shoulda, coulda, woulda question it went viral. Shout out to Kenny Smith with the Chicago Bulls and Houston Rockets. That being said, if you could look into a crystal ball and the Cavs with you Derek Anderson, Cedric Henderson, Wesley Person, Shawn Kemp, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Vitaly Potapenko had all stayed together where would you have been?

Knight: We would have put ourselves in a great position to contend for a championship and I say that because Fratello had us playing well on the defensive side and we had a guy to go to on the offensive side with a shooter like Wesley Person out on the floor… a dynamic player like Bob Sura… Derek Anderson… guys like myself and Cedric Henderson. Z was coming into his own as a center who shot it from deep but also could play inside. I think our versatility would have given us an opportunity to really be something to mess with as the years went along. The lockout [and] management issues didn’t allow it to go that way but I thought we had an opportunity to be a team who could contend in the East every year and then ultimately win the Eastern Conference Finals and then move on to the big show.

Scoop B: Many people know Dan Gilbert as the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers. I had to tell her before Dan Gilbert there was Gordon Gund. There’s like a mystery behind him what was Gordon Gund like?

Knight: He was quiet, he was reserved. [He] loved the Cleveland Cavaliers but [it was] due to the blindness. Give him all the credit in the world that despite that he was able to run a great organization and get guys going the right way. I think he just stayed out of the limelight… allowed the players to be the show… allowed the general manager and coaches and guys who worked in the front office to do their jobs. But he was a guy who was passionate about the team and passionate about winning. He would do whatever it took to win which is a reason why they paid the $90 million to get Shawn Kemp.

At that time was a lot of money, guys were not making that kind of money… he made the decision to go down that road because he wanted to give this team the best chance to win and he thought that would be it. I thank [him] greatly because if it was not for him and everyone in that front office I don’t know where I would have started.

Scoop B: What was his personality like?

Knight: He was cool, he never imposed himself on us but he was always available. He would listen to the games from up top and then when games were over [when] we would see him we would say hello to him but I thought he did a good job; he was present when he needed to be but was always there when you had an issue.

Scoop B: So he wasn’t a comedian he was straight-forward?

Knight: No, he was not a comedian at all. He was straight-forward.

[end of interview]

Must Read: LeBron sums up his mental space

While the interview with Knight took place before the conclusion of the NBA Finals, it’s interesting that he saw Kyrie Irving’s performance and the physicality of the Cavs defense as the keys to their victory. Considering that the interview took place after the Cavs’ Game 4 win, as Irving went off for 40 points and hit 7 three-pointers in the contest and the Cavs were clearly the more physical team throughout, it’s not surprising.

Unfortunately, the Cleveland Cavaliers would lose a hard-fought Game 5. Nonetheless, the Cavs and their fans should be proud of the season they had and the Cleveland Cavaliers starters should be proud of how they battled to find their games in the series. Of course, LeBron James was spectacular throughout and there shouldn’t be an ounce of blame directed at James for the series loss considering the team they were playing against and James becoming the first player to averaged a triple-double in the NBA Finals.

As an aside, it’s that Knight still feels like a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers and he felt personally gratified by the Cavs winning the NBA championship in 2016.

It’s also amusing to think about Big Z, a 7-foot-3 Lithuanian, out at a hip-hop nightclub.

What did you think of Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson’s interview with former Cav Brevin Knight? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.

Former Cav Brevin Knight speaks on playing with Shawn Kemp, Big Z

By Quenton S. Albertie | Jun 14, 2017