Underwhelming signing to say the least. Kwame is a bust and not shown to be a motivated player during his 7 year tenure in the NBA. Just because he is cheap, doesn't make it right.
While I agree with the last sentence, we should be more specific with the second sentence. Kwame is a bust for a first-round draft pick. That doesn't mean he can't be a contributor for the right price. 4 million a year is an extremely good price for a player of his size and athleticism. Some people think that Joe should have made year two a team option. I think Joe was probably getting such a good deal, making the second year team option was virtually impossible. Remember that KB is taking about 4-5 million less per year than his old contract. For a center that could start on a lot of teams, that is huge.
Sheed/ Dyess/ Brown/ Ratliff/ Maxiell/ Johnson/ Samb. Somebody is going to be packaged in a trade. Too many bigs.
Ratliff isn't even signed by anyone currentlyso you guys are confusing me. We signed him to the minimum for a 1 year deal. It's done, he's currently unemployed.
WTF, I been offline for a couple days and I come back to this? I have died and gone to basketball hell.........!!!!!!!!!!
Basketball Hell is when your team spends its #1 overall pick to get Kwame Brown. When your team spends $8 million over two years to get Kwame Brown it's no worse than Basketball Heck.
Look guys, he's a no-brainer. I do have one minor worry though. His free throw percentage is trending toward zero. Year/ % 1- .707 2- .668 3- .683 4- .574 5- .545 6- .440 7- .408 So, he's losing about 50 basis points per year on average. His poor little hands are just getting so tired from the 178 free throws he gets per year. Hopefully Kander can put him on a routine where he squeezes tennis balls on the plane or something.
Classic, 'Bills. I see two benefits at least to this signing: 1. Kwame may polarize the forum in much the way Darko did, leading to some interesting threads and some preposterous and unfounded comments. 2. Low will be all over the Pistons organization for this one, and I enjoy reading Low's angry comments. He's usually right (as I see it) and it makes me post less because I would be writing some of the same things. It will be very tough for Kwame to come in here and be lazy given the cast of characters and the new coach that will surround him. The guys will get on him. I think he will work hard. He may suck, but it won't be for lack of trying. Dumars will tell Curry to tell the guys to get in Kwame's grille during preseason.
With regards to Kwame and the perception that he is lazy or doesn't want to be a good player, I have to respectfuly disagree. My experience watching him play nightly for a couple of years (I watch almost all the Lakers games as I reside in LA) led me to believe his problem is that he is not very smart and he has very poor hands. He tries hard, and he plays respectable defense, mostly. At times he is slow to rotate or he is out of position from stupidity, but he tries. He played like a man at times. At times he looked like a WNBA player. He is inconsistent, but I would not attribute this to lack of effort. He drops passes, misses boards, and otherwise frustrates the heck out of you, but he cares. Kwame just ain't very good. Maybe he could try harder, I don't know. I suggest his greatest weakness is his decided lack of intelligence. See supporting link- ESPN - Brown won't be prosecuted in cake heist - NBA The notion that Curry and Joe D will bring the best out of him and make him into an all star is foolish because his problem is not attitude or effort-- it's brains and hands. Phil Jackson made him a much better player, and he still ain't great. What you see is what you get in this case. He's a career back up C, in my opinion. If we are planning on starting him so Sheed can shirk his post duties then this move stinks because Sheed is a much better post defender. If he backs Sheed up and is occasionally used in concert with Sheed to match up with big physical lineups, then we should look back on this signing with some satisfaction.
I'm preparing myself for the possibility that Kwame is in the starting lineup this upcoming season. This would accomplish three things: 1) It allows McDyess to come off the bench and play with Stuckey. A Stuckey/McDyess pick and roll offense should provide a reasonably consistent 1/2 court game for the 2nd unit. 2) Wallace can move back to the 4 spot where he might be more inclined to work the post a little. 3) Kwame is significantly bigger than McDyess, and he can use his big frame to provide decent screens for the Rip Hamilton curl. At the risk of Homer-ism: If Kwame is effective in this roll and the 2nd unit provides solid scoring, the $4 million price tag for Brown could seem like a bargain.
R Michael: Agree with much of your analysis of Brown. I have seen some of his play as a Laker as well though haven't studied his game. Yes, he can be slow on rotations and is ordinary at best rebounding. While not a scorer, he cannot be left alone or guarded by a small. He was good enough at the rim to cause problems for Phoenix than one playoffs. Where I like Brown is that he can body up a big and not give ground. Sheed can guard a big but only because of his length. Sheed does not body up on bigs usually. And no one else on the Pistons can. Dyss does but gets exhasted in the process. I can see him starting against big centers. He cannot play power forward as he is too slow. But he can be of use against a Howard or a Perkins. Agree too, the not trying part is a bit of drama. I would expect him to play with animation. What is good about Brown, is that he is still young and can play the role of a banger.
What are the odds Sheed brings a cake to the first team practice? But seriously, this guy is a bust collecting a pay check. Yeah, a lot of the 18 year olds drafted into the league have taken longer than normal to get up to speed (see Tyson Chandler and soon to be DMC next year). But these guys got it at 23, 24, 25 years old. Not 26. Kwame is 26, at his physical peak, already on the decline in terms of desire, and with this deal probably not too concerned about money. Why try hard, some other team will give him another 8mil in two years. Waste of money, waste of roster space.
I think it might be mental (excluding the stupid part) but i think he cracks under pressure, gets down on himself/discouraged really easily and gives up/makes mistakes.
A nice nine minute clip from a Laker/Phoenix game showing Kwame at his worst (hopefully). YouTube - Kwame Brown Boo'ed at home by Lakers fans (part 1) Dropped passes, travels, lost dribbles, missed dunks, and lots of booing.
