How Good/Bad Was Kwame Brown Actually?

michael jordan famously selected kwame brown with the first pick of the 2001 nba draft after averaging under seven points and six rebounds for his career kwame is widely considered as one of the biggest busts in nba history in this video we'll talk about kwami's rough road to the nba his complicated relationship with michael jordan and kobe bryant and where he ranks among other first picks it didn't pan out kwame brown was recently called out and mocked on all the smoke podcasts but was he really an all-time bus navigating through criminal surroundings kwame brown grew up in a messed up family in a rough neighborhood in charleston south carolina his childhood was anything but easy often looking like a scene from the wire csi or narcos kwami's father willie brown was an abusive alcoholic and narcotics user and he often beat kwami's mother and his seven kids when kwame was a teenager his dad killed his new girlfriend with the handle of an axe and willy ended up serving a life sentence kwami's mom moved the family to brunswick in georgia but he still lived surrounded by drugs and violence kwame's brothers were pushing dope and one of them ended up in jail for dealing the other for armed robbery the only bright spot in the brown family was kwame who grew up to six foot eleven and was blessed with innate athleticism and agility despite being in and out of homeless shelters constantly moving and police knocking on his door more than the mailman kwame focused on basketball and keeping good grades in school as a senior brown averaged 20 points 13 rebounds two steals and a staggering six blocks per game he was named a mcdonald's all-american and the best high school player in the country kwame signed a letter of intent to play for the university of florida under coach billy donovan who believed that kwame is extremely talented but also quite raw and both physically and mentally not ready for the nba at that point however when the new washington wizards team president personally came to visit him and said that he would use their lottery pick to select him brown couldn't say no he couldn't say no because the wizard's team president was michael jordan when his ernest personally comes to your home and says that he wants to change your life with millions of dollars and take you to the promised land you have to say yes especially after all the stuff kwame endured jordan saw brown as a franchise cornerstone and when he witnessed kwame destroying tyson chandler another high school sensation at the time in the last pre-draft workout his mind was set and his first move as an executive mj drafted kwame brown first overall in the 2001 nba draft making him the first high school player ever to become the number one pick then in his second big move he unretired michael jordan the player thus becoming the first and only player executive in nba history terrible rookie season and the roller coaster of emotions kwame was supposed to follow the path of kevin garnett kobe tracy mcgrady and jermaine o'neal who all became all-stars after coming to the nba straight out of high school however none of those players played at an all-star level in their rookie season and the wizards knew that he would need some time to develop but the problem was that the wizards had michael jordan on their team and michael jordan isn't the most patient guy in the world and he does not tolerate losing very well mj was known for bullying teammates making their life tough so they wouldn't break under pressure when the big moment came he fouled his teammates hard in practice he trash-talked and mocked him constantly and in the case of steve kerr even punched him in the face but when kwame brown became his glorified first pick and his teammate jordan tried to break his old habits and made kwame his protege he acted like a big brother brought him to his house showed him what's possible if he develops into a star unfortunately for kwame it's tough to teach old dogs new tricks jordan's ferocious mentality showed when the training camp started and when kwame challenged him to a one-on-one brown scored first and dared to talk some smack in jordan's general direction which did not end up well jordan started abusing him verbally and destroying him on the court from that point on the big brother act slowly faded away and the insults and trash talks started to prevail especially because it was becoming evident that kwame wasn't ready to be a contributor at an nba level before the season started wizards brass told brown that he needed to bulk up to match up with the heavy centers that dominated the nba like shaq mutumbo and alonzo mourning added weight and offseason injury stripped away kwami's biggest quality his speed and agility to make things worse that also meant he wasn't in the best shape and couldn't move very well which made jordan livid and kwami's life soon became unbearable brown was on a veteran team with no real friends he often quarreled with mj and head coach doug collins who both thought brown didn't work hard enough and didn't have the capacity to accept criticism and simply shut up and play harder jordan often teased kwame that his hands are too small and that he can't catch the ball in the post and that he's too weak to battle inside which was harsh but it wasn't far from the truth in his rookie season kwame only played 14 minutes per game good enough for four and a half points and three and a half rebounds per game with an abysmal 38 shooting from the field he improved to 7.4 points on 46 shooting as a sophomore with 5.3 rebounds and 22 minutes per game however everything was still centered around jordan and kwame didn't get much opportunity to develop his offensive skills and make many mistakes on the court when jordan retired for good in 2003 kwame was finally free of his harassment which resulted in the best season of his career he played more than 30 minutes per game for the first and only time in his career averaging 11 points with 7.5 rebounds those weren't exactly all star numbers but kwami proved that he belongs in the nba especially on the defensive end where he became a solid interior defender due to his size and quick feet in his fourth season brown was limited to 42 games due to injuries his highest scoring game of the season was 19 points compared to his season high of 30 the year before and he averaged just 7 points per game in the offseason the wizards traded brown to the lakers hearing him with another legendary and relentless shooting guard he doesn't tolerate crap from anybody don't throw me the ball kobe by the time he arrived in la kwame brown had a defined role in the nba he was a solid rebounder and an above average defender and coaches didn't demand much else from him it's tough to break out of a mold and showcase new skills in the nba if you already fit one box because every coach will demand you to do the same stuff and put you in the same box if you suddenly start shooting and dribbling excessively you'll often be relegated to the bench because the coach didn't ask you to do that kwame didn't love basketball at that time and he treated it like a job that paid well he had a calm demeanor and wasn't very confrontational so he kept rebounding and playing defense when the coaches asked him to he averaged around eight points and six rebounds and 27 minutes on the court with an improved efficiency around the rim shooting nearly 60 in 2007 tommy also showed up in the playoffs improving his season averages and playing great defense however injuries limited him in his third season with the lakers in 2008 and he played the season on a sprained ankle and a busted shoulder during a game against a tough detroit team that ruled the east in that era kobe kept the lakers afloat by scoring 40. the pistons started to play a box and one defense down the stretch of the game and bryant was forced to pass the ball so he passed it to kwame who bobbled it and it went out of bounds you're going to be open again kwami because rasheed is totally ignoring you kobe said during a timeout well if i'm open don't throw it to me i'm nervous if i catch it and they fail me i won't make the free throws anyway kwami responded because he was a 50 foul shooter and had a bad shoulder kwami was probably right not to demand the ball however that kind of cowardly behavior and the crucial moments didn't sit well with kobe it was out of his mind when he heard that especially because he always wanted the ball down the stretch even if both of his shoulders were damaged that game against detroit was the last game kwame brown played for the lakers he was sent to memphis as part of the deal for pau gasol who probably should have been the first pick of the 2001 draft instead of kwame powe went on to play three consecutive nba finals with the lakers while kwami moved around the league as a role player after the trade steven a smith famously called brown a scrub on espn saying that he can't play basketball kwame played for five more seasons and four different teams where he showed that he could be a useful rotation player when healthy but not more than that unfortunately his health also deteriorated and he was constantly battling minor injuries by the age of 31 kwame brown's nba career was over legacy if kwame brown was the 10th draft pick and got into a team without michael jordan and was allowed to make mistakes on the court and play 35 minutes a night i'm positive he would have had a better career the jordan experience proved bad for brown's confidence for his opportunities on the court and for the way he was portrayed in the media which definitely plays a big part in how an athlete is perceived after the wizards years kwame was portrayed as a bad player with a poor work ethic with the label of a bust yes he wasn't talented enough to be selected first overall and should have been drafted in the middle or late in the first round yes he had small hands and wasn't good at catching the ball in the post but kwame brown didn't ask jordan to select him jordan did that on his own and regarding his work ethic and maturity sure he wasn't on mjs or kobe's level but most 19 year olds aren't if he got into a better situation where he wasn't berated and trash-talked all the time by his own teammate and the guy who drafted him i'm pretty sure his game and confidence would have developed differently in a positive way kwame was one of the biggest reasons why the nba instituted a rule that prohibited players from coming to the league straight out of high school in 2006. kwame could have definitely benefited from one or two years of college both physically and mentally the way it turned out he will always be considered a bust because he was drafted so high and didn't produce at an all-star level but as we stated before he didn't draft himself with the first pick as far as draft bus go kwame wasn't the worst number one pick either and was definitely better than anthony bennett larue martin or michael oluwakandi and to put things into perspective kwame still had a solid 12-year nba career during which he earned 64 million dollars that's pretty good for a guy who grew up next to guns and narcotics and had police smash his house door every other week people were recently mocking him on various shows on youtube and in my opinion kwame didn't deserve the hate and i was glad that he fired back sure kwame brown wasn't the greatest nba player but he had a successful career in my eyes

Channel: Nonstop

Views: 138,322

Keywords: nba, kwame brown, michael jordan, nba bust, nonstop sports

Id: iR7eJ7HkyQI

Length: 10min 28sec (628 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 13 2022