Has Kwame Brown's Time Finally Arrived?

[achtungbaby]

By JOSEPH WHITE, AP Sports Writer
January 25, 2004

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Who is that wearing the No. 5 jersey for the Washington Wizards?

You know, the big man? The one moving so confidently through the lane, grabbing rebounds, dunking over defenders?

Can that really be Kwame Brown? For so long, he seemed destined to be one of the biggest busts in NBA history, a No. 1 overall draft pick who never panned out.

Maybe it's too early for a coming-out party, but suddenly Brown's got game. He scored his career high twice this month, including 25 points with nine rebounds in the Washington Wizards' 107-96 victory over the Eastern Conference-leading Indiana Pacers on Saturday.

``I'm a lot more comfortable,'' Brown said. ``Not as jittery. Taking my shots when I have it.''

Over his past 12 games, Brown is averaging 13.8 points and 8.7 rebounds and has worked his way back into the starting lineup. He has led his team in scoring four times this season.

And the Wizards, parked near the bottom of the standings all season, have won three of four games.

Perhaps he isn't quite putting up All-Star numbers yet, but consider this: Brown led the Wizards in scoring a grand total of just once in his first two seasons -- it happened to be Michael Jordan's final game -- and he mostly languished on the bench while averaging 6.2 points and 4.6 rebounds.

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[TB4000]

It's cool for the man to have jitters, as it were, but if it costs him a win down the line...they might have problems if he doesn't learn to focus.

[achtungbaby]

He played pretty well tonight...19 points, 10 rebounds...

[kurei kun]

i like the way he's been playing lately. but hell, all of the highschoolers that came out in that draft (miles, curry, chandler) have yet to make a splash in the nba.

kwame is the man.

[mrazntre]

miles mad a tiny splash with the clips, but i think he drowned in cleveland.

I heard Curry and Chandler were playing "ok," but nothing of the level that Brown has displayed as of late.

[Icepak]

Chandler kicked ass before his back injury at the beginning of the season. But I still believe in Kwame. All my fellow Wiz fans have been bashing him and me for sticking up for him. I'm beginning to think that his progress was slowed in Washington by being surrounded by pricks. MJ and Doug Collins were assholes to him and Kwame didn't respond well to their approaches in fear of tripping over his feet in front of him. And I don't know why the hell anyone thought Laettner and Oakley were good influences on Kwame. They should have kept Popeye for that. Go Kwame!

[kurei kun]

another 20+ game under his belt

the wizards are looking scary with the backcourt of stack and arenas with kwame up front

even though jordan didn't take them to the promised land, he sure did change this franchise around

from
mitch richmond + juwan

to

stack + brown

wow.

[achtungbaby]

I rarely like to give Jordan credit for anything, but it would seem he did indeed put the pieces in place. All they need is another big man.

[Icepak]

Like Okeafor?

[kurei kun]

Originally Posted by Icepak

Like Okeafor?

okafor? only if the wiz get a top 2 pick

splitter maybe. pavel is another one. kosta is another.

or they can steal dwight from atlanta. funny thing though is dwight has been compared to as being the next kwame with an inside game :D.