Defending Kwame Brown
Since Kwame Brown (Kwame Worthless, as my brother refers to him) missed four straight free throws tonight, I’ve received a couple direct messages on Twitter, a message on my personal blog, and an email from a friend all essentially saying, “I thought you said Kwame Brown was good and that the $7M the Warriors gave him wasn’t that bad of a contract.”
Firstly, I never said Kwame Brown was good; I said he was a good rebounder and a solid post defender.
And he has been just that. Let’s just look at a few statistics (albeit a small sample size):
- His RP48 is fifth in the league at 18.1, behind Dwight Howard, Channing Frye, DeMarcus Cousins, and Kevin Love.
- His rebounding rate is 21.0. The only players with a higher rate are Andrew Bynum, Dwight Howard, DeSagana Diop, and Kevin Love.
- The Warriors rebound 60.8% of missed shots when Kwame is on the court and only 46.7% when he is off the court.
Look, I realize that Kwame Brown has hands that make Fred Lewis’ seem like Willie Mays’. I realize that he is a horrible free throw shooter (even though a lot of other big men are too). He has a lot of flaws, but he is not a “scrub.”
Take his salary out of it. It’s a one-year deal that doesn’t decimate the Warriors’ salary flexibility in future years. Take out the fact that he was the number one overall pick in one of the worst drafts ever. At least he has carved out a niche and is decently effective at it, unlike somebody like Michael Olowokandi, who isn’t even in the league but doesn’t get half the criticism.
Just watch the game. Kwame Brown actually does a few things out there that can help the team.
