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It's been reported that the Lakers are interested in acquiring Kwame Brown from the Washington Wizards in exchange for Caron Butler, another player, and possibly a draft pick. Say what?
LAist has trouble believing this is for real. We have no problems with the Lakers trading Caron Butler. He's a one-dimensional scorer with little interest in defending, plays a position where the Lakers are stocked, and he's LA's most tradable commodity because his salary is low. We get that. We're also fine with the Lakers adding in a Chucky Atkins or a Devean George to match salaries in a trade. And we'd love to see the Lakers add a decent big man.
But Kwame Brown?
No number-one overall draft pick has ever accomplished less in the NBA than Kwame Brown. For every Kobe Bryant or Kevin Garnett that succeeds in making the high school-to-the-NBA jump, there's a Kwame Brown or Jonathan Bender who bombs out and gives them a bad reputation.
The Wizards reportedly have given Brown a $6.9 million offer sheet as a starting ponit to help facilitate a sign-and-trade deal. What on earth has Kwame Brown done in the NBA to deserve almost $7 million?
During the playoffs, Brown was suspended seven games by his own team for pouting over decreased playing time, missing a practice, and claiming some kind of stomach illness. He has some injury history, and he's been out-of-shape at times. In 2002 he was charged with driving 120 MPH, and later that year was arrested for DUI.
Last year he averaged seven points and less than five rebounds a game, in his fourth season.
And teams are dumb enough to give this guy $7 million a year? It's times like these when NBA owners have to look in the mirror and think before writing huge paychecks. You can't just pay someone on talent alone.
Trading for Kwame Brown is a huge risk for the Lakers. Maybe he'll turn out like Jermaine O'Neal or Tracy McGrady, high school prodigies who realized their potential on their second NBA teams. But that's really wishful thinking. Reportedly, Brown's demand for a third guaranteed year (as if he deserves more than three guaranteed minutes), is holding up the deal. Let's hope it does.
UPDATE
So the trade has now become a reality. The Lakers will send Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins to Washington for Kwame Brown. As we've said before, Butler and Atkins are tradable commodities, who weren't particularly valuable this year. Butler is one-dimensional, and Atkins is undersized and constantly chucks up threes. But acquiring Brown seems insane. We haven't seen any indication that he'll come through and ever be a decent NBA forward, let alone the all-star he was once expected to be.
Ten years from now, when we go back and evaluate Mitch Kupchak's tenure with the Lakers, this is one trade that we'll measure him by. This is his ballsiest trade ever.
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AGREED.
This is a mess waiting to happen. Mitch, I know you're reading the LAist comment section....DO NOT MAKE THIS TRADE.
Hey! Don't you guys ruin this deal for us!
Personally, I'm all for anything that will take Chucky Atkins off our hands. And if Kwame is ready to drink deeply from Phil's Zen-laced KoolAid, the trade could really work out.
"No number-one overall draft pick has ever accomplished less in the NBA than Kwame Brown." How exactly is that relevant when assessing his potential value to the Lakers? The Lakers aren't the ones who burned a #1-overall pick on him. Of course he has underachieved - if he hadn't, he wouldn't be available to the Lakers for Caron Butler & change.
And yes, under the current CBA, a young physical freak with huge upside is worth $7 million a year. With rookies and superstars making artificially low salaries, roleplayers are going to make more and more. Have you seen how much money has been thrown at the likes of Bobby Simmons, Carlos Boozer, A. Foyle, etc.? That makes it all the more important for the Lakers to get rid of Caron - they'll need to pay through the nose to keep him once his rookie contract is up.
C'mon. You need to provide better insight than "he hasn't lived up to his assessed value four years ago" and "these athletes make too much money."
Westy310,
You have completely missed what I was saying. I agreed with you that now is the perfect time to trade Caron Butler. But my point about Brown making too much money isn't a rant on high-priced athletes. It's about fiscal responsibility in today's NBA where the cap determines all.
I am baffled when teams throw $9 million at Bobby Simmons or $7 million, guys who clearly haven't earned it and won't be worth it. The market is what it is, but when teams like the Knicks are $50 million over the cap, paying Tim Thomas $12 million a year, have no prayer of making the playoffs, or cap room to get better, then other teams should learn from their mistakes.
The San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons don't spend big money on players who aren't worth it, and they're the two best teams in the NBA.
Kwame Brown has yet to show anything on or off the court to show that he is a $7 million player. All he has shown is size and potential. The NBA is littered with guys like him who are hording big money, tying up their teams' cap, and not producing.
My point about him being the game's biggest top-pick bust is also relevant (aside from being a distinction for sports geeks to discuss). Sure, Mychael Thompson comes to mind as someone who was a No. 1 overall pick, didn't live up to expectations, but wound up being a quality contributor to the Lakers. Maybe Kwame Brown could turn out like him, if he's lucky. But once a top-pick, always a top-pick. For the rest of his life, Brown will be answering questions about him being a top-pick bust. For the rest of his life, he will be labeled as a No. 1 overall pick. And for the rest of his career, he will have to overcome his "bust" label. That's not fair. But that's the way the sports world works.
a good example of smart fiscal work this summer is the Miami Heat's deal with Udonis Haslem. He's making 5 to 6 mil next year which allows them to sign their mega-deal with Shaq and still upgrade in other places.
It's no shock that the teams competing at the highest level aren't breaking the bank or getting into luxury tax territory. They aren't quick-fixing or praying for a miracle which, unfortunately, is what the Lakers are doing.
I don't think Kwame is terrible. He showed some promise this last season. He's going to get destroyed if he's asked to defend Tim Duncan and Amare Stoudemire on a regular basis and his heart isn't in basketball but who knows?
More confusing about it is that it isn't a move that helps bring Bynum along. Kwame ain't a teacher.
Phil,
Tracy McGrady found his potential with his second NBA team? Huh, that's weird, given that it was that team that signed him to a big contract. I wonder why they'd give him a big contract before he reached his potential?
Oh, right. He averaged 16/6/3 his last year with the Raptors, as a 20 yr old. Sounds like he found his potential there. Sure, he made The Leap in Orlando, but it wasn't like he was a complete bum with his first team, unlike Kwame Brown.
By the way, www.firemitchkupchak.com is still available.
Well, I don't know if this trade outweighs the Shaq departure for the "trade that Mitch Kumstain will be remembered by", but seriously...I wonder if it's a good idea to bring in a work-ethic challenged individual to Los Angeles, brilliant work Mitch.
He's well on his way to the 2006 Isiah Thomas GM you most want in your fantasy league award.
Jake, perhaps I overstated Tracy McGrady's tenure in Toronto. It is true that he really struggled in Toronto at first, but you're right that his final year as a Raptor was promising, and it led to his big deal in Orlando. It's hard to dispute though, that Orlando was where he realized his full potential. Perhaps it was the change of scenary that led him to become a superstar. Perhaps it was just a progression of time. I don't know. Regardless he got a lot better on his second team. Jermaine O'Neal might be a better comparison for wishful-thinking Lakers fans.
As for Greg's point, I disagree with you about Kupchak and the Shaq trade. Kupchak had no choice in that situation. It had a lot more to do with Jerry Buss and his relationship with Kobe Bryant. Do you think Mitch Kupchak woke up one day and said "hey, I've got a great idea. Let's trade Shaq," ? Of course not. Shaq demanded a trade and there were far more powerful elements at work.
Some might believe that Kupchak didn't get the best deal for Shaq, but again Kupchak was handcuffed. Reportedly, the Lakers had a deal on the table to trade Shaq to Indiana for Jermaine O'Neal and a few other players. I think we'd all much rather see Jermaine O'Neal on the Lakers than Lamar Odom. But Shaq refused to go to Indiana through his no-trade clause, and had a small list that consisted of just eight teams, mostly in warm weather cities. Only about 3 of them had viable potential deals with the Lakers. With Mark Cuban low-balling the Lakers, Kupchak was forced to get what he could out of Miami.
That is not a trade that will measure Kupchak's GM ability. The Kwame Brown deal, and the Gary Payton for Chris Mihm, Chucky Atkins, and Jumaine Jones are better indicatoras?
Phil,
I'll keep this brief, as this article is about to be bumped off your front page.
On the subject of Kwame's original draft pick, I maintain that it is irrelevant to his value to the Lakers. I don't see Michael Olowokandi still answering any questions about why the Clippers drafted him #1. And I've listened to many hours of Mychael Tompson's radio show, and I can't recall any caller or guest or co-host ever jab him - even good-naturedly - about being a #1-pick "bust." Brown is now a Laker, so of course the media is going to find any reason to bash him, but that would be true of any player the Lakers acquire. And if Brown is a solid starter on a winning team and earning his moderate-by-NBA-standards salary, nobody's going to care that he had the temerity to be picked #1 when he was 18. I think you're overestimating this phenomenon of the "bust" stigma.
As far as salaries, I get what you're saying - you don't want to see the Lakers hamstrung by overpriced contracts, but I think taking on a $7M/yr player for two or three years is not much of a risk, relatively speaking, and they're not going to have any cap room in the near future anyway (few teams do).
And to Jason T. - the Miami Heat, fiscally responsible franchise? Yes, they got a nice hometown discount from Haslem, but this is the same franchise, owner, and GM who game max deals to Eddie Jones and Brian Grant, and are about to repeat this pattern with Shaq. If they do give Shaq the rumored four or five years (!), they will probably be getting into luxury-tax territory when it comes time to pay Wade.
(gee, I guess I didn't keep that brief!)
kwame a big mistake for the lakers!!! does not rebound,score and maybe assist!!!what in the world made the lakers acquire him for a solid player like caron!!!all kwame gives are useleess fouls!!!he'd be better traded before the trade deadline comes!!!