Kobe Bryant does not think too highly of Kwame Brown

A. Isaac Senior Editor

Kobe Bryant on Kwame Brown 135x95 Kobe Bryant does not think too highly of Kwame Brown

In 2001, Michael Jordan, in his infinite basketball wisdom, selected high school phenom Kwame Brown with the first overall pick. Though Brown has been able to stay in the league for 12 years, he’s never quite lived up to the hype—in fact, that’s a severe understatement.

At best, Brown is a serviceable fourth big man on a NBA roster, at worst, he’s a black Chuck Nevitt running aimlessly down the court tripping over himself while repeatedly fumbling passes.

It’s this last point that drew the ire of one, Kobe Bryant, his former teammate.

As Michael Lee of the Washington Post tells us, Bryant spoke to a group of students at UCSB and the topic of Kwame Brown came up. Suffice it to say, he does not think too highly of the big fella.

I got to say, it was tough doing it that year. I was playing with guys, God bless them — God bless them — but Kwame Brown. Smush Parker. We had one game right before…by the way, what I say here, I say directly to them, see what I’m saying, I don’t talk behind people’s back. Things that I say to you, I’m comfortable saying this to them and I’ve said this to them…But like, the game before we traded for Pau, were playing Detroit and I had like 40 points towards the end of the game. This is back when Detroit had Rasheed [Wallace], Chauncey [Billups] and those guys, so we had no business being in the game. So down the stretch of the game, they put in a box and one. So I’m surrounded by these players, Detroit players, and Kwame is under the basket, all by himself. Literally, like all by himself. So I pass him the ball, he bobbled it and it goes out of bounds.
“So we go back to the timeout and I’m [upset], right? He goes, ‘I was wide open.’ ‘Yeah, I know.’ This is how I’m talking to him, like, during the game. I said, ‘You’re going to be open again, Kwame, because Rasheed is just totally ignoring you.’ He said, ‘Well, if I’m open don’t throw it to me.’ I was like, ‘Huh?’ He said, ‘Don’t throw it to me.’ I said, ‘Why not?’ He said, well, ‘I’m nervous. If I catch it and they foul me, I won’t make the free throws.’ I said, ‘Hell no!’
“I go to Phil [Jackson], I say, ‘Hey Phil, take him out of the game.’ He’s like, ‘Nah, let him figure it out.’ So, we lose the game, I go the locker room, I’m steaming. Steaming. I’m furious. Then, finally I get a call, they said, ‘You know what, we got something that’s happening with Pau.’ I was like, ‘Alright. Cool.’…That’s what I had to deal with the whole year.”

And here’s the video via YouTube user ImadoggyDogg.

Kobe Bryant has a Kwame Brown story [Washington Post]

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