Kwame Brown

[bulldog]

only watched the first half tonight, but Brown looks much more confident than he did last season.

16 points/9 rebounds following an 8/8 game on opening night.

at this point, the Wizards need his boards and blocks more than his offense with Arenas/Hughes leading the attack, but the points will come in time.

the way Brown seems to be constructed as a basketball player is his ability to rebound and get into the flow of the game physically postively affects his confidence in shooting the ball.

quite the opposite dynamic from some other high profile younger NBA players that appear useless if they are not hitting shots early to get them going.

perhaps Eddie Jordan realizes this while MJ did not? :)

[The Wicked Wop]

Regardless of one individual player....we finally have a Wizards TEAM that can shoot. Their still young but I think Wizards fans finally have something to be excited about.

[SAMB0]

Its because MJ left

[Boy2Der]

Hayes looks great to he may get rookie of the year he lead them in points yesterday

[SAMB0]

No way will he get ROY if Lebron and Mello are healthy.. He'll be in the running but wont get it

[Zen-like Todd]

Hayes looks great, and if you didn't know better, you would think he's a second or third year player instead of a rookie. That said, this is a Kwame Brown thread, not a Jarvis Hayes thread.

I'm in town for the weekend, so I was able to catch the last two Wiz games. Kwame is improving, albeit slowly. He didnt get too much playing time yesterday, no doubt because he wasnt showing nearly enough aggression/interest/passion on the offensive boards (as usual). That said, he now has two quality baseline moves (last year he had half of one). By far his most valuable asset is his extremely first quick step. He had been able to take advantage of that with his baseline spin move in the past, but thats somewhat akin to being a one trick pony. He now has a sweet move where he gets the ball in the low post, slashes into the middle of the key, and drops a baby hook. Its very nice, and very effective. At this rate, he'll have a full arsenal by the time he's 30. :D

[Buford]

its a growth process thats finally on the right track.

3 games into the season and they've competed in all of them. While losing two, to better teams. It just shows that they are learning the system and growing as players.

I'm excited for the future of this team.

[Gamebreaker]

I still believe they'll be really hitting their stride by mid-season.

Stack will be back and healthy, Hayes may have adjusted to the pro game, and hopefully Kwame will have adjusted to this new system. I really like Etan's aggressiveness on the boards, I'm glad Jordan is finally getting the chance that MJ/Collins denied him.

[sippin2020]

Originally posted by bulldog
Brown looks much more confident than he did last season.


So much for that. He looked lethargic, unwilling, and lost last night. I love the way Arenas, Hayes, Dixon, and Hughes are flying around the court looking for opportunities. But Kwame doesn't look like he knows what is going on. I was very impressed with the Wiz last night, but something's got to give with Kwame.

[Zen-like Todd]

Question for those who saw the game. Who was defending Dirk? Holding him to 1-9 from the field is impressive. Was Kwame on him?

[sippin2020]

Originally posted by CrankyTodd
Question for those who saw the game. Who was defending Dirk? Holding him to 1-9 from the field is impressive. Was Kwame on him?

Washington used Brown (five points, five rebounds), Laettner, Jarvis Hayes (13 points, three three-pointers) and Jared Jeffries (six points, five rebounds) to guard Dallas all-star Dirk Nowitzki, who made just 1 of 9 shots and finished with nine points.

- Washington Post

[gbear]

He did guard him and well.

Kwame's D has been MUCH improved this season from what I have seen.

What's more is his passing is much better. If Brendan had hands of anythign other than Stone, Kwame would have an extra assist per night. As it stands now, he is mearly doing a good job moving in space adn keeping the ball moving. Last night, Dallas seemed to colapse in trying to prevent anyone from driving or shooting too near the basket. As a result, Kwame couldn't do much slashing to the basket to take advantage of his speed. Still, he moved and passed well.

[Funkyalligator]

He played great D last night...he played a lot on Dirk....keeping dirk out of the paint and contesting every shot.. He will come along slowly...remember it wasn't until his 4th season that Jermaine O'Neal turned into a good player....so give Kwame sometime....Jordan will develop him very well..

[Golgo-13]

Originally posted by Funkyalligator
He played great D last night...he played a lot on Dirk....keeping dirk out of the paint and contesting every shot.. He will come along slowly...remember it wasn't until his 4th season that Jermaine O'Neal turned into a good player....so give Kwame sometime....Jordan will develop him very well..

I totally agree. If we play our cards right he could be the third part of our three-headed monster of the future with arenas/hayes/brown.

[JetSolo]

His defense continues to improve but otherwise looks lethargic and still unwilling to bang inside as much as he should.

I think the right thing to do is start Jeffries or Thomas at PF and play Kwame 10-15 minutes a night, he just isn't quite ready yet to be a starter. Jeffries is coming around of late, becoming more involved with loose balls rebounds and such, and had a nice game shooting tonight.

[laurent]

You know, I'm starting to think that this lethargy everybody keeps talking about is just part of Browns demeanor. Right now he's playing great defense and is just picking his spots on offense.

Once Kwame has had a chance to absorb this offense and is starting to feel more comfortable I'm sure we will see Jordan try to run more plays to get him involved.