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raven
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Is 2005 the year of the Kwame?
Will the real Kwame Brown please stand up?
After three years of watching and hand wringing, the Wizards would like to know who the kid they drafted with the No. 1 pick in the 2001 draft really is.
Is he the Kwame Brown who dropped 30 and 19 on the Kings' Chris Webber? The Kwame who scored 25 points and grabbed nine boards against the Pacers' Jermaine O'Neal. That's the Brown the Wizards thought they were getting when Brown told Michael Jordan that he never would regret taking him.
Summer Blueprints
What will your team be up to this summer? NBA Insider Chad Ford breaks it down
# Phoenix Suns
# Cleveland Cavaliers
# Seattle Supersonics
# Chicago Bulls
# Golden State Warriors
# Los Angeles Clippers
# Orlando Magic
# Boston Celtics
# Portland Trail Blazers
# Charlotte Bobcats
# 2004 Free agents
Or maybe Kwame is the kid who had zero points and three boards against the Jazz in 29 minutes of play. Or perhaps he's the kid who managed just three points and three boards against the Suns. If that's the Kwame the Wizards are stuck with . . . things are going to get ugly.
The problem in Washington -- and it's a big one -- is that the Wizards, three years into Brown's career, still aren't sure who their cornerstone really is. The Bulls, who drafted two high school kids in 2001, are going through the same growing pains.
How long do you wait before you give up? How much patience can a struggling franchise have? If Grunfeld trades Brown now, and he turns into Jermaine O'Neal next year . . . he loses his job. If he hangs onto Brown for another two years, only to find out that he's fool's gold . . . he loses his job.
Ah, the joys of being in charge of young, teenage millionaires.
Kwame Brown
Power Forward
Washington Wizards
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
74 10.9 7.4 1.5 .489 .683
All of the pressure, ideally, shouldn't be on Kwame's shoulders, but it is. The Wizards have a stocked backcourt filled with scorers and defenders. It's the frontcourt that keeps coming up short. The Wizards need to improve it, but nothing they can do this summer will help as much as getting Brown to play up to his billing on a consistent basis.
There are no free agents out there with his upside. No one in the draft ready to come in and do what he's capable of doing. The mantle of the Wizards once rested firmly on Michael Jordan's back. Now it's on Kwame's. There's no escaping it now. If he fails, the Wizards do too. If he develops, the Wizards will be a force to be reckoned with.
Can the Wizards' front office do anything to determine his path? Here's a look at what to expect as Insider continues its summer blueprint series.
Wizards Summer Blueprint
DRAFT: The Wizards currently hold the third pick in the draft and have a 15.7 percent overall of landing No. 1. They need the help. Despite years in the lottery, the Wizards still need help in the frontcourt. A player like Emeka Okafor or Luol Deng would be another good fit in Washington.
Okafor would give the Wizards the type of blue collar work ethic in the paint that Brendan Haywood and Brown haven't been able to provide. The Wizards have drafted two small forwards the past two drafts -- Jared Jeffries and Jarvis Hayes -- but Deng is on a different level from either player.
The Wizards will also consider trading this pick. The team has plenty of young players and really needs another star in the frontcourt to anchor some pretty solid backcourt play. The team, especially if it doesn't land one of the top three picks, may try to package it along with Christian Laettner to the Bobcats. Laettner has just one year left on his deal and the Bobcats could use the extra talent. The extra cap room they would get could come in handy in free agency.
FREE AGENCY: The team has only one significant free agent, Etan Thomas. Thomas is a restricted free agent who had the best year of his career in Washington last season. He can be tough around the basket, but injuries have limited his progress throughout his career. The Wizards would like to re-sign him, but won't break the bank to do it.
Etan Thomas
Forward-Center
Washington Wizards
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
79 8.9 6.7 0.9 .489 .647
As far as cap room goes, the team will be a few million under the cap once you figure in the cap hold for their first-round pick. However, if the Wizards can find a way to move a big salary off the books (along with their first-round pick) in the expansion draft (Laettner, Jerry Stackhouse and even Larry Hughes are possibilities), they could get around $10 million under the cap. That would give them plenty of room to make a run at a veteran big man to play alongside Brown.
The problem for Washington is that there aren't a lot of great ones available. Erick Dampier, Mehmet Okur, Vlade Divac, Marcus Camby and Mark Blount top the list. All could make a difference in Washington, but none is a perfect fit. Coach Eddie Jordan could also talk GM Ernie Grunfeld into making a run a Kenyon Martin this summer. The Nets have been balking at Martin's asking price, and his familiarity and devotion to Jordan could make for an interesting fit. If the Wizards really do have $10 million to work with . . . they could afford it and then use Brown as bait to land a center or small forward in return.
TRADES: Look for the Wizards to try to move Stackhouse this summer. He was injured most of the season and the Wizards were happy with how Hughes and Hayes played in his absence.
Jerry Stackhouse
Guard-Forward
Washington Wizards
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
26 13.9 3.6 4.0 .399 .806
Is Stackhouse tradable? He has three years, $25 million left on his contract. That's not an unreasonable amount. If the Wizards were willing to swallow a big contract in return, they might find a taker.
Brown remains their most tradeable commodity. He showed enough flashes of greatness last season to keep teams very interested in him. While Brown still appears to lack the fire to be a go-to guy on any team, his skills at his size are undeniable. The Wizards won't give him away, but if they can get significantly better in the process, they have to consider it.
The team may also make a decision between Jeffries and Hayes. They don't need both players. Hayes is a better fit in Washington's system, meaning that Jeffries should keep his bags packed.
COACHING: Jordan is the man. He was the brains behind the Nets' free-flowing offense and eventually, with the right players, you'll see the Wizards flowing too. He just needs more time and few changes to get things in place. The Wizards are committed to him. How weird does that sound given that we are talking about the Eastern Conference here.
FRONT OFFICE: Ernie Grunfeld is one of the best GMs in the league. He spent the past year sitting back, assessing what the team had. Don't be surprised if he now rolls up his sleeves and starts making changes. The team has too many guards and too many young players. He needs to swap some of that for some veteran low-post players to surround Kwame with. Grunfeld has a knack for finding talent and he'll do something to address the issue this year.
Despite the mounting losses, the future in Washington should be bright. Brown still has the potential to be a star. Arenas too. The rest of the supporting cast are assets that can be moved for the right pieces. There's still a lot of work to be done in Washington, but a 35-win season for the Wizards next season should be possible.
Heat will rest when season ends
By Terry Brown
NBA Insider
Thursday, May 6
Updated: May 6
1:47 PM ET
If the Miami Heat thought Game 7 of the first round was tough, they're about to find out how hard their 90th game of the season can be when facing an Indiana Pacers team that's had 11 days of rest.
"They're dealing with their dilemma and we're dealing with ours," Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said in the Palm Beach Post. "The challenge for us right now is to make sure we do enough to make sure we're prepared without overwhelming guys."
Here's why.
Lamar Odom has already played the fourth-most minutes in the playoffs of all participants thus far. Caron Butler has played the fifth-most. Eddie Jones has played the sixth-most and Dwyane Wade has played the seventh-most.
And they're all Miami Heat.
Less than 46 hours after defeating the New Orleans Hornets in the seventh game of their first-round series, the Heat are in Indiana for their first game of the second round. This may be just another game for a group of seasoned veterans accustomed to the rigors of NBA playoff basketball, but for Wade, it's the eighth playoff game of his life.
"Dwyane thinks this is life in the NBA," Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said. "You come in, you get into the playoffs, you move on."
It what may seem like yesterday, he was guarding Baron Davis. Tonight, he is guarding Jamaal Tinsley. Tomorrow, he'll be wondering what to do when he gets rubbed off on a Ron Artest screen after running into Jermaine O'Neal on the other end of the court.
After two years in Marquette, this rookie sensation started his NBA season by losing his first seven games as a professional. The Heat were the last team in the entire league to win a game.
Lamar Odom is tired, but you won't hear him or any Heat player complain about the playoff grind.
They lost at Philly. They lost at Boston. They lost to Detroit. They lost at Dallas. They lost at San Antonio. They lost to Minnesota. They lost at Houston.
It took 16 days from the beginning of the regular season before the Heat won their first game and they had to go into overtime to win their second.
It took until April 7 and 78 games just to get to .500 for the first time all year.
Forty-two wins later, the Heat finished the regular season as the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. But not before Wade sat out 13 games due to a bruised right wrist, small forward Butler struggled to recover from offseason surgery to his left knee, newly signed Odom pushed on to more minutes than he played the previous two seasons combined and Jones suffered the worst shooting season of his career.
Wade scored just over 1,200 points in two seasons at Marquette. His next basket tonight will give him 1,101 this year alone.
And how do you think Odom feels?
He played in only 49 games last year. He played in only 29 the year before that. He injured this wrist, that ankle and was suspended for violating terms of the league's drug policy.
The point is, he's about to play his 88th game of the season after playing only 78 in the last two years.
He's never been to the playoffs, much less the second round. Neither has Butler, who took until Jan. 2 to score back-to-back double-digit games this year and that was 10 against the Knicks and 12 against the Magic. Back-up forward Udonis Haslem is a rookie like Wade. This year, his Florida Gators team played 31 games while he is about to play in his 83rd.
Sixthman Rafer Alston never played in more than 50 games before this year and never more than 980 minutes in a season. This year alone, he played in 82 regular-season games and 2,581 minutes.
About the only Heat player with any postseason experience averaging more than nine points a game is Jones, and he may have already played too many. The 10-year veteran is coming off a season in which he shot only 40.9 percent and sinking.
Jones started the season averaging 21 points per game in November. By April, he was down to 12.7. In January, he shot 43.5 percent from the field. In February, he was down to 42.1 percent. In March, it was 41.4 percent. By April, he had fallen to 35.4 percent.
So far in the playoffs, Jones is averaging 15 points per game on 37.6 percent shooting.
Needless to say, this has been a long season for Jones. It has been a long season for the Heat. And while the Pacers haven't played a game decided by fewer than 10 points since April 7, this Miami squad, nonetheless, seems to only thrive the harder it gets and can only hope the season gets even longer.
"This is my favorite team I have ever played for," said Brian Grant in the Miami Herald. "We started 0-7 . . . and people were telling us it was going to be the worst year ever."
Now, it only hurts when they celebrate.
* Series pits wired-but-weary vs. rested-but-rusty
Tom D'Angelo / Palm Beach Post
* Staying relaxed
Barry Jackson / Miami Herald
* Wade a rookie no longer
Dave George / Palm Beach Post
Peep Show
NBA Insider
Thursday, May 6
Updated: May 6
9:30 AM ET
Miller
Indiana Pacers: Reggie Miller is glad he stuck around Indiana. "I could have been a reluctant superstar and fought the transition," Miller said in the Indianapolis Star. "But for this franchise to remain at the top, and it will once I'm gone, someone had to defer and step back. It happens in every walk of life." But that's a lot easier to say than do. "Well, that's true," he said. "But I knew if I didn't step back and nurture and teach -- if I cried that I wanted the ball and demanded my shots -- we weren't going anywhere. I could have butted heads with Jermaine once he got here, or Jonathan (Bender) and Al (Harrington). But change is inevitable in life, and it's what you do with change and how you accept it. I know my window of opportunity is closing, but I felt like if they learned quickly, it would preserve me in the long run and give us a shot at a title. And that's what's happened."
New Jersey Nets: The Nets are as the Nets do. "What we've been doing for the last three years has been very good for us," the rookie interim coach Frank Lawrence said in the New York Daily News. "You have to have trust, conviction and belief in what we do. And we do. We're not going to throw in a new offense and run it in Game 2. Adjustments are the tweaks and little modifications you make." Richard Jefferson agreed. "It's nearly impossible to have that kind of futility two games in a row. History kind of works in our favor there." Kenyon Martin made it even simpler. "We got better today," Kenyon Martin said. "We just need to work on the things we need to work on."
Detroit Pistons: The Pistons welcomed back two familiar faces to practice: Rasheed Wallace and his plantar fasciitis. "Rasheed practiced a little bit," said coach Larry Brown in the Detroit Free Press. "I didn't recognize him. I hadn't seen him out there. He did all right. He was OK. He's getting closer. We have some days off. The mornings are the real problem."
Boston Celtics: New coach Doc Rivers isn't wasting any time with his new staff, identifying Raptors assistant Tony Brown and Grizzlies assistant Lionel Hollins as his favorites. "I've talked to both guys [Brown and Hollins] about the job," said Rivers in the Boston Globe. "I've also talked to about five other guys. Tony Brown is the only guy I've given a financial offer to. I think he would be a terrific addition to our staff. Verbally, if Lionel and I can come to an agreement, he would be a terrific addition, too." Other people contacted are Magic assistants Dave Wohl, Paul Pressey and Mark Hughes, former assistant Jim Brewer, former Sixers coach Randy Ayers and Celtics assistant Paul Cormier, who could be the only returning coach.
Chandler
Chicago Bulls: Tyson Chandler crosses his heart. "This is going to be my hardest-working summer ever," he said in the Chicago Tribune. The big man returned to Chicago's Berto Center after a brief vacation in California and is said to be joining Eddy Curry in escalated workouts.
Minnesota Timberwolves: The St. Paul Pioneer Press is reporting that the Timberwolves' payroll will jump up another $2 million with the announcement that Kevin Garnett had become the league's MVP. A clause in his contract says Garnett gets paid an additional $1 million bonus because of the award, and because Minnesota is already over the luxury cap, it will be fined dollar for dollar.
Los Angeles Lakers: Is Phil Jackson losing control of his team? "We had some miscommunications tonight, and some of that was my fault," Jackson said in the Los Angles Times after fans witnessed a heated argument between him and Karl Malone during Wednesday night's game. "This has been typical of the year, this miscommunication as a team," Malone said. "Maybe all of us are stubborn."
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