hey joe, this is an awesome article on kwame and his relationship with phil.
Cake Love: L.A. & Kwame
Now that the Kwame Brown Era has officially come to an end in Los Angeles, I thought that I should ask Lakers Coach Phil Jackson what this latest trade to Memphis says about the former Washington Wizards No. 1 pick. Surprisingly, Jackson didn't kill him.
"The reality is, Kwame has a game," Jackson said yesterday. "We're going to miss part of the game he gave to us, which was keeping people away from the basket, knocking people around with his big body. The things he could do when he could run well."
No. He told Kwame what? Yeah, Pau. I'm not kidding - meow. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Jackson is known for his brutal honesty and the 2 ½ year experiment with Brown was filled with the Hall of Fame Coach's classically crass comments about him.
Two months into his Lakers tenure, Jackson questioned Brown's toughness and his inability to recover from a strained right hamstring. "I'm not putting pressure other than just call him (a sissy) every time I see him in the locker room," Jackson said. Jackson accented his accessment by making cat-like "meow" sounds as Brown walked past him. Later, Jackson walked into the locker room, pointed to a brown mink coat stashed on top of the coat rack and started laughing hysterically. "See that's Kwame's," he said.
After a triple-overtime loss to the Charlotte Bobcats in December of last season - in which Kobe Bryant scored 58 points - Jackson put the blame on Brown, who had three turnovers down the stretch. "We're going to feed him Butterfingers on the flight home just so he can feel the effects of it."
A few months later, when the Lakers visited Washington, Jackson skipped the morning shootaround and took his team on a tour of the monuments. He didn't waste the opportunity to take another dig at Brown. "I think we had other guys who'd never seen them, like Kwame Brown," Jackson said. "I hear he came here but I don't think he ever did that."
Yesterday, Jackson basically blamed most of Brown's struggles on injuries that have robbed him of his explosiveness and quickness. Then, he added, "Kwame still has an upside that people haven't seen. He's going to get better opportunities than he did here."
That might be news to Memphis General Manager Chris Wallace, who explained his reasoning for making the Pau Gasol deal by stating, "Brown was the largest expiring contact we could find." Ouch. He didn't even waste any time trying to make anyone believe that the Grizzlies expected anything from Brown, who might not be around long enough to get booed out of Memphis, like he did in Washington and Los Angeles.
"He had as bad an outing as I've ever seen a player have," Jackson said of Brown's seven turnover, boo-sparking performance in a nationally televised game against Phoenix almost two weeks ago. "It was embarrassing for him, but his teammates supported him. His teammates really loved him."
We love ya, Kwame. But see that guy back there? The one with the ball? Yeah, we need him to win, man. You gotta go. (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images) Brown's teammates really enjoyed having him around, since he was often the life of the party. Everybody in D.C. knows how much Brown loved to have a good time. Even through he struggled on the court, he always found an escape; usually managed to keep a smile. Forward Lamar Odom said losing Brown, was "like losing a brother."
"All these guys, you start off not knowing them, then you get to be close as brothers. Of course, that hurt," Odom said. "For the most part, you lose a friend and a brother to gain a friend and a brother. You hate to see a friend go, but you make a new friend. Basketball wise, you have to move on. It's part of our business."
When Mitch Kupchak addressed the media after acquiring Gasol, he said the players were happy but upset to see their teammates leave. "But I also know that they want to win games and I think this will help us win games," Kupchak said.
Ronny Turiaf was one of Brown's best friends on the team. When I asked Turiaf to give me his favorite Brown memories, he mentioned Brown's dunk over Chicago's Andres Nocioni and of-course, Brown's most endearing Laker legacy - as the cake chucker.
"The cake was hilarious," Turiaf said, laughing. "It was very, very, very silly."
Kwame wins. Hands down. If you don't recall. Brown had gone out to celebrate Turiaf's birthday at an L.A. night spot, when a man carrying a $190 cake approached Turiaf for a picture. Thinking that the cake was a gift for Turiaf, Brown grabbed the cake from the fan and tossed it at Turiaf's face. He missed. "Actually, he got me in the back of my head. I had to wash my hair a little bit," Turiaf said with a laugh.
Jackson's initial reaction to the incident was equally hilarious. He said it was "natural" that the cake slipped from Brown's hands. The saddest part of the Brown trade might be the end of Jackson's one-liners.
-bender
