<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pacers fan forever @ Mar 15 2007, 04:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I'm not lying. The guy was unproven, just a nice package of potential who had small hands. It's very risky taking a high school player and even riskier taking one with small hands who hasn't proven anything yet.</div> Why are you making such a f*cking big deal over the size of his hands? No sh*t he was unproven, so has every HS player thats been taken, I get that.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BrewCityBuck @ Mar 15 2007, 02:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Why are you making such a f*cking big deal over the size of his hands? No sh*t he was unproven, so has every HS player thats been taken, I get that.</div>Because he likes guys with big hands. It gives him a lil feeling inside, lol
Hand size matters when you play post. Watch Kwame drop the easy entry pass or miss a block and get a foul because he can't get reach the ball. Hands mean a lot for post players and those with small ones have to work extra hard. Nobody knew if Kwame was willing to work hard which was what made him such a risky pick. And he's turned out to prove it was a bad pick.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pacers fan forever @ Mar 15 2007, 04:49 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Hand size matters when you play post. Watch Kwame drop the easy entry pass or miss a block and get a foul because he can't get reach the ball. Hands mean a lot for post players and those with small ones have to work extra hard. Nobody knew if Kwame was willing to work hard which was what made him such a risky pick. And he's turned out to prove it was a bad pick.</div> Lots of guys in the NBA have small hands, they deal with it, Kwame's hand size is hardly an issue. You keep mentioning hand size and him being unproven as to why you wouldn't have picked him. Your completely forgetting how big of a prospect this guy was. Read his NBADraft.net profile.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BrewCityBuck @ Mar 15 2007, 05:52 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Lots of guys in the NBA have small hands, they deal with it, Kwame's hand size is hardly an issue. You keep mentioning hand size and him being unproven as to why you wouldn't have picked him. Your completely forgetting how big of a prospect this guy was. Read his NBADraft.net profile.</div>I haven't forgotten. He was ranked high by a lot of people, I relize that. All I'm saying is that there were too many questions and riskiness surrounding Kwame to draft him so early.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (KobeBryant_24 @ Mar 15 2007, 06:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Pacers you were like 9 when Kwame was being drafted.....</div>So?
Yeah, the reason that he isnt one of the biggest busts ever is because he didnt deserve to be picked that high, and not alot of people expected him to be near as good as MJ thought. Also, up until the last couple years or this year, some of the picks right behind him hadnt done much either. I dont remember this draft being that great, but it probably had alot of guys that did pretty well. I just remember the top few picks being Tyson, Eddy, and Kwame.
From what I remember, people thought Jordan was seriously considering Eddie Griffin with the first pick. And Jordan worked out Rodney White and was apparently infatuated with him...good lord...Pau Gasol was the 3rd pick but he was never in #1 consideration because nobody knew a damn thing about him in 2001.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ballerman2112 @ Mar 15 2007, 06:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Yeah, the reason that he isnt one of the biggest busts ever is because he didnt deserve to be picked that high, and not alot of people expected him to be near as good as MJ thought. Also, up until the last couple years or this year, some of the picks right behind him hadnt done much either. I dont remember this draft being that great, but it probably had alot of guys that did pretty well. I just remember the top few picks being Tyson, Eddy, and Kwame.</div>Well, there was Jason Richardson, Pau Gasol, Joe Johnson, Richard Jefferson, Zach Randolph, and Tony Parker. But no, it wasn't a great draft.
BCB, I read your post up above about people thinking that Kwame would help right away, and start, and if I remember correctly, that wasnt the case at all. Even though I wasnt that old, I still watched alot of basketball and followed the draft, and I remember people saying that Kwame was going to be effective in a couple of seasons. Just thought that I would say that...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ballerman2112 @ Mar 15 2007, 05:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>BCB, I read your post up above about people thinking that Kwame would help right away, and start, and if I remember correctly, that wasnt the case at all. Even though I wasnt that old, I still watched alot of basketball and followed the draft, and I remember people saying that Kwame was going to be effective in a couple of seasons. Just thought that I would say that...</div> There were a lot of opinions, but most people figured with his size and the need in Washington, that he would play right away.
Well he's gotten the shaft a lot in his career. He came in with a huge responsibility. And he was hated by the greatest player ever when he was still a teenager. That affected him a lot. Then the year Jordan left he started to come out. He averaged 11 and 7 that year (2003/2004). Then he broke his hand and missed the first half of the next season. When he came back in they had grown without him and he became a nuissance so they got rid of him. He came to LA and sucked until Mihm went down. He played great basketball for the last 2 months of the season + the playoffs. Everyone was excited for what he was going to do this season. Then he messes up his shoulder and misses a month (luckily he got hurt in October so he only missed 7 or 8 real games). It took him a while to get back, then as soon as he does, he sprains his ankle and goes out for 2 and a half months.In no way am I saying that Kwame would be a superstar if it weren't for Jordan or injuries, but he wouldn't be as big a bust as he's known as today. He'd be a decent starting Center.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ChuckTheD @ Mar 15 2007, 07:06 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Well he's gotten the shaft a lot in his career. He came in with a huge responsibility. And he was hated by the greatest player ever when he was still a teenager. That affected him a lot. Then the year Jordan left he started to come out. He averaged 11 and 7 that year (2003/2004). Then he broke his hand and missed the first half of the next season. When he came back in they had grown without him and he became a nuissance so they got rid of him. He came to LA and sucked until Mihm went down. He played great basketball for the last 2 months of the season + the playoffs. Everyone was excited for what he was going to do this season. Then he messes up his shoulder and misses a month (luckily he got hurt in October so he only missed 7 or 8 real games). It took him a while to get back, then as soon as he does, he sprains his ankle and goes out for 2 and a half months.In no way am I saying that Kwame would be a superstar if it weren't for Jordan or injuries, but he wouldn't be as big a bust as he's known as today. He'd be a decent starting Center.</div>I don't think you can blame Jordan for his development. From what I've read Jordan tried his best to develop him but Kwame just lacked the drive and motivation within himself to suceed. You can blame Jordan for picking him though.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BrewCityBuck @ Mar 15 2007, 06:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>There were a lot of opinions, but most people figured with his size and the need in Washington, that he would play right away.</div>Well of course he was going to play right away, or else he wouldnt have been picked at the #1 spot...But, I think most people figured he wasnt going to have a massive impact, or that he wasnt going to really get good for a few years. Well, we have waited 6 years on him and he hasnt shown any signs of stardom.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pacers fan forever @ Mar 15 2007, 04:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I don't think you can blame Jordan for his development. From what I've read Jordan tried his best to develop him but Kwame just lacked the drive and motivation within himself to suceed. You can blame Jordan for picking him though.</div>That's just it. Jordan tried his hardest to get the best out of Kwame. Jordan's approach to his teammates was intimidating them into succeeding. Haven't you heard the stories from his Chicago days when players were so afraid of f*cking up just because of what Jordan would say to them? Well Kwame has a knack for annoying the hell out of people who want him to succeed. That probably just drove Jordan nuts and Jordan reapeatedly blew up at Kwame, who was still a teenager at that time.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ChuckTheD @ Mar 15 2007, 08:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>That's just it. Jordan tried his hardest to get the best out of Kwame. Jordan's approach to his teammates was intimidating them into succeeding. Haven't you heard the stories from his Chicago days when players were so afraid of f*cking up just because of what Jordan would say to them? Well Kwame has a knack for annoying the hell out of people who want him to succeed. That probably just drove Jordan nuts and Jordan reapeatedly blew up at Kwame, who was still a teenager at that time.</div>Oh, I never heard about Jordan blowing up at him.
I would say he is a bust. Too many expectations and was obvioulsy picked to high. He has shown some progress though and can play some defense in the pots downlow. Hes injury and foul prone so thats not good. He is still only what 24, 23? so I can see him averaging about 14ppg and 7rpg sometime in his prime
