[One on One]

"If you could only put the head and heart of Michael Ruffin into Kwame Brown's body."

I was thinking that very same thing watching the game last night.

 

[adarsh1]

then Kwame Brown will look really ugly

 

[byrondarnell66]

To me Ruffin is not a real Basketball player, hes a hustler and a good offensive rebounder but thats it, his defense sucks nothing but a hacker and gets burned alot playing undersized at PF and his offense is not wourth mentioning. His heart yes his mind (as far as bball IQ) i don't think so. He does try hard and i applaud him for that. But he just met by playing harder than i totally agree.

 

[MJG]

All I saw in that piece is that there is always someone happy to blame Kwame Brown for something. He played ten minutes, in which he drew two fouls, grabbed a couple of rebounds, and played defense no worse than anyone else on the team. No, he wasn't great out there. However, he did absolutely nothing even remotely close to deserving a few off-topic paragraphs in an article not at all about him.

I mean, look at what Wilbon is nailing him on: giving up two open three pointers to the Sixers' shooting guard. Excuse me, but what kind of defense puts their PF/C in a position where he is the responsible one for defending the opposition's guards out on three point line for multiple consecutive possessions? How about writing something negative about EJ for sticking to a set that obviously was doing nothing good, or the guards for gambling and leaving their men wide open in the first place? Heavens no, it must all be Kwame's fault!

Like I said, Kwame didn't do that much in the way of good things in his scant few minutes last night. I'm not expecting anyone to praise him. However, the need to blame him for something at every available opportunity is just really old. I honestly hope for Kwame's sake he finds some way away from here, find somewhere where he can just be a member of the team and not a lightning rod for everyone wanting to find a reason for the team's faults.

What I wouldn't give to see Jamison or EJ or Hughes or anyone else blamed for something, for anything ...

 

[One on One]

I, too, noticed that he was blamed for giving up some 3s and that is definitely EJ's fault. The point, though, is Kwame gets booed and ripped because he doesn't try. I don't care if Kwame doesn't score at all...just go out and get 10 boards a game and hustle and that's enough. For some reason, he doesn't do that. This month Ruffin averages 6.5 RPG in 21.3 MPG. Kwame is averaging 4.7 RPG in 24.3 MPG. Kwame is much more physically gifted so there's no reason Ruffin should outboard him in less minutes. Kwame was doing good last month....7.3 board average in 28.5 MPG. But, this is crunch time, this is when we learn who wants it and Ruffin is stepping up his game while Kwame is looking for Gilbert to hold his hand.

I've been very patient with Kwame and expected a breakout season this year....injuries set him back and I remained patient, but now with crucial games being played and Kwame not playing with heart, I'd rather see him leave. He has enough talent to be a very good player, but I no longer think he can be an all-star because he doesn't have the intensity in him. I think he's going to be a very sad waste of talent, but I still hope he proves me wrong.

 

[adarsh1]

Not playing with heart? You can't really "show" that you're playing with heart when you play ten ****ing minutes

 

[f22egl]

Ruffin left a couple of people open in the end of the game; I didn't see Ruffin boxing out Marc Jackson either during the game . So Wilbon is an idiot, I think we all knew that anyways.

The Wizards should still keep Kwame because there aren't that many good big men out there anyways and his value is so low right now that I don't see anybody giving him a huge offer. Unless Atlanta offers him the max, the WIzards should keep him and even if they give up on him, they can trade him for something. I see teh Wizards matching up to MLE unless there is somebody better on the market for that price which I doubt.

 

[byrondarnell66]

Who was guarding Rodney Rodgers when he made 3 3pointers in the first quater and scored 13 points in the 1st quater??? Hint it wasn't Kwame, i supposed Gilbert and Hughes is supposed to guard PF's on the perimeter too. No one to blame but the coach on this one his defensive schemes is rediculous. Guys gambling for steals no one rotating of defense. The defense looks totally confused so who is it really to blame here???

 

[One on One]

Ruffin left a couple of people open in the end of the game; I didn't see Ruffin boxing out Marc Jackson either during the game . So Wilbon is an idiot, I think we all knew that anyways.

The Wizards should still keep Kwame because there aren't that many good big men out there anyways and his value is so low right now that I don't see anybody giving him a huge offer. Unless Atlanta offers him the max, the WIzards should keep him and even if they give up on him, they can trade him for something. I see teh Wizards matching up to MLE unless there is somebody better on the market for that price which I doubt.

I don't mean to bash Kwame too much because he could very well become a good player. If the MLE is all he gets, I'd give him that, but I think he turned down something like 4 years $30 mil already. Now, his value hasn't gone up this season, but I'd have to take a good look at our cap situation before offering over $7 mil a year. If Atlanta makes a huge offer, I don't think we should match it.

 

[MJG]

I think Kwame should take that 4 year, $30 million offer (assuming it is a standing offer, as I've read). I really can't picture him doing much better than that. It's both a short enough deal that he isn't stuck being underpaid should be break out, as well as a lucrative enough deal so that he'll have made a decent chunk of change should he not break out. If he tries to hold out for big bucks, he could easily find himself scraping the MLE barrel, and if he goes for the one year tender in order to strike it rich next year, well I don't need to tell you what another season like this one would do to his value. Atlanta is the one and only team I could see besting the deal we put forward to him, and even with them I don't think it could come until later in the summer, after guys like Curry and Swift and Chandler have already been scooped up.