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Kwame Brown to the Lakers
Topic Started: Jul 15 2005, 08:49 PM (57 Views)
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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writ...07/15/hot.read/

It's a gamble bigger than any Lakers owner Jerry Buss has laid down in his extensive visits to the high-stakes poker tables in Las Vegas. It may not be as drastic as the blind "all in" he called with a 2-5 off suit last year when he let go of Phil Jackson and Shaquille O'Neal before signing Kobe Bryant, but it's significant nonetheless.

The Lakers will officially announce next week what has been rumored in basketball circles for the better part of two weeks; they've traded Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins to the Wizards for Kwame Brown. It's a deal that could make or break the Lakers' future.

On the surface, the deal is terrible for L.A.. It's trading their second and fourth leading scorers from last season in Butler, who averaged 15.5 points and 5.8 rebounds, and Atkins, who averaged 13.6 points and 4.4 assistants, for Brown, who averaged 7.0 points and 4.9 rebounds for the Wizards. In addition, Butler, who was part of the trio of players who were traded from the Heat for Shaq, is just 25 years old, and there are many in the league who think he is a better player than the inconsistent Lamar Odom, who the Lakers chose to keep instead.

While Butler and Atkins started every game they played in last season, and were leaders on and off the court for a team trying to find its identity, Brown was more often than not a benchwarmer and a malcontent, discouraged by his shrinking role with the Wizards. His selfish ways came to pass when he was suspended for most of the postseason after missing a practice and Game 4 of Washington's first-round playoff series against the Bulls. Even when he played he averaged only 5.0 points and 5.0 rebounds. Paltry numbers for a 6-foot-11, 243-pound player who was the first overall pick in the 2001 draft and hyped as the league's next great big man.

For the Lakers, however, this trade goes deeper than numbers on a stat sheet from last season, a season that L.A. and Brown would both like to forget about. This is a trade that should not be graded two weeks from now, when Brown is holding up a purple and gold jersey during a press conference at the Lakers' practice facility in El Segundo, but two years from now when the team will have the option to re-sign Brown to a long-term deal.

The reason the deal won't be longer than two years is two-fold. First, the Lakers want to see what Brown can do in Jackson's triangle offense. Second, they want to have as much cap-room as possible heading into the 2007 offseason so they can make a push at signing Yao Ming or Amare Stoudemire.

Brown is one of the greatest enigmas in the NBA. Most scouts will tell you that that the 23-year-old has the potential to become a superstar if placed in the right situation. He showed flashes of brilliance last season when he averaged 10.9 points and 7.4 rebounds, while starting in 57 games for Washington. In a March 17 game against Sacramento, Brown scored 30 points and grabbed 19 rebounds against Chris Webber and helped Washington to a 114-108 win. There's the rub for L.A. Will it get that Brown or the one that quit on his team in the playoffs?

The Lakers are quietly hoping that Brown becomes their equivalent of Jermaine O'Neal. No one within the organization will publicly put that kind of pressure on him, but that's the analogy they're all making. O'Neal, a 6-11, 243-pound kid who went straight to the NBA out of high school, spent his first four years in Portland and never started more than nine games and averaged about four points and three rebounds. Since being traded to the Pacers, however, he has become one of the league's best players, averaging more than 20 points and 10 rebounds. If anything the Lakers have a bit of history on their side considering players such as Rip Hamilton, Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Webber and Bobby Simmons all flourished after leaving our nation's capitol.
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wow, not sure if this will help them, but have to take a chance
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