Nov 27, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Kwame Brown (54) during the fourth quarter against the Dallas Mavericks at the Wachovia Center. The Sixers defeated the Mavericks 100-98. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-Imagn Images / Howard Smith-Imagn Images
Kwame Brown will always be one of the first names that come to mind when discussing the biggest bust in National Basketball Association history. Over the last two years, Brown has returned to the mainstream spotlight after going viral a number of times through his popular YouTube channel.
Brown interviewed with the popular sports podcast ‘The Pivot’ a year that currently has 1.8 million views. The live conversation did a great job of humanizing the former number-one overall pick in the 2001 NBA draft, who spent a lot of time throughout his career dealing with harsh criticism after never meeting the expectations that were set upon him.
For someone who has faced a lot of backlash for his inability to develop into the franchise player he was expected to be, Brown has been very outspoken when talking about other NBA players.
During an interview with ‘Swish Cultures’, Brown went into a very disingenuous monologue about LeBron James not being able to compete at a high level against old-school players. His explanation was laughable, to say the least.
“But the problem is, when he plays teams like Chicago or Boston, who have real solid principles, he has trouble. And so the old-school players wouldn’t have any trouble with LeBron because, at 39, he should have developed a mid-range and a post game, and he still hasn’t yet. He still has the athletic ability to just go 94 feet — which, I don’t know how, but he still has it. Butif he didn’t have this athleticism, his game really hasn’t evolved outside of a three and putting his head down and going to the basket. He doesn’t go like Paul Pierce, getting to a spot, pulling up. Those are the things you normally see out of a superstar player.”
This quote by Brown is not only inaccurate but it does pose the question as to whether or not the NBA’s most notable draft bust actually watches the games that James has participated in at this point in his career. Everything Brown was incapable of developing in his game outside of his athleticism, LeBron has done exponentially.
LeBron’s game has aged well as he heads into his 22nd season in the NBA. If Brown paid attention to the Lakers this season then he’d know that LeBron had a career-high year shooting the basketball from a distance, while also being one of the most efficient scorers in the post.
Brown has definitely done a great job staying relevant after such a lackluster NBA career, however, it will always be interesting to hear him take shots at current players after he highlighted how much being bullied by Michael Jordan in Charlotte affected his development as a player.
