Bullets Rally Around Kwame Brown, Want him Back for Miami Series

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

This should be interesting to watch.

[Obstructed_View]

Yeah, so much for Eddie Jordan as coach of the year.

[exstatic]

The entire TNT crew was ripping the Wiz for even thinking of it. They had a point, too. Kwame Brown isn't going to be a difference maker against Miami, and if you bring him back, you send a horrible message.

[HB22inSA]

Just like they said on TNT, if they allow him to come back, it will send a message that his behavior is acceptable.

No way should he come back.

[alamo50]

What about giving him another chance and let him gaine experience in the playofs which can only benefit the Wiz next year?

[Obstructed_View]

What about starting him and drawing up every play for him? How about they double his money. Maybe the owner can talk all his female relatives into performing sexual favors for him. After all, he was the first pick in the draft and he's obviously entitled to anything he wants, even if he pretends to be sick and doesn't show up for a playoff game because he's angry about his lack of playing time being linked to his lack of production.

[Obstructed_View]

:lmao Probably not her first on-site service.

[boutons]

Wizards Are Digging In

By Michael Lee

Though banged up and limping through the second round of the NBA playoffs, the Washington Wizards will not make a knee-jerk reaction to their eroding roster and rescind forward Kwame Brown's suspension. Coach Eddie Jordan quickly quashed any possibility of Brown's return to the roster this season, responding to the question with a resounding "No."

"We are focused on the people that we have," Jordan said after practice yesterday at MCI Center. "The only thing that's being considered is that we stay the way we are. Everything remains the same -- status quo."

The Wizards' primary concern heading into Game 3 of their best-of-seven series against the Heat is stopping Miami guard Dwyane Wade, who has averaged 25.5 points in the first two games, and getting more production out of guard Larry Hughes.

Reserve center Etan Thomas's strained abdomen likely will keep him out of tonight's game. All-star forward Antawn Jamison will continue to play despite a sore right knee, as will Jared Jeffries, who has a bruised right knee.

After the Wizards' 108-102 loss in Miami on Tuesday -- when Thomas aggravated the injury that forced him to miss the first 32 games of the regular season -- several players, including Jamison, said that they wanted Brown to be reinstated. Brown was suspended on May 3 after missing two workouts and expressing his displeasure with his role on the team in a meeting with Jordan and Wizards President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld.

Brown remains in contact with team officials and continues to work out at MCI Center. Sources familiar with the situation said yesterday that Brown had experienced a change of heart in recent days and began to push for a return. Two attempts to reach Brown at his home yesterday were unsuccessful. "We have dialogue with him and certainly he has interest in a lot of things we talk about," Jordan said. "But that's all that it is, good dialogue. He's still part of the organization."

If the 7-foot, fourth-year forward had been more remorseful about his actions, the Wizards would have considered bringing him back, according to a source familiar with the situation. When reached by phone yesterday, Grunfeld wouldn't comment on the speculation, saying: "Our total focus is the task at hand, and that's trying to win a game. We've been resilient all year. Our players are really scrappy. We're just going about our business. The players are committed to what we're trying to accomplish."

The Wizards return home to MCI Center, where they have won seven consecutive games, including three playoff victories against the Bulls. They came back from a 0-2 deficit to win the next four games against the Bulls, but Jamison isn't expecting a repeat against the Heat. "The first series was with an inexperienced team," he said. "The difference is that we're playing a veteran team, a team on a mission."

The Wizards played two close games against the Heat at home this season. Playing without both Brown and Thomas in the first meeting on Nov. 6, they were tied with the Heat after nearly 46 minutes before Eddie Jones got his team started on a 16-4 run to end the game. The Wizards led 93-9o in the final minute of the last regular season meeting, on Dec. 15, before Wade found Damon Jones in the corner for a momentum-changing three-pointer.

"We have to protect our home court," Hughes said. "Miami is a good team. We feel like were a good team at home."

Hughes is hopeful that he can regain his shooting stroke at home. He shot 11 of 34 (32.4 percent) in the playoff series' first two games. "I'll definitely be ready to bounce back, as I have all season," he said. "I'm here to stay. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going in the tank. I had a bad shooting game in the first series and I bounced back. There is no doubt that I'll be ready to do the same" in Game 3.

Hughes wouldn't blame his struggles on the offensive end on having to chase down Wade, who has had a more profound effect on the series than Heat center Shaquille O'Neal. Wade had 31 points, 15 assists and 7 rebounds in Game 2, becoming just the fifth player in NBA history -- along with Magic Johnson, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson and Walt Frazier -- to record a 30-point, 15-assist, 5-rebound game in the postseason. Hughes said that while O'Neal hasn't put up dominant numbers in the series -- 17.5 points and seven rebounds -- Wade has benefited from his presence on the floor. "You won't have the threat without the other," Hughes said.

Without Thomas, though, the Wizards won't have too many big men to slow down O'Neal if and when he breaks out. Center Brendan Haywood and 6-foot-8 Michael Ruffin are the only post players remaining. Jamison and 6-10 Jeffries may find themselves matched up with the 7-1, 325-pound O'Neal.

Jordan said he doesn't expect Thomas to be available. Thomas said he is still experiencing pain comparable to the first time he injured himself the second-to-last day of training camp in October, but he wouldn't rule out playing today. "I definitely want to play," Thomas said. "It's a special time. I don't want to be on the sideline. It's the playoffs. Sometimes, you have to deal with it. If I can, I'll be out there."

Thomas said he began experiencing discomfort in his midsection in Game 4 of the first round. He kept playing through the pain, but after connecting on a dunk and hitting a jump hook in the second quarter on Tuesday, Thomas had to be helped off the floor. "That last play was the last straw," he said. "It's pretty sore right now. If I can't go, we have guys that just have to strap it up. That's the way it is," Thomas said. "Guys are going to play regardless, whether I play or Kwame plays."

Jamison said yesterday that some of the Wizards players asked him to lobby Grunfeld to reinstate Brown. "My mind frame is, I want to win. But once I sat down and thought about it, it would probably send the wrong message," said Jamison, one of the Wizards' three captains. "It would've totally been out of place -- especially with how things ended. I have all the love for Kwame. I wish he was a part of this. This is a fun time. Even though we're down 0-2, we're experiencing some things we've never experienced. But on the other end . . . rules are rules. They say he's done for the rest of the playoffs and we'll have to deal with it."

Thomas, one of Brown's closest friends on the team, has been speaking with Brown to keep his spirits up. He said most of the players would love to have Brown back. "I think so, yeah. Definitely," Thomas said. "It's a tough situation. It's not up to the players, not up to me. I know a lot of people are down on him. But I really wish the best for him."

Jamison said the Wizards can't get caught up in what they don't have. "We have to play with what we're dealt. We know the guys that we have left will fight," he said. "We've been down before. We've had guys injured all year and we found a way. And, this is just another situation where we really have to dig down."

© 2004 The Washington Post Company

[baseline bum]

Kwame Brown is crap and deserves absolutely no special treatment. You don't take the playoffs seriously? Then you gotta go.

[sickdsm]

Also it is drastically lowering his value for next year that this happaned, if he's to be resigned.