Doug Collins expects the best of Kwame Brown next season – NBA Update
Kwame Brown could never live up to the bidding of being the number one draft pick of 2001 and some part of that could be blamed on the mentoring he received from Doug Collins, who at the time was the head coach of the Washington
Wizards.
Fast forward 11 years and Collins has been given a second chance to guide Brown into being a strong player, and the coach wants Brown to start in as many games as possible for his current team the Philadelphia 76ers.
Brown will be joining the Sixers on a two year deal worth $6 million – a small amount which Collins hopes would not get in the way of Kwame’s production.
"I can't offer you a lot of money," he said. "I can offer you a home. I just reached back on my relationship with him and talked about him doing it."
Collins has reportedly offered a starting centre position to Brown and hopes that he can be a dominating in the post. Along with Kwame, Spence Hawes, who has also agreed to come in on a two year deal, will take the role of starting
power forward with the Sixers for next season.
Brown was never able to fulfil his potential of being the number one pick when Michael Jordan chose to draft him for the Washington Wizards. After spending four years with the Wizards, Kwame moved over from one team to another
before eventually ending up playing for the Golden State Warriors last season.
Despite getting the highest selection possible, Kwame’s 11 years in the NBA so far have been nothing short of miserable. He has been able to hold his scoring averages in double figures only once and holds a career average of 6.8
points per game which has led him to four different teams in as many years prior to joining Philadelphia.
However Collins believes that these numbers are a thing of the past and Kwame will be able to do much better during his stint with the Sixers.
"He's been hurt, been stung a lot by all the criticism he's taken in his career being the No. 1 pick," Collins said. "I think we're going to see the best of what Kwame has to offer."
He may be looking at the situation a little too optimistically as the Sixers themselves are facing a hard task to repeat their performances from last year. They may be able to front a reasonable starting line up with Andre Iguodala,
Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner alongside Hawes and Brown but there is still a long way to go before this newly re-structured roster starts to gel together.
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