Sixers fans have to be excited about some of the new additions to the team. But if Kobe Bryant couldn't win an MVP while playing alongside Kwame Brown, how could Andrew Bynum?
Kwame spent two-and-a-half seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, some of their worst years in recent memory, right up until the moment they unloaded him. Once they traded him to Memphis in 2008, the Lake Show went straight to the top and won an NBA Championship.
Acquiring Pau Gasol in that deal probably had something to do with their turnaround, but the previous two seasons of the Kwame era produced only first-round exits. Kobe Bryant talked about those lean years on Wednesday, and he didn't have a lot of positive things to say about some of his ex-teammates. Via the Orange County Register (per ProBasketballTalk):
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“I almost won an MVP with Smush Parker and Kwame Brown on my team,” Bryant said before Wednesday’s 93-75 exhibition loss to Portland. “I was shooting 45 times a game. What was I supposed to do? Pass it to Chris Mihm or Kwame Brown…”
Bryant continued, taking aim at his favorite whipping boy, Parker, calling him “the worst. He shouldn’t have been in the NBA but we were too cheap to pay for a point guard. So we let him walk on.”
What was Jrue Holiday supposed to do, pass it to Kwame Brown? Psh.
Of course, Kwame's role has changed. At 30 years old, he's not in Philly to eat up big minutes or be a superstar or even start. He's there for depth, so it's not like Bynum and company are being asked to drag dead weight to the Finals, which apparently was expected in LA.
Still, I got a kick out of Kobe's indignation to playing alongside the first-overall pick in 2001. Looks like he's our problem now.