Several months ago, I wrote an article about Kwame Brown.  It talked a great deal of having patience with Kwame's potential, about promising signs from his third season and other topics that seemed to support the idea that Kwame could still turn into a really solid player.  Among my more fervently argued statements was one that suggested that Kwame's change of scenery to Los Angeles would significantly ease the pressure from his shoulders and that the coaching staff would be able to help him turn into a solid, starting-caliber player.  

To this point in the season, I have been gravely mistaken.  Though Phil Jackson has described Kwame as a two-year project, I have to think that the Lakers expectations of Kwame Brown are actually much lower than would otherwise be implied by his eight million dollar salary.  

First, the bad; Kwame is shooting a career-low from the foul line (53.5%) and has followed a general decline in that regard since his rookie year (with only a blip in his third season to ruin the trend).  Despite a shooting percentage that is the second-best in his career, his offensive skills have clearly deteriorated.  He rushes too much, he can't seem to finish even when he's made a good move, he seems to be allergic to dunking and he can't hit the broadside of a barn with his jumper.  

Other deficiencies (such as his weak help defense) are certainly not helping his case.  

Kwame's averaging 6 points and 6 rebounds per game right now and that's just not cutting it.  His rebounding has picked up from earlier in the season and he's actually been pretty solid on the glass.  He's posting 2.4 offensive rebounds per game, which is top 25 in the league.  That's decent but it's not great, considering he's over seven feet tall, two hundred and eighty pounds and very athletic but it's one of the more promising signs Kwame has shown thus far.  

As usual, Kwame has been plagued by inconsistency.  Saturday night against the Grizzlies, he posted 18 points, 8 boards (3 offensive) and hit all of his field goal and free throw attempts.  Against the Jazz two nights later, he missed all five of his shots and both of his free throws.  Frustratingly inconsistent since he joined the league, Kwame flashes just enough potential that people, myself included, keep giving him chances.  

In an article in the L.A. Times, the writer relates a conversation between Phil Jackson and Kwame where the two of them made their opinions clear on what Kwame's role should be on the team.  Kwame wants to score more and Phil doesn't think he's got it in him to do it, preferring to feature him as a defense-oriented rebounder.  Phil had this to say after:

"In basketball, there's only a couple players that have the latitude to be everything, to be able to handle the ball, to be able to take the shots they want to take," he said. "The ones that don't have great performance history, they have to shorten their game down until they find an ability somewhere to expand it. Until he has some success in the shortened version, then he'll find a way to expand the other area of his game, which will give him more latitude."

Kwame's not an instant star, everyone knows that now, four and a half years into his career.  What Phil is saying here is that Kwame needs to accept his new, reduced role and excel in that capacity before he can explore other areas like being a major scoring option.  Those kinds of expectations are a far cry from those that existed in the spring of 2001 before Kwame was drafted.  

The worst part about all of this is that, some minor controversy over the size of his hands or if he has a mildly debilitating sweat-gland condition aside, Kwame has all the physical gifts to excel, it's the mental aspect holding him back.  Kwame's got some attitude problems.  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Phil Jackson have both commented on several occasions praising his work ethic but reading other quotes from Jackson, including the one above, one gets the sense that Kwame really doesn't comprehend that he's not a superstar player (yet?) and that he has a long way to go before he gets there.  

There's an incredibly thorough article out there from the Washington Post entitled Growing Pain, written in the wake of Kwame's rookie season. It goes into great depth about Kwame's life before the NBA, about his family, his mental state, his shocking lack of preparedness for life in the league, that sort of thing.  It helps give you a brief sketch of Kwame's mental state, something that is too often forgotten or not considered properly when talking about a player's potential.  

But there are some bright signs to Kwame, like his offensive rebounding.  And Kwame fans and supporters everywhere (myself included) have loved pointing out his third season, in which he looked much more assertive and better at making his decisions than at any other time in his career.  It wasn't a flawless season by any stretch of the imagination but it was certainly a lot better than any other campaign he has turned in to date.  There's an interesting read at SFGate.com that was written during the second half of that season, when Kwame was really starting to turn it on, that is worth examining.  

But so far, the least encouraging thing about Kwame's play in L.A. is that he's regressed in basic ways.  There are a number of excuses, several of which I've used myself:  he's learning the triangle, he's not used to his teammates, the team isn't composed well in terms of the makeup of the roster, etc, etc.  These are all valid points but none of them affects your choice between a weak lay-in attempt and trying to throw it down hard.  It doesn't affect your ability to make open shots.  Kwame's abilities on the court look nothing like the player he showed himself capable of being in 2003-2004.  Perhaps as he adjusts and Phil Jackson gets into his head more, Kwame will settle down and learn how to apply himself to a role and give up his notions of stardom.  It will, however, be Phil Jackson's greatest project yet to turn Kwame into anything more than a bench player who can give 6 fouls.