HoopsHype.com Columns

Jordan, Krause need a mulligan
by Jim Sacco / March 4, 2002

The 2001 NBA Draft will forever be known as the year that high school grads were forced down our throats as the “Next Big Thing” riding the heels of the Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett success story.

But at what price?

Just ask Michael Jordan, the aging king of basketball, whose decision to waste the Wizards first No. 1 draft pick since 1961 on Kwame Brown raised eyebrows and its fair share of questions.

Oh, wouldn’t Jordan love to have that decision back. MJ convinced himself that Brown was a better choice than NBA Rookie of the Year guarantee Pau Gasol or Shane Battier.

Memphis took them both and it’s a decision they won’t soon be regretting as the Grizzlies (bears in Memphis?) are enjoying Gasol’s team-leading 17.4 points per game. Battier is right behind him with 14.9. Anyone who thought Kwame Brown was a good choice to lead the class of 2001 should consider going to college themselves... much like Brown should have.

The pick was a disappointing move by the best player to play the game —Jordan, who said back on June 27, 2001 that he liked what he saw in Brown.

Maybe Jordan wanted to relive the draft he was picked in so many years before. While Houston nabbed Akeem Olajuwon with their No.1 the world would soon forget Sam Bowie (and the Trail Blazers would forever be ridiculed).

In Chicago the high school draft was expected. To pick hometown hero Eddy Curry with the No. 4 pick and then trade off your rising star —Elton Brand— for another high schooler, Tyson Chandler, was just another way for Jerry Krause to feed his S&M tendencies. With Chandler and Curry, Krause could whip out his Cat-o-nine-tails and return the favor with a smile.

(It is believed in some circles that Krause traded for Chandler just to be hip. “Hey dudes,” he would bellow. “This kids straight out of Compton.” But this cannot be confirmed.)

But the Bulls have turned in the right direction. After realizing that Charles Oakely would rather get technicals than tutor, the hiring of former big man Bill Cartwright has produced results as of late. But in Washington there are only doubts.

Both the Wizards and Bulls are guilty of passing up Battier. And in D.C. the fans should be sick over this.

Is it because he played for Duke, North Carolina’s arch nemesis?

Is it because he had already proven himself?

Or did Jordan just decide that he could live without Battier’s instant contributions?

The world may never know.

But Battier’s points per game sure would come in handy with Jordan sitting at home, leg up and iced down. Wizards fans should be salivating right now. Drooling over the prospects of Richard Hamilton’s 19.6 and Chris Whitney’s 10.2 matched up with Battier’s scoring.

The biggest crime committed by the Wizards was passing on Gasol, however. Meanwhile Brown, who has only seen action in 34 of the Wizards 58 games and an embarrassing (for a No. 1 pick) 3.1 points per game, may be souring himself on his experience in the Capital.

In a city starved for any sort of sport team to be proud of, Brown is starved to show off what made him the No. 1 pick overall. He may be sitting there, next to Doug Collins, and wondering when his contract is up so a team will play him.

The NBDL and a spot of the Roanoke Dazzle is sounding more appealing to him day after day. Hell, at least he’d get a chance to play there and develop skill that can’t be honed on the bench or in practice.

Brown, Chandler and Curry have yet to run afoul of their organizations or the general public. But none of them have proven to anyone that pillaging the ranks of high school gyms is the way to go —at least not yet.

But this isn’t college. This is the NBA, where memories are short and patience is even shorter.

Until then, we’ll take our high school grads in small doses, a touch of Kobe Bryant and dash of Kevin Garnett. That’s just the way Gasol and Battier like it.

Hey, recent high school grad, hold that order. Krause and Jordan might want to change theirs.

Jim Sacco is a Virginia Press Association award-winning sports columnist. He writes for www.virginiapreps.com and is a regular contributor to HoopsHype.com

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