Le Basketbawl

Mark Bartelstein has carved himself out a nice niche in the NBA. The NBA Player Agent does not have many big name clients that play in the Association. However Bartelstein does have a lot of clients that play in the Association. When the time of the year comes around that NBA free agents start negotiating deals, the agents name becomes more and more prominent on your morning sports page.

Friday the “Detroit Free Press” reported that one of his clients Detroit Pistons center Kwame Brown will be weighing his choices before he makes a decision on next season. Brown has until July 1, to decide whether he wants to stay with the Pistons next season and get paid $4.1 million or to test the waters of free agency.

Bartelstein said that he and his client would sit down soon and discuss which course of action to take. He told reporters “We’ll do it sometime in the next month and a half. When the season’s over I think it’s good to get away for a while and clear your head before making a decision. The economy affects everything and you have to be cognizant of what goes on in the world. We’ll evaluate everything, but the most important thing is for Kwame to grow as a player. We’ll weigh it all and come to a decision.”

My initial thoughts on reading the agents statements were that Bartelstein had to be posturing, that he absolutely was bluffing. Kwame Brown who just completed his eighth season in the NBA has been nothing short of an absolute bust in his career in the Association.  The man that I dubbed this season as the “Cypher” was of course taken with the first overall selection by the Washington Wizards in the 2001 NBA Draft. He has never come close to fulfilling the promise that the Wizards saw in him.

Brown’s career numbers through his eight seasons in the Association are to say the least underwhelming. He has averaged 7.0 points and 5.6 rebounds per game; stats that would seem far more appropriate coming from a second round draft choice. So when I saw that Bartelstein and Brown were mulling over their options my first thought was that they were both delusional.

Kwame Brown should kiss the ground and thank fate that he was born with the ability to grow to almost seven feet tall! And that he was born in a period that citizens of the USA are so Sports crazy that just because he is very tall the Detroit Pistons were stupid enough to sign him for the 2009-2010 season to a contract worth $4.1 million! 

But then all of a sudden another thought sprang into my head; what if there is a team that is even more stupid than the Detroit Pistons? And the scary thing is that team may just exist! In a day and age in the NBA when there is a dearth of quality big men in the Association there is the possibility that there is a team that would sign Brown for more money! All because it comes down to one of the oldest sayings in the NBA “You Can’t Teach Height.” When DeSagana Diop can make the money that he is currently making, it is not out of the question that the  “Cypher” could end up with a better deal than he already has!

So good luck to Mark Batelstein and Kwame Brown this Summer as they try to better their fortunes. And good luck as well to fans of the team that is desperate enough to give him a better deal.