Kwame Brown speaks on Rasheed Wallace as a teammate: "He is down to earth and cool, unlike many other NBA players"
Retired NBA player Rasheed Wallace was widely known for his fiery personality, something only perhaps his teammates and select players will understand. That demeanor led to some misjudgment of him, and a former teammate tried to set the records straight.
Kwame Brown, the top pick of the 2001 NBA Draft, had the chance to be teammates with the 4-time All-Star when both suited up for the Detroit Pistons. The 6-foot-11 center singles out Sheed as one of the coolest people that he knows, contrary to how others perceive him.
“He’s that down to earth and that cool. There’s not many NBA players that’s like a Rasheed Wallace that still is a normal everyday person,” Brown said on the Kwame Brown Bust Life podcast.
Kwame reveals the real Sheed Wallace
Wallace is someone who will not back down, especially if he knows he is right. Like most NBA players, the NBA champion got his share of controversial calls. This is well-documented and a reason why Sheed would get hit with technical fouls or even ejected from games.
“He always want to fight, and if you look at a video of Rasheed Wallace and the way he go after the referees, you would think, oh sh*t. Everything they say about him is right. I just saw a video he about to look like he would have whooped the sh*t out of the ref. But there’s always a reason for everything maybe he felt disrespected, and if you look at some of these interviews on Underdog NBA, you’ll see him to start explaining things,” the former NBA big man pointed out.
Beyond the officiating issues, Kwame bats that Sheed is one of the best teammates he ever had a chance to play with.
“He had no reason to befriend me and get to know me with all the reputation they, quote-unquote, say about me. Rasheed is a little bit different because, I’m telling you, he’s so relatable. He’s like the dude next door, like the grouchy uncle that’ll cuss you’re a** out, but he right about what he cussing you out, and he’s still talking that sh*t and having a good time with it,” he added.
Brown got the respect others did not give him
Throughout his career, Brown has been branded as the biggest draft bust in NBA history. Considering that former Washington Wizards president Michael Jordan saw something that convinced him to pick up Kwame over the rest in 2001, there could have been other reasons why his pro basketball career faltered.
So, is Brown legitimately a bust? If the opinion of another former NBA player, Al Harrington, is to be believed, he was not.
The 25th pick of the 1998 NBA Draft believed Kwame never got the proper guidance from the veterans, and this was the reason why his career never got off well.
“He went to a veteran team where I guess they really did not want him there. Michael Jordan want to win right now, right, he don’t want to develop a high school kid, right? So what I hear is it was just like he didn’t get a lot of support, you know what I’m saying from the vets, and you know that’s a big thing,” the 6-foot-9 former player pointed out.
While that could hold up, the fact is Kwame had several other chances with other teams. Aside from the Wizards and the Pistons, he was also given chances with the Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, Charlotte Bobcats, Golden State Warriors, and Philadelphia 76ers.
Only in his third year with the Wizards did he show some signs of life, averaging 10.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 74 regular season games. However, he offered nothing better than that, wrapping up his career with averages of 6.6 points and 5.5 rebounds in 607 games.
