Kwame Brown: Underrated?

I didn’t say it. I would never.

But FoxSports.com NBA analyst Charley Rosen did say Kwame Brown was one of the “most underrated” in his latest article.

Rosen prefaced his most ‘underrated’ players selections by saying this,

"“These are the guys who don’t necessarily dominate either the ball, the print media or the highlight shows, yet still make an enormous impact on their team’s destinies. These are the guys who can’t turn losing or mediocre teams into champions, but who can turn also-rans into serious contenders. The guys who never take a game off. The guys whom coaches love to coach and with whom other players love to play alongside.”"

I’m gonna go out on a limb and say Kwame should not be on Rosen’s list.

Just for giggles, here’s what Rosen said about Kwame,

"“Last season with the Pistons, he averaged less than three shots per game in his 17.2 minutes. But scoring is the least of Brown’s priorities. He’s a moderately successful rebounder, coming down with slightly less than the required (for a center) standard of one rebound for every three minutes of playing time. That’s not bad considering that his hands are not particularly strong. For sure, he’s prone to commit too many fouls, but as long as he can stay on the court, Brown’s size, length, strength and light-footed movements make him an excellent low-post defender. And that’s where his primary value lies.”"

Kwame maybe, just maybe might be a logical selection on the NBA’s most underrated underrated players list.  But that too might be a stretch.

But after reading through Rosen’s other selections, it seems rather clear to me that Rosen might have a bit of a differing opinion from most people on what ‘underrated’ means.

He lists the Collins brothers as underrated.  Yes, Jarron and Jason, who managed to play just 21.3 min/gm combined in 57 total regular season games last season.

However Rosen does somewhat redeem himself with basically every one of his other ‘underrated’ selections.

They include,

Andris Biedrins- On a playoff caliber team he would be undoubtedly coming off the bench.  Still worthy of the ‘underrated’ label though. (BTW- Rosen has Biedrins’ first name spelled wrong, it’s Andris, not Andres)

Joel Pryzbilla- He would look great in a Pistons uni, wouldn’t he?

Jeff Foster- Would also look good on the Pistons roster.

Kendrick Perkins- Come to think of it, all of these big guys Rosen mentions would look good on the Pistons,  Perkins especially.

Jarrett Jack- Gets the most out of what he has.

Craig Smith- He’ll be a fine backup for Griffin in Clipper land.

Anthony Parker- Nice addition for Cleveland.

Although with Rosen’s criteria (emphasis on Rosen’s criteria) for his ‘underrated’ list, I can think of at least a half a dozen guys in about a minutes time that would be much better selections than the Collins brothers and Kwame.

Here’s a few,

John Salmons

Nick Collison

Andy Varejao

Luke Walton

James Posey

Raja Bell

So what do you all think, am I being too picky?

Or am I right in my assertion that Kwame and the Collins brothers definitely do not belong on any NBA underrated list?

After all, according to this portion of Rosen’s criteria, “These are the guys who can’t turn losing or mediocre teams into champions, but who can turn also-rans into serious contenders“, placing Kwame and the bros on the list seems asinine.

If you think I’m being asinine or picky, or just absolutely spot-on, please tell me about it after choosing to follow me on Twitter (@lifeondumars).