Former Washington Wizards draft bust Kwame Brown signed with the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, his fifth team in seven seasons since leaving Washington. In discussing the signing with Yahoo! Sports, Mark Bartelstein, Brown’s agent, tried to paint Brown’s as a story of redemption, invoking his disastrous four seasons with Washington–which used the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2001 on the 19-year-old prospect–in the process:

“It wasn’t his fault he was drafted first. He wasn’t ready for the NBA. He was too young, there was too much pressure and he got thrown into the bonfire with Michael Jordan and [former Wizards coach] Doug Collins.”

Brown signed with Jordan’s Charlotte Bobcats squad for the 2010/11 season and performed fairly well, starting 50 games and averaging 7.9 points and 6.8 boards. “Going to Charlotte, playing for Michael Jordan, helped exorcise those demons from the years they had together in Washington,” Bartelstein said. “It was great for Kwame.”

Great for Kwame indeed. His deal with Golden State will pay him $7 million this season and enable him to become a free agent next summer.

The Washington Wizards will hopefully soon be playing basketball again, which means we should see a No. 1 pick in John Wall that actually deserved to the be the No. 1 pick. The last time the Wizards had the No. 1 pick before Wall was when they took Kwame Brown in 2001. Obviously, we know how that turned out.

Now, Kwame is a role player in Detroit. Just to illustrate how inept he was as a basketball player, Kobe Bryant, his former Lakers teammate (Brown was traded to the Lakers for Caron Butler) told a story recently during a visit to UC-Santa Barbara of a time when Kwame didn’t want the ball during a game against the Detroit Pistons. Video is below the jump.

(Via Michael Lee)

So down the stretch of the game, they put in a box and one. So I’m surrounded by these players, Detroit players, and Kwame is under the basket, all by himself. Literally, like all by himself. So I pass him the ball, he bobbled it and it goes out of bounds.

“So we go back to the timeout and I’m [upset], right? He goes, ‘I was wide open.’ ‘Yeah, I know.’ This is how I’m talking to him, like, during the game. I said, ‘You’re going to be open again, Kwame, because Rasheed is just totally ignoring you.’ He said, ‘Well, if I’m open don’t throw it to me.’ I was like, ‘Huh?’ He said, ‘Don’t throw it to me.’ I said, ‘Why not?’ He said, well, ‘I’m nervous. If I catch it and they foul me, I won’t make the free throws.’ I said, ‘Hell no!’

The Washington Wizards will hopefully soon be playing basketball again, which means we should see a No. 1 pick in John Wall that actually deserved to the be the No. 1 pick. The last time the Wizards had the No. 1 pick before Wall was when they took Kwame Brown in 2001. Obviously, we know how that turned out.

Now, Kwame is a role player in Detroit. Just to illustrate how inept he was as a basketball player, Kobe Bryant, his former Lakers teammate (Brown was traded to the Lakers for Caron Butler) told a story recently during a visit to UC-Santa Barbara of a time when Kwame didn’t want the ball during a game against the Detroit Pistons. Video is below the jump.

(Via Michael Lee)

So down the stretch of the game, they put in a box and one. So I’m surrounded by these players, Detroit players, and Kwame is under the basket, all by himself. Literally, like all by himself. So I pass him the ball, he bobbled it and it goes out of bounds.

“So we go back to the timeout and I’m [upset], right? He goes, ‘I was wide open.’ ‘Yeah, I know.’ This is how I’m talking to him, like, during the game. I said, ‘You’re going to be open again, Kwame, because Rasheed is just totally ignoring you.’ He said, ‘Well, if I’m open don’t throw it to me.’ I was like, ‘Huh?’ He said, ‘Don’t throw it to me.’ I said, ‘Why not?’ He said, well, ‘I’m nervous. If I catch it and they foul me, I won’t make the free throws.’ I said, ‘Hell no!’