Kwame Brown Feeling Better, Pistons Will Be Leaning on Him

Pistons will lean on Kwame Brown against NBA's biggest bodies
By Greg Johnson | The Grand Rapids Press
October 25, 2009, 10:45PM

AUBURN HILLS -- It might take Kwame Brown’s sore left hand a while to heal as he bangs against the big bodies of the NBA.

The Detroit Pistons, 4-4 in the preseason, caution it may take a while to develop their team.

Either way Brown, the 6-foot-11, 270-pound center with eight years of league experience, will be in the middle of it.

The Pistons will face Shaquille O’Neal four times as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Orlando and Dwight Howard will also be on the schedule four times, and Boston is on it three times with a host of big bodies.

Pistons coach John Kuester, who has yet to commit to the big men in the playing rotation even as Wednesday’s season opener at Memphis looms, said no question Brown will be important, especially against the bigger teams.

Kuester also hopes the short jump shot Brown has been banking in during preseason games will be something the Pistons can bank on in the regular season.

“His shot selection has been very good,” Kuester said. “He’s obviously been working on it, and is trying to be a more complete player offensively and defensively.”

Brown attributes it to hard work, including a regimen of workouts and shooting drills through the summer months.

“Just repetition,” he said. “I kept working the jump shot over and over, working in the paint. Now, I feel comfortable actually taking a shot when I’m open.”

Of more importance is the hand at this point because it hurts when he pushes on bodies while playing defense. Tests show the hand wasn’t broken, and at first he was having trouble stretching his fingers to hold the basketball.

“That part is better,” Brown said. “It’s stretched ligaments, and now it’s just sore. It’s like a bulls-eye because I keep getting hit on it every time I play. So I’m just trying to pad it and protect it as much as possible. I just have to fight through it.”

When the Pistons signed Ben Wallace as a free agent, it was about more than just nostalgia for a former championship player. It was to help the defense, and help the other younger players learn the commitment to defense Kuester requires.

Brown, who averaged 7.7 points and 6.5 rebounds in 22 minutes per game in the preseason, said he keeps an eye on Wallace.

“The way he has stepped up on defense has made everybody rally around him,” he said. “Ben kind of leads by example. I’m just watching and trying to learn the stuff he is doing. Just watching how he prepares to play has made a difference.”

Brown has noticed that O’Neal now is playing for Cleveland. He has also noticed the bigger teams of the East also happen to be the better teams, as in Cleveland, Orlando and Boston.

“That means some more wars with Shaq,” he said. “And a lot of ice bags."

Feeling better
The results on Kwame Brown 's left hand came back negative, no breaks or fractures of any kind, and Brown will play Wednesday in the season opener in Memphis.

Brown sat out the last two exhibitions as a precaution. After Sunday's practice, he said the hand felt better.

Brown doesn't think the hand will impact him early in the season.

"Maybe I'll fumble a few passes here and there, but I do that anyway," he said with a smile. "I'll tape it and protect it as much as I can, and hopefully it'll get stronger."

When asked if Brown could be a surprise player in the league this season, Kuester said it was more of a given.

"I've expected it all along (considering) the way he's played all preseason," he said.