Purge Brown, re-sign Hughes

Kwame Brown is waiting on the new beginning of July 22, the start of the change-of-scenery period in the NBA.

His name is being dropped in a number of NBA cities, a good sign, desperate though it is.

Brown is of no consequence after four NBA seasons, other than a 7-foot frame.

He raised the white flag on his coach and team in the first round of the playoffs in May, mostly because he was peeved with his limited playing time. His snit showed a distinct lack of character, which, like height, is not something that can be taught.

The desperate, starting with Isiah Thomas and the Knicks, ignore the elementary in the hope that a fresh start has the power to generate a spine.

If Brown thought it was tough in the milquetoast media circles of the District — and he was convinced of his martyrdom — he could be expected to readjust the assessment after spending a season with the fire-breathing tabloids and talk-show blowhards of Manhattan.

Ernie Grunfeld, the personnel guru of the Wizards, is playing the game as well as can be expected. He is threatening to keep Brown just so the interested parties know he will not be pried from the franchise on the cheap.

That is the good news. The bad news is Grunfeld may have to make good on the threat.

Brown, alas, has nowhere to go on Fun Street, as Eddie Jordan knows only too well.

Brown lost the support of the team’s faithful last season, and he is not the sort to win it back, judging from his decision to curl up in the fetal position in the postseason.

Brown was serenaded to a throaty chorus of boos late in the season, and it only would be worse after he quit on the team during what was an unexpected high point for a franchise accustomed to calculating its chances in the draft lottery.

Besides the purging of Brown, Grunfeld and the Wizards have the re-signing of Larry Hughes to complete.

The re-signing of Hughes is non-negotiable, essential to the welfare of the franchise as a viable playoff participant in the seasons ahead.

Hughes is on the short list of four-star free agents, the perfect complement to so many teams in need, as LeBron James has made clear in Cleveland.

Fortunately for Grunfeld, Hughes has expressed a desire to finish what he has started with Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison.

If so, the Wizards remain a frontcourt player from being whole, taking into account the hands of Brendan Haywood and the hair of Etan Thomas.

The Wizards could use someone with Brown’s size and athleticism, just not his fragile psyche.

Brown is not really a bad guy, odd as that may seem. He just happens to be 23 going on 13, an awful flaw in the cutthroat basketball business. The mentally soft are inevitably exposed in the NBA.

But that is destined to be another team’s burden, assuming Grunfeld plays it right in the weeks ahead.

By the time Grunfeld is done working the phones, he could have Brown up to All-Star status.

As it is, this promises to be Grunfeld’s most trying offseason in Tony Cheng’s neighborhood, as he endeavors to acquire the next piece that will push the Wizards to 50-plus victories.

The re-signing of Hughes will put the Wizards up against the salary cap, and Brown is not about to fetch a solution in the frontcourt. His salary slot, if made available in a trade involving draft picks, is paltry by the standards of the leading free agents.

Regardless of the worthiness of Arenas, Hughes and Jamison, the Wizards will not be a genuine championship contender until they land a back-to-the-basket player who can command two defenders.

Grunfeld has made significant additions the last two summers, with first Arenas and then Jamison.

Now comes his hardest challenge yet.