Corey Brewer's Improvement

[Ice32]

The recent play of Brewer has George Karl in a sticky situation. He wants him to play more minutes, but has a team thats 10 deep. Whilst Rudy and/or Afflalo has been injured, Brewer has stepped up to make a case for more minutes. This running style Denver play fits right into Brewer's style - and his shooting percentages and overall play is showing:

-He's currently tied for 6th amongst NBA SFs for TS% at .610
-His PER of 18.41 is good enough for 7th amongst NBA SFs
-He's tied for 11th in the NBA for 3PT FG% at .579

Whilst Brewer only plays 14 mpg, he's averaging almost 8 points - give him 24 mpg and he will put up 14 ppg. The deep corner three is working for him, he's hitting them at 61% (11/18). He hits dunks/layups/put backs at 65%.

He was known in Minnesota as the "Druken Dribbler" because he was sometimes all over the shop, and his offensive moves were chaotic. Lately, Brewer seems to be playing more under control, doesn't gamble as often, and is a better finisher around the rim. He looks more confident shooting wise, his mechanics and rhythm are much better.

He is a decent defender in the post, considering he is just 188 pounds, and an above average perimeter defender, he is better at running around screens and chasing his man, his long arms and reach frustrate shooters and he has a good IQ when it comes to where he should be on the court, help defense and reading the defense.

He has shown that he is capable of scoring 20 points on any night when given adequate minutes. He usually scores a bunch of points in quick succession, and now that he has developed that corner three, opposing players have to respect him and not allow him to be left wide open, but he also has the ability to head fake, dribble and drive/finish. He also shoots 1 FT every 6 mins, good enough for 3rd on the Nuggets behind Nene and Gallo.

If given 18-22 minutes consistently every night, I believe that Brewer would be a consistent double digit scorer. His three point shooting, speed and ability to draw fouls makes him a threat in the open court and is a reason why Denver are one of the best scoring teams in the league. I hope George Karl realises this and keeps giving Brewer the opportunities he deserves.

[Aeternus]

Lol pal are you a relative of Brewer? Looks like every post you make is to prop him up.

Not that it makes your analysis invalid or anything, just consider five things:

he's an energy player who plays limited minutes -> he's not gonna maintain it with more;

60% on threes is NOT maintainable, it would even be an NBA record I think;

his major efficiency improvement (.13 over his career average) is related to his unmaintainable three point shooting, and it'll come crashing down again;

even if the crash is (hopefully) not hard, his shooting efficiency is deceiving: he has a tov% above 22, which is insane for a finisher who works mainly on fastbreaks and corner threes, and is an afterthought for the defense (for comparison's sake, Gallo 10.7, Ty 14.8, these are the MAIN handler on the team);

his defense is good, very good even, but he has to stop gambling. For every steal he has, he's blown by twice by his opponent because he's badly positioned after a failed steal attempt. He has to cut that **** down, the best perimeter defenders never have a lot of steals, just look at the Battiers, Bowens of the league).

That's it. He's a good player, hopefully he's gonna improve further, but let's not get carried away after 15 or so games, ok?

[Ice32]

I never said he would maintain these numbers over the course of a full season, just that he has made the neccessary improvements to his game to be a positive influence on this deep team.

Of course he's not going to shoot 60% on threes, maybe 35-40%. Yes he gambles but not to the point where hes detrimental to the team. I agree with you that he is an energy guy and he's fulfilling the needs that Coach Karl has asked for.

I also believe that he's one of the hardest working guys on this squad. I feel that he deserves more than 14 minutes per game though. I think that average would increase to over 18 as the season continues and the injuries happen.

[corona]

watching him dribble or attempt a rare pass gives me seizures. he seriously needs to work on that part of his game before being considered for a whole lot more PT.

[clockwork]

the dribbling aspect reminds me of j.r. smith. j.r. would usually do a spin move or something flashy to go inside the paint only to be shut down in the paint, forcing him to retreat.

lately brewer has either lost it out of bounds or has gotten it poked out of bounds out of his hands.

honestly, once chandler comes back, i don't see him getting ~20 minutes..

[corona]

the dribbling aspect reminds me of j.r. smith.

blasphemy. jr could actually dribble. his decision making with those dribbling skills was questionable. but he could dribble.

if corey brewer catches the ball and has to do anything other than dunk, layup or shoot....something bad/chaotic is probably happening.

[mutumba]

I won't argue that Brewer's defensive effort and shooting have been outstanding, but when he's dribbling into traffic, I hold my breath and pray he draws a foul.

I can't see there being much of a controversy between playing Rudy vs. Brewer because 1) they play very different roles, and 2) GK seems very adept at keeping the best 5 guys on the floor each night. If Brewer is creating havoc on D and hitting his shots, he'll see extended minutes. If Rudy is making plays that night, he'll get the minutes.

[Ice32]

LOL, you guys are awesome!

lately brewer has either lost it out of bounds or has gotten it poked out of bounds out of his hands.

watching him dribble or attempt a rare pass gives me seizures. he seriously needs to work on that part of his game before being considered for a whole lot more PT.

Last 7 games he has 7 TOs in 127 minutes.... I agree that his dribbling can be sometimes scary, but he's not exactly a turnover machine!

Really, my point was, Brewer has exceeded my expectations with his role in Denver, the fact that he's getting minutes was a surprise. I just hope that the effort he has put in is rewarded, and lately it has been.

With Afflalo and Rudy out vs the Kings, Brewer has a chance to help the team more.

[clockwork]

the dribbling aspect reminds me of j.r. smith.

blasphemy. jr could actually dribble. his decision making with those dribbling skills was questionable. but he could dribble.

if corey brewer catches the ball and has to do anything other than dunk, layup or shoot....something bad/chaotic is probably happening.

okok jr could dribble but the outcomes for both rarely translate into positives.

one turns the ball over or gets it poked out, the other wastes half the shot clock. with jr it actually wasn't a big deal back then since we had melo to jack up the last shot but i don't think karl would be too happy now, not that he ever was happy with jr.

again i think brewer right now has a good 2 months to prove his worth because afterwards chandler will be a higher playing priority.

[clockwork]

Last 7 games he has 7 TOs in 127 minutes.... I agree that his dribbling can be sometimes scary, but he's not exactly a turnover machine!

he doesn't handle the ball at all, other than the occasional break away dunk.

for me, one thing that annoys me is that he 75% of the time gambles to steal the ball which most of the times people get open and score.

[Ice32]

for me, one thing that annoys me is that he 75% of the time gambles to steal the ball which most of the times people get open and score.

If this was the case, Coach Karl would not be playing him at all.

The earliest Wilson Chandler can return is Feb 15th, and if his Chinese teams makes the Playoffs, he could be there until March 28th. So he could be good to go in Denver for 16 or so games, plus the Playoffs (assuming they make it). My guess is that Coach Karl would slowly incorporate Chandler back into the mix, making sure the chemistry is good and no one is upset about potentially losing minutes. Its going to be interesting to see who gets effected at that stage. Wait and see.

[Aeternus]

If this was the case, Coach Karl would not be playing him at all.

It's not like he has any better option at the 3/2 you know. Either he plays the starters 48mpg, or he plays Rudy starter minutes, and Rudy is just average on D too. Plus now that he's the only 2 guard on the roster Karl has no other choice at all. Not a good moment to use the mpg argument.

And however he DOES play very good D when he doesn't go for the steal, coach Karl just has to kick that bad habit out of his mind.