Is Corey Brewer playing his way to a future here?

[shangrila]

Now, I know he's not perfect and I know the experiment has only been going on for a week or so, but there's been some definite positives to him being in the starting line up.

His defence has seemingly improved, his defensive energy appears to be infecting the rest of the team and his shot attempts are down as he's not allowed as much offensive freedom playing mostly with Love/Beasley/Ridnour as he was with Flynn and Tolliver.

So, assuming he keeps up roughly the same sort of level of play for the rest of the season, do you think he would have earned himself a place on this team going forward?

[Dewey]

I've always like Brewer, but things were not looking good early on ... as you say, better defense and less shot attempts needed to take shape and have. He's clearly taken on a more serious approach this season ... he's auditioning for a new contract, prefers to stay here, and is trying to show Rambis he can get it done. Rambis knows good teams have these types of role players, and if this team expects to turn the corner, you need atleast one guy who's willing to accept this type of (stunner) role. I would say things are looking favorable if CB would entertain a friendly contract.

[bona fide rube]

I think he has. Maybe he's finally realized that he's not going to be a scorer in this league, but will make his money on the defensive end. If he plays within himself, he's a valuable player.

[Foye]

Well we are talking about a stretch of only a few games right now. Lets say he can bring some consistent defense til the end of the season then I would be all for resigning him on a reasonable contract.

[shangrila]

I think he has too. Like I said, it's early in the experiment, but so far the returns have been fairly good. He's never going to be a star but he brings a different skillset to the table then a Webster or Johnson and, honestly, it's his skillset that the team needs right now.

My prediction is he starts the rest of the season. Wes is taking longer to adjust then we though and maybe, just maybe, he'll be what we all want/expect him to be next year, but as of right now Brewer is outplaying him by providing the things the team needs in the SLU.

[karch34]

I've been a harsh critic, but he has played well. I think shangrila's point of him not having as much offensive freedom has actually helped the biggest concern I had with him playing. It's still early, but if it continues then yes he definitely has a future here.

[Klomp]

I hope so. I honestly think we should give him a Nick Collison-type extension.

[Foye]

I hope so. I honestly think we should give him a Nick Collison-type extension.

A front loaded contract or just that type of money?

[cpfsf]

I hope so. I honestly think we should give him a Nick Collison-type extension.

I still wonder why Kahn didn't do this with Darko. Was it because he was unfamiliar with that possibility, or does he still expect to acquire someone before the deadline?

[moss_is_1]

I still like Brewer as frustrating as he may be at times. If he can get more consistent with his outside shot he could be a very solid role player. His defense is getting better, and he's always hustling and getting deflections. If he comes at a solid price I'm sure he'll be back.

[CoffeeJanitor]

Anyone else recall that like two weeks ago people would have traded him for peanuts?

[Klomp]

Anyone else recall that like two weeks ago people would have traded him for peanuts?

Anyone remember this from preseason? viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1057265&start=0

Now, I'm one of his biggest supporters.

[Esohny]

I still like Brewer as frustrating as he may be at times. If he can get more consistent with his outside shot he could be a very solid role player. His defense is getting better, and he's always hustling and getting deflections. If he comes at a solid price I'm sure he'll be back.

I think he's shown over his whole contract that his shooting is never going to be that good. Even his "much improved" year was mediocre. He wouldn't annoy me so much if he would learn to never shoot unless he's on a fast break or is cutting to the basket, but sadly, he seems to think that continuing to brick threes is helping the offense.

[B Calrissian]

Anyone else recall that like two weeks ago people would have traded him for peanuts?

Anyone remember this from preseason? viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1057265&start=0

Now, I'm one of his biggest supporters.

Even during a snowy winter the weather is oh so fair for most of you in MN.

Take a page out of ice32 and eshony's book. Have a stance and stick to it. Whenever I see a Brewer thread I can count on seeing ice support him, eshony talk about how bad he is, and a bunch of other ppl giving an opinion based on how he has played recently. I'd think most of you have watched him enough over the years to know what kind of player he is.

[Calinks]

His play last year still give me serious hope that he can attain a semi-reliable jumper. He did it once, he can do it again.

[Dakotah612]

I've watched a bit of Wolves games and he is one player I cannot stand.

His PER is well below average (10.3) with an atrocious TS% (45%).

IMHO, he's a classic example of a player with a lot of athletic ability but a very low bbIQ. He's on the tier of players like Travis Outlaw and JR Smith when it comes to basketball smarts.

[LOBO 7]

Last year, when his play started improving, I said that if he was a 5th option on offense while contributing 8-10 pts or so on 40% shooting, he could be a serviceable starter in this league. With our major upgrades at the wings this year, I thought maybe his only potential future here would be as a 15-20 MPG energy guy off the bench. However, after seeing his impact in the last 4 games, I actually think he might still be better suited as a starter. He has averaged 9.75 PPG on only 32% shooting in those 4 games, but 3 of those last 4 games have been the games that Beasley either didn't play or was basically playing injured and barely contributing. Once Beasley is back to 100%, I think it would be a good idea to continue starting Brewer, as we wouldn't need him to do very much offensively when he's out there with Ridnour, Love, Beasley, and Darko. Brewer just compliments that group so much better than he does our bench players, and that way he can set an early defensive tone on opposing SGs. Also, if Wes can become more comfortable and assertive coming off the bench, he'll be playing most of his minutes at his more natural SF spot, with Webster at SG. Basically, I think that Wes disappeared so often in the starting lineup because he was out there with Beas and Love, so he wanted to defer to them. Instead, with Brewer deferring to Beas and Love, and Wes and Martell coming off the bench gunning, I just think we will have better balance overall.
Also, just because Brewer would be starting in that scenario, I'm not saying that he should get more minutes than Wes or Webster. Brewer could start, play the first 8-10 minutes, then we bring in Wes and Webster for extended minutes, and if either of them are having a great game, give them the majority of the minutes for the remainder of the game. That's the thing about both Webster and Wes, they are both pretty inconsistent. Until either or both of them prove they can consistently deliver and deserve starter minutes, I think this scenario is the best way to proceed. Webster has already proven he can come in off the bench ready to contribute, Wes seems to still be adjusting, but he also seemed to still be adjusting when he was starting. In this scenario, maybe Webster could become more of a mentor to Wes, teaching him how to be ready to come in off the bench firing, etc. If this scenario did pan out, we would have some serious fire power on our bench with those 2 consistently contributing, along with Tolliver's consistent energy.
Obviously, long term we would all like Wes to become a legit starter for us. However, given that he doesn't seem to be there yet, and also that he probably is playing out of position at SG, I think the best way for him to develop a comfort level in this league is coming off the bench aggressive at SF, and being given as many minutes as he can effectively take advantage of on a game-by-game basis. Once he develops that comfort level, we will really see what we have in him, and at that point we could start him at SG if that is what he is ready for. Until that happens, I think this should be our approximate rotation:

PG Ridnour 28/ Flynn 20
SG Brewer 18/ Webster 25/ Wes 5
SF Beas 28/ Wes 20
PF Love 30/Beas 6/ Tolliver 12
C Darko 26/ Love 7/ Pek 10/ Tolliver 5

With minutes adjusted game-by-game, according to the hot hands, etc.

[shangrila]

I've watched a bit of Wolves games and he is one player I cannot stand.

His PER is well below average (10.3) with an atrocious TS% (45%).

IMHO, he's a classic example of a player with a lot of athletic ability but a very low bbIQ. He's on the tier of players like Travis Outlaw and JR Smith when it comes to basketball smarts.

He's not stupid, he just plays with so much energy that he can't control it at times.

[Calinks]

Yea. His brain moves so fast that his body can't keep up. Corey's bran is smart it's his body that's just tragically stupid.

[urinesane]

I think you are all missing what the story has really been with Corey.

He isn't dumb. The issue has always been confidence and trying to do too much. Last year we had plenty of minutes for him and he thrived, because he slowed down his game and didn't try to do everything. Starting this year he was leapfrogged by the players we added and he felt like he had to do way more than what was needed of him. This caused him to play out of control and lose focus on the mechanics in his jump shot.

Since he has been starting he has been playing within his abilities and has minutes, so he doesn't feel like he has to do everything in limited minutes to earn more. His form on his jumpshot has also gotten better (you could see it last night), just by slowing himself down. He has the ability to impact games, but he would often try too hard and get in his own way.