shangrila wrote:Whether he's being asked to do too much or just doing it himself isn't really the point. The point is that he's doing a lot more then he should be given his skillset. He should play defence, make some cuts, hit the corner three and, if people close out on that, do his lay-up high bank shot off the glass that seems to work for him.
I don't think he'll ever be an "asset" either. His gambling hangs his team mates out to dry and his offensive game gives the ball back more times then it should. I mean, it's not even about praying he'll be a net positive anymore, it's about praying he'll do enough good to cancel out all of the bad stuff he consistently does. Sometimes it works and he looks alright, most times it doesn't and he looks crap.
He's not a player worth holding on to really. Maybe he goes somewhere and becomes the role player we all want him to be, but this is as good as it looks like it'll get for the foreseeable future.
It is when you're talking about him being better off in a smaller role. If he's doing too much because a coach is asking too much of him, there's a better chance of that being the case than if he's the reason he's playing outside of himself.
Brewer can be an asset. Highest adjusted +/- on the team over the last two years, one of just 4 players on the team not in the red in this category (Love, Tolliver and Webster are the others). His game is decidedly awkward looking, but it's been more effective than people give him credit for.
According to Synergy, he's a better defender in ISO situations than Wes, where his man only scores 35.9% of the time and turns the ball over 12.8% of the time (45.9% and 8.1% for Wes), where he really struggles is fighting through screens. Wes has been the better overall defender (0.82 PPP to 0.87 PPP), but Brewer is better at creating turnovers (6.4% of his man's possesions for Wes, 12.2% for Brewer). There's a use for that.
He's a nice shot in the arm, energy type off the bench, or at least he would be if he were knocking down outside shots at last year's clip. He does a fantastic job putting himself in position to make plays on both ends of the court, unfortunately, his ability to capitalize on that knack is mediocre at best.
He's getting a bit of a raw deal on the board this year because there are preferable options on the wings most of us would rather see developed, but I agree he isn't really worth hanging onto.