Corey Brewer offers new teammate Dwight Howard a five
Corey Brewer was always a PDW favorite. Since the Wolves traded him, they haven’t won a game. (Eds. Note: This is just an observation. The Wolves were already bad when Flip Saunders traded Brewer.) Suffice it to say, however, that some of the franchise’s few hardcore fans miss the goofiest backup point guard in Wolves history.
I haven’t followed Brewer’s performance as a member of the Houston Rockets closely he was traded on December 19th. So I decided to take a quick look and see how Brew’s transition is looking.
A quick google search yielded qualitative insights first. Here, according to a January 4 article in the Houston Chronicle, it appears Brewer’s presence has been a plus factor.
Rockets forward Corey Brewer has continued to fit in and be at ease with his new team.
Since joining the squad seven games ago, Brewer has been a bright spot. Along with his energetic defense, his ability to pick up steals and his fluid passing, he is also on a good scoring streak.
In six of the last seven games, Brewer has scored double digits off the bench for the Rockets.
The key to his success so far is knowing his role.
Something about the Rockets seems to bring out the best in Brewer. He scored 51 points in a game against Houston last season. He once hit a half-court buzzer beater against the Rockets. Now he’s getting buckets for them, doubtless in a Brewer-y kind of way.
Here’s his per-game stats, with his 2014-15 splits broken down at the bottom by Wolves vs Rockets.
Brew is putting up 12.5 ppg for the Rockets vs. the 10.5 ppg he was putting up for the Wolves, despite not having started any of the eight games he has played for the Rockets and having played five fewer minutes per game. He’s getting just as many shots so far in those minutes. And perhaps most strikingly, he’s shooting about three-and-a-half more treys per game than he was with the Wolves.
Brewer is renowned for his poor jump shot and funky mechanics, but so far for the Rockets, he’s hitting at a 44% clip from deep. Methinks that is unsustainable, but it must be nice for him to now be in an offense that is built around freewheeling three-point shooting.
Brewer has fallen out of the league lead for steals, but he still appears to be putting a lot of pressure on the ball–surely sometimes too much.
The Rockets are only 4-4 in the games since Brewer joined them. But let’s not forget, during this period they also obtained Josh Smith, or “he who is known as a team albatross.” (Eds. Note: The Rockets are 3-4 since they obtained Smith.)
At any rate, Brewer appears to be back in the role that best suits him: Energy guy off the bench, giving a defensive spark and getting out in transition. He could be a valuable role player for the Rockets moving forward if they can get the rest of the pieces working together.
Punch-Drunk Wolves 