As reported, the Bulls signed Ronnie Brewer to a three year $12.5mm deal. Unless a trade or other significant signing is made, which is not expected, the starting lineup looks to be made:
PG- Rose
SG- Brewer
SF- Deng
PF- Boozer
C- Noah
Defensively, we are stacked. Brewer is a lock-down man to man defender and is much more athletic than a J.J. Redick. Additionally, he's a good slasher, can attack the rim on occasion, and is fast in the open court. His offensive numbers speak a bit louder than people think, with a career average of 10.3 ppg including 13.7 for Utah in 08/09 as well as a career shooting percentage of 52%. The main problem offensively is that he is a 23% three point shooter for his career with a high of 26%. The Bulls had no great shooters last year, with Hinrich being the best, and lost him. While Korver is a lights out shooter, the starting lineup still lacks someone to space the floor. Obviously you can't get everything you want, with Redick you get three's and solid defense but not much else, and with Brewer you get top-notch defense, and open court explosiveness but no shooting. I think that if him and Korver each get 20-30 min a game this could be a good platoon at the 2 guard. I think what makes Brewer look less appealing is that Deng at the 3 can't shoot the three and has been disappointing to many. Brewer would look great next to an elite star, but people may be frustrated with the 2/3 tandem of Brewer/Deng more so than Brewer himself. The Bulls may need to consider starting Korver over Deng or Brewer, but I think at the end of the day each will get sizable minutes. Either way, he is definitely a solid fifth starter, and the Bulls are putting together a team of pieces that will continue to get better. I think we need to work with what we have at this point, maybe add a backup PG & C, and than move towards being able to offer an attractive trading deadline package for Anthony and if not go after him hard next summer.
What does everyone think?
Here is the most interesting thing I've surmised on Brewer, and the irony excites me. We all love Scottie Pippen. Well, after Chicago, Pippen went to finish his career in Portland. Brewer is from Portland, was aged 14 to 18 at the time Pippen was there, his father was a long-time NBA player through the 70s, so you have to think there was contact, as a father trying to help his son follow his dreams with access to a future HOFer. Furthermore, Ronnie went to college at Arkansas, where Pippen is from. Hmmm. Ya think this is random? Finally, Brewer is a defensive specialist and likely learned a lot from Scottie in that regard. Now, we can just hope that he develops an outside shot like Pippen did (Pippen was not a good outside shooter early on). I'm just saying there is some potential good stuff going on, and this gives us reason to be excited about this signing.
ReplyDeleteSorry, my bad, I should have checked my facts first. His hometown is listed as Portland, but only because he was born there. He played high school ball in Arkansas. Never mind the irony. It is more like coincidence after all.
ReplyDeleteRonnie Brewer should never be in the same sentence as Scottie Pippen
ReplyDeletePeople are so iffy on Brewer that we need to develop crazy theories linking them to Hall of Famers just to have some excitement around the situation ha
ReplyDeleteHonestly, the Bulls will never get Carmelo Anthony. The fact is we have Deng and Boozer on the books for the next five years. On top of that Noah and Rose are still playing on rookie contracts. Once those contracts end (for Noah it's after this year), they will get sizable contracts. We can't make this move without trading away Deng, and honestly we won't get anything of value out of him with the current market. The Bulls are infinitely better with him than without him and it's too risky of a move to trade him away for scraps and pieces. Nonetheless going after Brewer at the two, I think was a horrendous move on the part of the Bulls. They should have just assembled the roster with veterans whose contracts would end at the end of the year. Their nucleus is already good enough to contend and without him, they're still top 5 in the East. Then at free agency next year, they could have gone after the Nugget that nobody seems to be mentioning, J.R. Smith. He's a slasher and a great perimeter scorer (something the Bulls have lacked since the departure of Ben Gordon). He would complement Rose perfectly in the backcourt and would be a far cheaper option than Melo. At the end of the day I would choose the combination J.R. Smith/Deng over just Melo any day.
ReplyDeleteJ.R. Smith would fit in perfectly but he's a head case, do the Bulls have money to go after him next year even with the Brewer signing?
ReplyDeleteMelo would definitely command the maximum amount of money, while J.R. Smith wouldn't. On top of that, J.R. Smith might be a headcase, but remember that he is only 25 years old right now and has plenty of room to mature. He's not even hit his prime yet. I'm sure the Bulls could theoretically sign him next year even with Brewer/Korver, but that depends on how else they spend their money in free agency. But then there would just be a logjam at the wing positions when you incorporate James Johnson and Luol Deng at the three along with Smith/Brewer/Korver at the two. I know for a fact that if I were GM of this team, I would maximize all efforts to get J.R. Smith next season even if that meant making Brewer expendable. J.R. Smith would complement the pieces we have right now more so than any other big name free agent from the Class of 2011.
ReplyDeletePG- Rose, Watson
ReplyDeleteSG- Smith, Brewer
SF- Deng, Korver
PF- Boozer, Gibson
C- Noah, Asik
I like that 1st and 2nd unit possibility Aon. Would look better with Melo in there tho... but I agree our only shot at him via trade would involve Deng and it's looking less and less likely anyone wants his 4 year deal given his lack of improvement.
As we've seen this offseason, it's not a good idea to put all the eggs in the premier FA basket. It's more than likely you'll get burned. Plus, I don't think the Bulls need Melo to contend in the East. The Celtics' window is closing fast, and Chi matches up well with Orlando and the Heat too (unless they really gel, in which case everyone else is fucked). Of course, Rose needs to make the leap this year, and Noah needs to further improve for this to be a real possibility.
ReplyDelete