Corey Brewer bought out (updates) Celtics interested

[Chris]

Can you point out any basketball reasons why Brewer isn't an elite wing defender? What does he do worse than elite wing defenders?

The short answer is that he is not strong enough to keep guys out of the lane, and while he has active hands and looks good playing defense, gives up way too many easy shots.  He also has way too many lapses, where he will stop someone for a couple seconds, and then will let up just enough to give up a basket, or make a dumb foul.

He has great defensive talent, but has not yet shown the consistency or well-rounded defensive game to be considered elite.

[Fafnir]

Can you point out any basketball reasons why Brewer isn't an elite wing defender? What does he do worse than elite wing defenders?

The short answer is that he is not strong enough to keep guys out of the lane, and while he has active hands and looks good playing defense, gives up way too many easy shots.  He also has way too many lapses, where he will stop someone for a couple seconds, and then will let up just enough to give up a basket, or make a dumb foul.

He has great defensive talent, but has not yet shown the consistency or well-rounded defensive game to be considered elite.

He's a fanatastic help defender though, because of his activity and length.

I think Trevor Ariza is a very similar player to him.

[greensamurai]

looks like brewer is gonna be a Mav

http://twitter.com/stein_line_HQ

[Greenbean]

Can you point out any basketball reasons why Brewer isn't an elite wing defender? What does he do worse than elite wing defenders?

The short answer is that he is not strong enough to keep guys out of the lane, and while he has active hands and looks good playing defense, gives up way too many easy shots.  He also has way too many lapses, where he will stop someone for a couple seconds, and then will let up just enough to give up a basket, or make a dumb foul.

He has great defensive talent, but has not yet shown the consistency or well-rounded defensive game to be considered elite.

Chris I usually agree with most of what you post here but how much of his game have you watched?

I mean to make that kind of analysis I think you would need to have watched 10-15 wolves games this year. If you have then God bless ya!

All I can go by is a couple of games this year, a couple of games last year, and alot of writing about how great this guy is at making life difficult for scorers in the West.

[droponov]

Can you point out any basketball reasons why Brewer isn't an elite wing defender? What does he do worse than elite wing defenders?

The short answer is that he is not strong enough to keep guys out of the lane, and while he has active hands and looks good playing defense, gives up way too many easy shots.  He also has way too many lapses, where he will stop someone for a couple seconds, and then will let up just enough to give up a basket, or make a dumb foul.

He has great defensive talent, but has not yet shown the consistency or well-rounded defensive game to be considered elite.

I think that's about as right as saying that Azubuike is more ready to contribute than Brewer this season.

If he gives up so many easy shots, why do the guys he's guarding miss so many of them? Luck?  

I watched about 150 of his isolation defensive plays and very rarely there was a non-contested shot. How often do you watch him play?

[CelticFanInLosAngeles]

looks like brewer is gonna be a Mav

http://twitter.com/stein_line_HQ

Yup...Stein of Espn...reported barring any late developments...Brewer will sign with Dallas.

[jackson_34]

looks like brewer is gonna be a Mav

http://twitter.com/stein_line_HQ

Yup...Stein of Espn...reported barring any late developments...Brewer will sign with Dallas.

Better than signing with any east coast team I guess.

[CelticFanInLosAngeles]

looks like brewer is gonna be a Mav

http://twitter.com/stein_line_HQ

Yup...Stein of Espn...reported barring any late developments...Brewer will sign with Dallas.

Brewer to Dallas now official according to Yahoo...once he clears waivers.

[ssspence]

Brewer's easily one of the leagues top wing defenders

The rest of your post makes sense (even if I disagree), but this is a massive overstatement IMO.  He may have some potential defensively, but there is no way he is a top wing defender right now.  

Yeah, agree. Brewer could be a guy that you want to help defensively on the wing..but he's a far cry from 'easily one of the leagues top wing defenders'.

Why?

Because while Brewer has the athleticism and length to be a good defender, he's never been asked to play the role of lockdown defender for a good team, and if asked to play that role night in, night out, I doubt his ability as presently apparent. He could grow into the role, but he's not there yet.

Saying Corey Brewer is 'easily one of the league's top wing defenders' because statistically there is some data that supports it is like saying Brandon Rush is one of the league's best perimeter defenders (which statistically speaking, he is).

He's never been on a good team -- he was drafted by the Wolves -- so it seems unfair to penalize him for it. I simply don't see an argument that doesn't state he plays excellent perimeter defense and fills passing lanes well. Iv'e seen the guy play plenty of times -- he's aggressive and uses his length to cause problems for opposing wings.

Henry Abbott seems to agree with me:

"Brewer may well be the league’s leading candidate to be the next Bruce Bowen, and is an interesting test case in how statistics can be used effectively to enhance, not replace, the human eye.

Basically, despite playing for a miserable Timberwolves team, he has showed up very well in almost any stat that incorporates defense — plus/minus, adjusted plus/minus, opponents’ productivity, etc. Some of that is probably an artifact of the reality that it’s easy to be efficient when you aspire to do little on offense. Brewer doesn’t take a lot of bad shots, he can feed the post, and he’s incredibly high energy so he cleans up on turnovers and with easy buckets.

Smart teams, I’d wager, have been watching Corey Brewer for a long time for this exact reason.

And what they have been seeing is a defensive show. Once you clue in to the guy, it’s glaringly obvious that no one on the court is defending like him. He’s narrow, long, strong, quick and feisty — which is a perfect set of attributes to fight over a screen. He has great hands. He goads non-shooters into shooting, and keeps great shooters from making a catch. He talks constantly on defense — he’s not only in the right place, but he knows where everybody else is supposed to be, too.

If we lived in a world where defense was valued as much as offense, YouTube would be filled with highlights of Brewer making things unusually tough for Manu Ginobili, Kevin Durant, Ray Allen, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony and others."

Hiding behind Brandon Rush's statistics is just like hiding behind the statistics themselves. Brewer's the better defender.

By the way, looks like he's going to the Mavs on a multi-year deal as predicted:

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nba/news/story?id=6175289

[CelticFanInLosAngeles]

looks like brewer is gonna be a Mav

http://twitter.com/stein_line_HQ

Yup...Stein of Espn...reported barring any late developments...Brewer will sign with Dallas.

You got that right. I hope the lakers have to go through Dallas and San Antonio to get to the Finals.



Better than signing with any east coast team I guess.

[Neurotic Guy]

Anything that makes it harder for LA is something I support.

[jdpapa3]

Anything that makes it harder for LA is something I support.

It's crazy that we're conditioned this way, but I had the same exact thought. 

[rondohondo]

is a 27 page long thread a record on CB?

and for Corey Brewer of all people, though he would have helped

[CelticFanInLosAngeles]

Don't get me wrong...I want those fake bast@rts there. Just need them a little used-up like we were last year.

[j804]

Wafer can fill in and do what he would most likely, well be fine