The same day that the Chicago Bulls officially lost out on J.J. Redick, the team added a very talented wing in Ronnie Brewer. In fact, he might be the most athletic wing the team has had in quite some time; an no doubt an upgrade over Redick. This move is no consolation prize; it fills a big hole and brings in a guy point guards love to play with. The best point guard in the league, Deron Williams, was really upset when Brewer was dealt out of Utah.
So Brewer should gel well with Bulls franchise point guard Derrick Rose. This move also brings the number of ex-Jazz players coming to Chicago this summer to three. I guess you can call the Bulls “Utah Midwest” now; but with a much smaller Mormon population. I do hope that Brewer, along with Boozer and Korver, aren’t shocked by how flat it is here. And they realize that upgrading from tiny market to huge market (in this case anyway) means you’ll have fewer options when it comes to ski vacations.
By Paul M. Banks
Now that the Bulls have more talent on the wing, they can focus on their other big needs: a backup point guard (they could easily re-sign Jannero Pargo) and another substantial big (the heavily tattoed Brad Miller could re-up, as he not found a new suitor yet). Brewer is a former lottery pick who hasn’t yet lived up to his expectations, but he is a good defender; and he does pretty much everything on the floor well except shoot the three-ball.
The Korver signing helped fill that need, and Rose has been telling the media this past week that he has a three poitn shot now. Only time will tell if that’s true, but Rose claims that the biggest weakness in his game has now become a strength. If so, then Rose could emerge as the best floor general in the East, and the Bulls will then have two legitimate perimeter threats.
The 25-year-old Brewer was dealt from Utah to the Memphis Grizzlies around the trade deadline. He only participated in five contests with the Grizzlies before suffering a season-ending hamstring injury. He averaged nine points and three rebounds last year after posting a scoring average of 13.7 points in ’08-’09.