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Rookie Brewer heeds Sloan's warning
By Phil Miller
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:10/16/2006 11:25:33 PM MDT
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - It's almost like observing a lab experiment, watching
these rookies come to Utah and face the most demanding and relentless
authority figure most of them have ever encountered.
Some thrive, like Deron Williams. Some rebel, like Carlos Arroyo. Some
simply fade into the background, like Kris Humphries. Even the best of them
get jarred by the bumpy ride.
Now Ronnie Brewer is coming face-to-face with the standards and
expectations of Jerry Sloan. And the first indications are encouraging.
The Jazz lost a preseason game that will be quickly forgotten, 90-85 to
the Pistons on Monday. Far more important to Sloan and his team, however, was
the way Brewer, drafted 14th last June, reacted to the coach's not-so-subtle
discipline.
Sloan perceived a letup in Brewer's on-court intensity last week, and
showed his irritation the best way he knows how: by benching the rookie.
Brewer played just five minutes against the Pacers on Saturday, with Sloan
hoping the message would sink in.
"I'm anxious to see how he fights back," Sloan said shortly before tipoff.
"He can't play this game casual. He was terrific in training camp, but he's
gotten a little bogged down. . . . I understand why [rookies] do that - because
they're trying to learn the offense and it slows them down."
Well, consider Brewer sped up again. The Jazz's new shooting guard played
35 minutes against the Pistons, and there was no letup this time. He led the
Jazz with 15 points (a figure matched by Carlos Boozer), picked off a couple
of Detroit passes to fuel a fourth-quarter rally, and deflected several other
loose balls.
Most importantly, he delivered a message of his own to Sloan: I'm willing
to work as hard as you want.
"Every time I get out there, I have to go 100 percent," Brewer said
afterward. "It makes you a better player, because it makes you mind your P's
and Q's. I want to do everything right, and the most important thing to coach
is to play hard every moment."
He seems to notice every time you slow down for a second, doesn't he?
Before Brewer could answer, C.J. Miles, another young player who has learned
the same message, chimed in from the next locker: "He sees everything."
Well, maybe. This time, Sloan saw his starting five slog through a
turnover-filled first quarter and a low-intensity third quarter, and fall
behind by double digits. Plus, a pack of rookies who spent the second and
fourth quarters rallying the Jazz back into the game.
In the final period, a squad of Brewer, Miles, Briand Chase, Paul Millsap
and token veteran Jarron Collins flustered the Pistons with some pressure
defense and fast-break conversions, opening the period with a 10-2 run that
brought Utah within a point, 71-70. The Jazz never quite caught Detroit,
which was using veteran reserves like Flip Murray (19 points) and Antonio
McDyess (six points), but it was still an upbeat stretch.
Particularly for Brewer, who made six of 14 shots and became a real pest
on defense. "He was a lot more active than what he's been the last couple of
days," Sloan said. "It was good to see him get back and get himself going.
That's what young guys have to do."
Old guys, too, and Sloan wasn't so happy with them. Mehmet Okur followed
up back-to-back 1-for-6 outings with a 1-for-7 night, and Matt Harpring was
1-for-6 with no assists and no defensive rebounds.
"It looked like we were just happy to be in the business," Sloan said.
"We looked like we were not really that concerned about playing. If I have to
play younger guys, then I will. I can't just leave guys out there to get
their averages and hope we can come close. We can't win if guys are going to
be casual about what we're doing."
Harpring has been around long enough to know what Sloan means. He didn't
agree with the premise - "I don't think we're taking it easy, I think we're
just struggling with our timing," he insisted - but knows what it will take
to change the coach's opinion.
"We've got to get going. We've got to play with intensity," he said.
"We'll get that crispness back. This is what preseason is for."
Brewer knows that now, too.
pmiller@sltrib.com
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_4503791
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