Sloan had nothing but praise for Brewer
When Utah coach Jerry Sloan resigned Thursday, there were suggestions he couldn’t get used to today’s entitled NBA players.
Well, while still on the job, Sloan had plenty of nice things to say about Bulls guard Ronnie Brewer. So there was at least one player the 23-year Jazz coach still admired.
“The amount of work that he did; he got a lot of our guys to start working in the summer and realize how much work that you can do to make yourself better,” Sloan said. “He probably pushed it to a max as far as the work he did off the floor.
“I always appreciate that about any player that plays for you, how hard they work. I always think you have a chance to win with those people.”
Oddly enough, the Jazz traded Brewer to Memphis last February, but that had more to do with avoiding the luxury tax than anything else.
Brewer had plenty to work on when he arrived in the NBA. Thanks breaking his arm during a water slide accident when he was 10, Brewer shoots jumpers with his elbow out to the side, which is not considered fundamentally correct.
“I can’t really change my mechanics,” he said. “I can’t really re-break my arm. I just continued to work on it and get it consistent.”
The accident happened at a family picnic hosted by the Arkansas basketball team. When telling the story, Brewer remembered looking up after the nasty spill and seeing Scotty Thurman and other players from the Razorbacks’ 1994 championship team standing over him with worried faces.
“I just happened to be on the slide, put my arm out and hit it on a pole,” he said. “I broke it and the bone came out (above the elbow). It just didn’t heal properly where I could shoot the ball comfortably how you’re supposed to.”
Brewer’s father, Ron, played at Arkansas, so Ronnie worked as a ball boy during most of the Nolan Richardson glory years. He had Corliss Williamson as an AAU coach.
Between watching the Razorbacks up close and having Sloan as his first NBA coach, Brewer figured out how to succeed in the league.
“I think you want to work on something individually to improve every day,” he said. “Defense is about effort, so I knew if I just gave the effort, I could do that. But I wanted to improve on offense, shooting and handling the ball, understanding the game. That’s one thing a lot of teams want, people who can score the basketball.”
Bulls’ thoughts with Sloan:
The Bulls practiced in New Orleans on Friday and shared some thoughts on Jerry Sloan, who coached his last game against them on Wednesday.
“I felt honored to be able to learn from him and play for him, and being around him during his time in the NBA,” former Utah forward Carlos Boozer said, according to CSNChicago.com. “We lost a great coach.”
Boozer didn’t believe the reports that suggested Jazz guard Deron Williams may have helped force Sloan out of coaching.
“From my years being there, there’s not one person. Nobody pushed Jerry out of coaching,” Boozer said. “I don’t believe that Deron pushed him out. I don’t believe that management pushed him out. ... All I know is that when I was there, he ran it.”
Added former Jazz guard Ronnie Brewer: “I didn’t see it coming. I would have thought he would have coached another five years, just because he was so passionate about the game.”
Ex-Bulls center steps in:
With Emeka Okafor sidelined by a strained oblique muscle, former Bulls center Aaron Gray is starting at center for the Hornets. Gray collected two double-doubles in the last four games and played 40 minutes in an overtime loss at New Jersey on Wednesday.
New Orleans swingman Trevor Ariza returned to the lineup Friday in Orlando after missing three games with an ankle injury.