The Wolves have the #4 pick. Already gone will be Wall, Turner and Favors. The BPA is probably Cousins, but he's not exactly fleet of foot, and they already have two slow, skilled big guys in Love and Jefferson. Plus, Johnny Flynn texted Wesley Johnson "teammate!" when he found out the Wolves were picking 4th. BUT (stay with me here), the Wolves already have Corey Brewer, just off a much-improved season. I still think they take Johnson (Cousins is too much of a risk, especially for David Kahn, given how bad he's currently looking) so, Brewer will probably be available. And of course, the Wolves want to woo Ricky Rubio... So: would you swap Rudy for Brewer? I'm actually torn. Rudy is more talented (obviously), and Brewer famously can't shoot (although he's improved), but Brewer is a much better defender. Plus, he's a really upbeat kind of guy, and right now the franchise is under a bit of a cloud. And Brewer is a two time NCAA champion... No doubt there would be some smack exchanged between him and Oden. Oden would likely remind him of this:
I'd do that deal. Brewer is younger and has improved a bit...he's below average in production, but his defense largely makes up for that and gets him to acceptable rotation level. At 23, he still has some potential for improvement. He and Rudy had substantially similar seasons last year, before defense is considered. Rudy may be more talented, in terms of having more skills, but he's missing the one key skill that will allow him to exploit his breadth of skills: ball-handling. I don't think he's going to transform into a good NBA ball-handler, so I'm not very optimistic that his fine passing, shooting and finishing skills will ever make him a highly-effective player. Which is a real shame.
I am not so sure I agree with the reasoning behind why they would want to get rid of brewer, because Minnesota needs depth too, even if he is replaced as s starter. They are a bad team, and bad teams typically need a lot of everything. Now that being said, I believe it would be a good deal if it could be done. Brewers 3 point shooting is actually a work in progress, but is much better now than it was 2 years ago. His overall shooting percentage is solid. He reminds me of a guy who could play a "Plastic Man/Stacey Augmon" type of roll, which is perfect for a bench forward.
He would be pretty much duplicate what Batum gives us, but I do reaaly like him. Would need a scorer still off the bench. I would, for shits and giggles, if I know Rudy doesn't want to stay.
He was born in Portland, Tennessee. It's a sign. Yes. For real though, probably yes. Long body, seems to have a good attitude, keeps improving. I'd bet on him having a good work ethic.
I'd do it. Rudy isn't likely to magically get a lot happier with his role here in Portland and one more year of pouting, miserable body language and (most importantly) poor production would spell the end of whatever little trade value he probably still has left at this point. Do I like Brewer as a wing? No, not especially, but he defends, he can handle the ball a little bit and he'd probably be a decent backup small forward to have on the roster. At this point I'd trade Rudy for a low twenties first round pick or even a high second rounder, let alone another rotation quality player already in the league.
I looked over their roster and it's pretty depressing -- They don't have many assets outside Kevin Love and their draft pick.
I would make that trade. A good defender to throw out when Nic is on the bench. it's nic to have players make other players SG or SF work really hard every game. We lose some three point shooting, and one fancy pass every three games.
Yes. Why keep a player who doesn't want to be here? Besides, it's not as if the team has a surplus of solid perimeter defenders.
