<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">On his recently revealed list of "10 NBA rookies expected to make significant contributions this upcoming season," SI.com's Marty Burns ranks Jazz lottery pick Ronnie Brewer No. 7. That's a whopping seven spots ahead of the No. 14 spot at which Utah took Brewer in last June's NBA Draft. Writes Burns: "Jazz coach Jerry Sloan would rather dance the lambada than rely on a rookie, but this 6-foot-7 shooting guard from Arkansas fills a need for an athletic wing man. If Brewer can defend at all, Sloan will have no choice but to run him out there." Early on, however, it's Sloan and not Brewer who should be prepping for an appearance on "Dancing with the Stars." The Jazz rookie had a quiet two-point debut in Utah's preseason opener, and he logged only five scoreless minutes in last Saturday's exhibition win at Indiana. Asked about the slow start, Sloan did not exactly tap dance around the questions prior to Monday's visit with the Detroit Pistons. "Ronnie has some things he has to work on to make himself a better player," he said. "You can't play this game casual." Sloan said Brewer has been "a little bogged down," as most rookies typically are around mid-October. "There's always something that kind of throws them out of synch, whether it be me, or the other team, or what we're trying to do from an offensive standpoint," the Jazz coach said. "They've got to fight through those things, and they've got to learn how to fight through them, because we can't afford the luxury of a guy not working hard. "But I understand why they don't sometimes ? because they're trying to learn the offense, trying to learn what's going on, and that slows them down." Sloan said he was anxious to see how Brewer "fights back when he doesn't play a lot."</div> Source Sounds like Ronnie Brewer has some diva issues about his status on the team.
IMO, Jerry Sloan saying a young player needs to work harder doesn't make that player a diva. It's Jerry Sloan. You think the implication was that Brewer wasn't playing hard because he didn't get the minutes he felt he deserved?
I was thinkinig the same thing as Durvasa there. Sloan is notorious for being tough on his players, and rookies most of all. Combine that with the knowledge that Brewer comes from good basketball roots, was a solid guy in college, and appears to be team-first from all I've seen, and I imagine this is just a rookie/Sloan/motivational type thing. I've got to think that Brewer will play quite a bit this year. Like that article said, he's the athletic wing that the Jazz surely need. I wouldn't imagine this is much more than Sloan being tough on his rookie and the rookie trying to respond as he grows into his role as an NBA player.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"You can't play this game casual."</div> Maybe I'm mis-interpreting this quote, but it sounds like Brewer isn't giving full effort. I also disagree about Sloan not playing rookies. Deron Williams earned his trust by busting his tail in the offseason and then producing when given the opportunity.
<div class="quote_poster">shapecity Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Maybe I'm mis-interpreting this quote, but it sounds like Brewer isn't giving full effort. </div> That's possible. But Brewer is a young player ... maybe he didn't show the intensity in some games that Sloan usually wants to see. Brewer is meant to be a defensive stopper for this team on the perimeter, and Sloan (having been one himself) wants to make sure he has the right mindset. I wouldn't draw the conclusion that it's a character-issue.
Sloan doesn't play rookies because he wants them to appreciate every last second they see the floor. From the sound of it, Giricek, Fisher, and Maybe C.J. "The Calvin" Miles will be the rotation at the beginning of the year. For some reason, rookies have sort of a tough time picking up Utah's offense, Humphries never learned it, Snyder had some issues with it, those are only examples that have happened recently. Brewer sort of plays out of control compared to Utah's standards, everytime I saw that draft day tape they showed, his passes were wild and he looked out of control. In the NBA, those are turnovers if he attempts those passes. Brewer should be playing significant minutes by sometime in December. Only person that should be worried about this is the people that were stupid enough to pick a Jazz rookie in Fantasy B-Ball
