JAZZ & DOUG'S BREWER TRADE BREAKDOWN, plus COUGS

Ronnie Brewer


DOUG
After the recent Ronnie Brewer trade made by the Utah Jazz I noticed a lot of complaints on facebook. While I was upset at first as well, I would like to take a minute to back up the decision made by Kevin O'Connor and company.

Ronnie Brewer is a great lock down defender and brought great athleticism to our team. At the same time he allowed defenders to sag into the middle because of his poor outside shooting, making the D-Will-Boozer pick and roll almost ineffective.

The trade has brought Wes Matthews to the starting position. In his time with the Jazz, Matthews has hit more threes than Brewer did in his entire career(3 & 1/2 years) with the Jazz. Brewer with 41 and Matthews with 41. Matthews in my mind can play just as well on the defensive end and actually makes a superstar like Kobe guard him at the other end.

I have noticed that the Jazz are hitting a lot of threes in games lately and I credit the Ronnie Brewer trade for this. The Jazz had a large number of wing players all fighting for a few minutes a game. Korver, Miles, Matthews, and Brewer were all fighting for minutes. As soon as one of them missed a shot or got beat on defense, Jerry pulled them out and let someone else try. This caused them to play scared or stiff. Since the trade, Korver, Miles, and Matthews are all getting minutes every night and they are playing with confidence. Korver can't miss and Miles is on a hot streak. Getting rid of Brewer opened up the outside shot while at the same time opening up the middle for Williams and Boozer.

A lot of people were upset that we weren't getting anything back for Brewer. Look at it this way. If we didn't trade him, at the end of the season another team, maybe Memphis, would have been able to offer him a contract that we wouldn't have been able to match. We would have lost him for nothing. Instead we get a draft pick in 2011 which will possibly be a lottery pick.

All in all, great move by the Jazz. Let the threes keep dropping.
Doug


SEAN
First of all, I was one of those complainers. I really loved Brew-hound, and thought he was the best defender. I think, like a lot of people probably did, that I was mostly angry once I heard how upset the players were. However, I have to say that Doug has completely changed my mind. I'm pretty stubborn and don't often change my opinion, but Doug has brought up points I wasn't aware of, like the three pointers. I knew Brew wasn't a great shooter but that's pretty amazing that Matthews has already matched his career total. Overall I say Doug is right and in hindsight, it was a great move.

The Jazz played Milwaukee on Friday and that was disappointing. Another one of those games that we just cant find a good rhythm all game, then make a push at the end, but couldn't finish it.

In all honesty, I thought Deron Williams looked like the rookie, a little rushed, panicked and not too sharp, and Jennings was controlling the game. Obviously that's a rare bad game for D-Will but he seemed scared to shoot and definitely seemed scared to go to the rim anytime Bogut was around.

Ilyasova was killing me. For those of you that noticed how he was involved in almost every play, with a deflection, or rebound, steal, etc., I think we got a little taste of how frustrating it must be for other teams playing us when Andrei is having one of those games.

Speaking of Andrei Kirilenko, I couldn't help but be frustrated with him leaving the game with a hurt calf. It feels like that is happening every 3 games with him. Its always something new.

Final thought on that game, the Bucks defense looked like it was the Celtics D of 07-08. They are a great defensive team, and I think they can pull off an upset in the first round, depending on who they play.


BYU
All I have to say about this is why is it in Las Vegas. I understand, that they bring in money, and it's a convenient location, but all I can say is it is UNFAIR. It's a home game for UNLV. Jimmer is pretty sweet but he forced a lot of really bad shots up. That UNLV player was unreal on defense and you could tell Jimmer was struggling against him. Maybe Coug's can win a tournament game this year, but I won't be surprised if a 11, or 10 seed beats them.
Sean