Martin Sees Brewer As Perfect Fit

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

http://www.nba.com/timberwolves/news/martin-sees-brewer-perfect-fit-wing

Mark Remme -

Kevin Martin has followed Corey Brewer's career enough since he was drafted in 2007 to know what he can provide on the court. The two have shared six years in the NBA, and off the court they both work with the same trainer, David Thorpe, in Tampa, Fla. The two have become friends during that time, and they certainly have gotten to know one another's abilities.

So when the opportunity arose for the Wolves to make a run at Brewer, a free agent this summer, Martin said he was willing to do anything necessary to give Minnesota a shot.

Why? Martin said Brewer is the perfect complement to play beside him on the wing. Where Martin is a sharp-shooter the Wolves hope will not only hit from deep but also slash within Rick Adelman's system and get to the foul line, Brewer is a 6-foot-9, defensive-minded player who can hit the corner 3 and run the floor in transition.

Martin said when he heard about Brewer's situation, he spoke with the Wolves about him and then contacted Brewer directly.

"He's come a long way since Day 1," Martin said. "I remember when he first got drafted to Minnesota, and you can tell over the years he's matured. Ever since this summer, since free agency began, he's told our trainer, 'I'm committed to doing anything you want me to do to turn me into a better player.' He understands what this league is about, and when we had a chance to get him I was willing to do to make that happen."

The Wolves officially announced the two offseason acquisitions--Martin via a three-team sign and trade with the Thunder and Bucks that also sent Luke Ridnour to Milwaukee, and Brewer via free agency--in mid-July while also announcing they had re-signed Chase Budinger. Last week, Minnesota also announced signing veteran center Ronny Turiaf.

With the three veterans coming together and Minnesota balancing its roster across the board, Wolves President of Basketball Operations Flip Saunders said the team has accomplished many of the goals it set out to do this offseason. Locking in center Nikola Pekovic is the last major piece of the puzzle, but adding Martin's offensive punch, Brewer's defensive approach and Turiaf's winning experience the Wolves have put together a group of talented offseason acquisitions to piece around cornerstones Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio.

"You feel better because you kind of had an idea of what you needed to do. You had people that knew what we wanted to do, and we pretty much filled our targets," Saunders said. "So you feel good about that. Now the work just begins."

Brewer said last week that he never wanted to leave Minnesota the first time when the Wolves dealt him to New York as part of the Nuggets to Knicks Carmelo Anthony deal, so asking him to return wasn't a hard sell. He'd been in the Northwest Division the past two years with the Nuggets, so he'd seen the upward progression of the Wolves and where the team seems to be headed in the coming years.

But having Martin on board and making a push certainly helped.

"He kind of recruited me like Flip and Glen [Taylor] were recruiting me," Brewer said. "He was calling and texting me all the time saying I could come and play here."

Brewer really is an important piece of this puzzle, because the Wolves desperately needed a player who can step in with a defensive mindset that can try to replace the intangibles left void by Kirilenko's departure. Kirilenko did so many things on the court for the Wolves, and Brewer won't be tasked with trying to fill that role in full. But with Martin and Budinger primarily offensive weapons on the wing, Brewer will be essential toward helping lock down opponents' top perimeter players.

Martin said the key will be all five players on the floor buying in defensively, but having someone with length and lateral quickness will be crucial. The NBA has elite athletes on the wing on a nightly basis, and being able to contain them is the key to success.

"[Brewer's] going to be a guy that's going to be playing in a role he's comfortable with, and he's played that role extremely well winning a championship with Dallas and extremely well this past year with Denver when they won 57 or 58 games," Saunders said.

The defense, along with hitting an occasional corner 3, are a pair of traits alongside Martin the Wolves hope to benefit from out of Brewer this year.

"Corey's the right guy because not only can he defend but get out and run with Ricky, which is what we thought was important," Saunders said. "To really get out and run the break and even though he only shot 30 percent from 3 last year, he was a very good 3-point shooter out of the corners. We thought that was going to be a positive because in Rick's system there are a lot of corner 3-point opportunities."

Quick Hits

Martin said one of the things he realized while playing in Oklahoma City last year was he preferred not to play on a team without a superstar. That was another feature the Wolves had to offer: He called Kevin Love a legit superstar, and he said he expects Ricky Rubio to be one in the league soon.

Martin shot 669 free-throw attempts in 2010-11, his last season playing for Rick Adelman in Houston. Over the next two years, he shot a combined 425 free throws. He said it was more a product of the systems and his roles than his age. "I'm excited to get back into the [Rick Adelman] system, and I'm excited to play with such a good team and help get them back to the playoffs."

Martin did say he considered going back to the Thunder, but Minnesota was at the top of his list as potential suitors. "I feel like I found the same thing even in Minnesota, even being younger and have had some injuries over the years," Martin said. "But they're a good team, too. I made a decision, and I think it's a great one. I learned from OKC, they're a great organization. The way KD [Kevin Durant] and Russ [Russell Westbrook] approach the game, I think that's something I'll bring to Minnesota."


Camden --

Does anyone else absolutely love how much Kevin Martin has/had bought in to the Timberwolves? He's saying all the right things and apparently he did all the right things as well to ensure Brewer came back to Minnesota. Boy did the Wolves need another good head like Martin's. Rubio's a winner. We know that by what he says and what he does; he's a definite leader. So far, Martin seems to have a leader type quality. We'll see if he can do it on the court, but I'm liking how K-Mart has handled the transition to his fourth NBA team.

**I didn't mean for the copy/paste to be annoying if it is. I just thought it'd be easier to read everything here instead of having to open up the link, read the article and then revert back to the forum.

[JDvikes [enjin:6536888]]

I tend to prefer what you did in regards to your post, or at the very least give a paragraph teaser. As far as Martin goes, he seems to be a solid teammate off the court, which tends to mean that he will be one where it matters as well :thumb:

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Camden, Great article (no problem copying and pasting it - unless JDvikes has an issue with it - so long as it's properly attributed to the rightful author, which you did).

Yeah, Martin is obviously totally bought into the Wolves. It's nice that he was willing to help bring Brewer here, but I think there were better options at a similar or lower price.

[bleedspeed]

I really like the Martin signing. I am a little worried about the Brewer and Budinger signings over the long haul.

[JDvikes [enjin:6536888]]

I'm not worried about the B/B signings as I think they will turn out to be a pretty fair value by the final year and could be moved for something else if need be. I just don't feel like they were huge stretches at the cost.

[KiwiMatt]

I'm very happy with the Martin and Brewer signing and believe they are an upgrade on the wing positions from Kirilenko and Ridnour as well as a better fit with our core.

Martin is the classic 3 and Free guy, which is something we've lacking in our backcourt since Sprewell, yes Sprewell.

Brewer is a (corner) 3 and D guy, which is also something we lacked. He also brings a very good transition game and can finish in style on the fast break (Derek Fisher knows this first hand).

Both are great fits in Adelman's corner offense.

Sure we overpaid to get them (as well as Bud), but I think what this organisation wants is a group under contract who can gel over the years to come, and not have to worry about turning the roster upside down every god dam off season.

We have our core - Love, Rubio, Pekovic,
We have good wings: Martin, Brewer, Budinger.
We have prospects: Williams, Shved, Muhammad, Dieng
We have championship vets: Barea, Turiaf

[Monster]

Martin is saying all the right things, btu hey he is playing for a coach he knows playing with a PG that will get him the ball playing for a team thats handing him a starting SG spot. Maybe he is buying in or maybe he is just gushing becasue a team is letting him be a starter. I am glad we got him either way to be honest. If Adelman didn't sign off on this then he wouldn't be here.

[Lipoli390]

Camden, Great article (no problem copying and pasting it - unless JDvikes has an issue with it - so long as it's properly attributed to the rightful author, which you did).

Yeah, Martin is obviously totally bought into the Wolves. It's nice that he was willing to help bring Brewer here, but I think there were better options at a similar or lower price.

Q -- Do you mean better options than Brewer? Who did you see as some or all of those options? Not a hostile question. Just curious. By the way -- I preferred the more expensive option, which was keeping AK on a multi-year deal. As a cheaper option, I would have preferred DeMarre Carroll.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Lip, I thought Carroll and Aminu were two cheaper options that are equally as good or better than Brewer defensively. I thought making a trade for Mbah a Moute was an option. And yes, my first choice was signing AK for 3 X $7M (which in hindsight may have been overpaying based on what he did end up getting!). I am a huge AK fan and believe 60-70 games of AK is better than 82 games of Corey Brewer. But it is what it is at this point. I have nothing against Corey Brewer - he hustles his ass off and has a great attitude. I just thought there were better and/or cheaper options.

[Lipoli390]

Q -- I agree with you, although I'm not convinced Aminu would have been a good choice even though he certainly would have been cheaper than Corey. At least Corey brings some important attributes to the table so I can't say the Brewer signing was terrible. But like you, I think there were better options at better values.