Wednesday, November 21, 2007

The Ronnie Brewer Slash-O-Matic Show



Before Utah Jazz radio announcer Ron Boone ever strapped on a headset, he used to strap on the old sneakers where he put the func in the now-defunct Utah Stars. The Booner lit up the ABA while dominating with the red, white and blue ball and later retired with the Jazz. Since then, Salt Lake City has seen a few other Rons come and go. From the political, (Reagan) to the musical, (I went to a Ronnie James Dio concert once) to the creepy red-headed afro clowns (McDonald).

And speaking of clowns, let’s not forget Ron Artest. While thankfully not ever a Jazz member, this Stephen Hawking in shorts, actually applied for a job at Circuit City during his rookie season with the Chicago Bulls, just to get the employee discount. He arrived at a game once in a bathrobe and broke teammate Michael Jordan’s ribs in a pickup game!

As an Indiana Pacer, Artest asked for A MONTH OFF during the REGULAR SEASON to promote his upcoming RAP ALBUM! Then two weeks later, there was the minor incident in Detroit when he ran into the stands and attacked a fan who had thrown his beer at him. This sparked the biggest brawl the NBA has ever seen. He was suspended 73 games and was politely asked to turn in his Mensa membership. The silver-lining for Artest was that he then had plenty of spare time to promote his new album Call Me Crazy!, which sold 9 copies.

Then there was Rony (pretty boy) Seikaly who famously didn’t play in Salt Lake City. He, along with his Sports Illustrated swimsuit model wife, refused a trade from a lukewarm Orlando Magic team to the red-hot Utah Jazz team in 1998. He vetoed the trade reportedly because he loved the way his reflection gazed dreamily back at him from the Atlantic Ocean.

Well, it’s time for all you Pseudo-Rons to step off because there is a new Ron in the house. He is Ronnie Brewer, 2006 first-round pick of the Jazz, son of Ron Brewer, 1978 first-round pick of the Portland Trail Blazers. But he looks like he could have been the creation of Ron Popeil, the infomercial king. His company, Ronco, gave hope to the bald with the classy Ronco Hair-in-a-Can and eternal happiness to the housewife, with the Veg-O-Matic. This new concoction could be called the Ronnie Brewer Slash-O-Matic. He slices, dices and scores at will, but wait, there’s more! He is the Jazz leading scorer so far in the pre-season.

While Kevin O’ Connor scoured every playground and gym from Paris, Idaho to Paris, France looking for a shooting guard, the best one available was at the end of the Jazz bench, between the Gatorade and the guy running the Jazz Blimp. Brewer, the former Arkansas star, has been attacking the basket like the feral hog, or Razorback, he is. He has not only dropped the gauntlet on the rest of the wannabe shooting guards, he dunked it, slammed it and was fouled in the process.

Brewer is averaging over 18 points per game after the first 5 games and his field goal percentage is at .614 and he is not being spoon-fed anything. He is creating his own opportunities and most of his points are coming on a mixed assortment of driving dunks and spinning lay-ups and getting fouled on top of that. He is also knocking down 91% from the free-throw line.

Among the other guards, Morris Almond has the sweetest release and is probably the best pure shooter on the team but will take time to develop. Ronnie Price and Jason Hart are the 2007 versions of Devin Brown and Milt Palacio, a pair of journeymen NBA guards who will end up playing a year or two with the Jazz before they end up in Europe. Neither is knocking my socks off yet. CJ Miles has wilted like a dried-out rhododendron with a shooting percentage south of baseball’s Mendoza line (below .200). Gordan Giracek hasn’t been able to hit the broad side of Croatia lately. Defensively, they have all looked atrocious at times.

So, I think the decision is crystal-clear. However if history is any guide, on opening night when the starters are announced, I expect to see Ronnie Brewer walk over and sit next to the Gatorade as he watches the veteran Hart or Giracek take the floor. And if that happens we should all break out the Razorback cheer…Woooooooo, Pig Sooie!, Wooooo Pig Sooie! Woooooo Pig Sooie! Razorbacks! And maybe that will get our point across.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice work Alan!

Anonymous said...

I couldn’t agree with you more and have been saying all along that Brewer should be their starting shooting guard. That’s why they drafted him in the first place. He has good size, he can score, pass and can play defense. Let’s just hope that Sloan recognizes this fact and starts him.

Anonymous said...

Great post! You should be getting paid to write for SI or something!

Anonymous said...

Has anyone else noticed we’re seeing the newly “buffed up” RB? Inside word has it Ronnie spent a great deal of time in the weight room after hurting his hamstring during the summer. He felt he was letting his team down and losing a chance to show Sloan what he had accomplished in the off-season by not being able to play in the Revue and vowed to come out stronger than ever. Inside word also says Dad, told him after last year he thought he seemed too hesitant defending some of the strength guys and to do something about it. Looks like it worked.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

All I can say is bravo. because I am a hardcore Utah Jazz fan and a hardcore arkansas razorback fan (dont ask how that happened) but i was so happy when the jazz drafted him in 06 and if he can produce like he did at Arkansas in the NBA…. Then this team is way too effin good.

Anonymous said...

Ronnie was good at Arkansas, but, what you will see in the next couple of years is a new and improved player. One of RB’s strong draft points, besides his documented athleticism from pre-draft camp, is his “coachability.” Ronnie came out of a relatively smaller pond where he was treated like a “god” since high school. Say what you want about Sloan, but in this particular situation I think the way he is bringing this new player along is exactly what RB needed. Utah was the last team which asked to see Ronnie before draft. Ron Sr. felt Ronnie was burned out and told Utah the kid would show up but wouldn’t be trying out because he felt he would not be at his best the week before draft after all the months on the road working out for different teams. The fact Utah took him even though that was the only team the kid didn’t tryout for, tells me they saw long range potential in him….his attitude, coachability, etc. that would work well with the way Sloan likes to develop young players. RB was understandably disappointed last year at lack of playing time, but, has matured and grown a great deal since last year. In my opinion, this will make him a more valuable and enduring player. RB did have problems defending some of the experienced players last year. He learned and responded by working harder to improve where he needed to. Can’t complain about that.