Cavaliers, Rockets Covet Corey Brewer

It looks like Flip Saunders is starting to lean more toward his duties as team president over his responsibilities as head coach.

According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, the Minnesota Timberwolves are shopping veteran wing Corey Brewer in an effort to focus on the team’s future and give more minutes to its younger players. The Houston Rockets and Cleveland Cavaliers are the two teams interested in acquiring Brewer in order to add some depth at a position of need.

Brewer is owed $4.7 million this season, but both the Cavaliers and Rockets have trade exceptions large enough to take on his contract. In return for Brewer, the Wolves would most likely receive future draft considerations.

As a shooting guard/small forward hybrid, Brewer can play multiple positions and ignite one-man fast breaks. In 81 games with the Wolves last season, Brewer averaged 12.3 points and 2.6 rebounds in 32.2 minutes per game while shooting 48.1 percent from the floor. Though he’s a terrible three-point shooter (29.4 percent for his career on 2.2 attempts per game), Brewer would be a great fit with either team.

In Cleveland, Brewer would be reunited with his former Timberwolves teammate Kevin Love, with whom he developed a close friendship during his time in Minnesota. Love’ Wes Unseld-like abilities as an outlet passer made him a perfect fit for Brewer, who is known for leaking out early to score in transition. With the Cavaliers, Love-to-Brewer full court touchdowns would be a regular occurrence once again.

The Cavs also have a glaring need at the shooting guard position that Brewer would fill quite nicely. Depth is not one of Cleveland’s strong suits and between his length, transition scoring, perimeter defense and much-needed energy off the bench, Brewer would be a welcome addition to a team that is competing for titles this year and every year LeBron James remains in the league.

As for Houston, the Rockets are well aware of what Brewer can do after he dropped 51 points on Kevin McHale‘s team last season. McHale originally drafted Brewer back in 2007 when he served as Minnesota’s general manager, and Brewer would represent a major upgrade at either the two or the three spot over the likes of Jason Terry and Kostas Papanikolaou.

Brewer might not fit in in terms of his three-point efficacy (or lack thereof), but since Houston’s offense is predicated on either threes or layups/dunks, Brewer would be right at home attacking the basket and leaking out in transition for easy points. As a member of the 2011 champion Dallas Mavericks, Brewer’s playoff experience would be a helpful addition for either the Rockets or the Cavs.

Back in Minnesota, moving Brewer would not only nab the Timberwolves future assets, but it’d also allow Saunders to give Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett larger roles as the team continues to transition from the older veterans to the younger players of promise. Wiggins has started all nine games for the Wolves, but he’s only averaging 26.9 points per game. Bennett has started one game and is logging only 14.3 minutes per night.

The Wolves are currently starting Zach LaVine at point guard in place of the injured Ricky Rubio, with Saunders opting to go with the rookie over backup Mo Williams. Nikola Pekovic is averaging 11.9 points and 8.1 rebounds per game as the team’s starting center, but he’s only averaging 26.7 minutes per game with the 24-year-old backup Gorgui Dieng on the rise. Dieng is averaging 8.0 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 20.1 minutes per game.

All signs point to Saunders recognizing he doesn’t have enough talent to compete in the Western Conference, so the development of the younger franchise cornerstones won’t be taking a backseat for much longer. Trading Corey Brewer is just another step in that direction toward the future…and most likely a top pick in the NBA Draft Lottery.

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