79 ° Mostly cloudy  ·  Home · Archives · Go Hogs! · Blogs · Videos · Contact Us Search: Go

Fayetteville, Ark.

logo2.gif

SPONSORS

ADVERTISEMENT



ADVERTISEMENT



ADVERTISEMENT

Location: WholeHogSports > Story     |     TAGGED:

2006 NBA DRAFT : All jazzed up

Published: Thursday, June 29, 2006 PRINT E-MAIL

FAYETTEVILLE — All the homework Fayetteville’s Ronnie Brewer did made him believe he could go relatively high in the NBA draft, perhaps even be a lottery pick.

The Utah Jazz made Brewer look like he’d done his homework thoroughly, taking him with the 14 th overall pick and final lottery slot Wednesday night.

Brewer, who left Arkansas after his junior season, became the second member of his family to be drafted in the first round, following his father, Ron Brewer Sr., who also played at Arkansas. The elder Brewer went seventh to Portland in 1978 and played eight years in the NBA.

Arkansas has sent 11 firstround picks to the NBA. Brewer is the program’s first since Joe Johnson went 10 th overall to Boston in 2001.

ADVERTISEMENT

Brewer, 6-7, 225, goes to a team that needs an athletic, scoring guard and a team that finished 41-41 and second in the Northwest Division. He interviewed with the Jazz last week but did not work out for them because of an undisclosed minor injury.

When Philadelphia picked at 13, Brewer said he started getting nervous that he might fall into the 20 range. He said he never expected to be taken by a team that didn’t work him out.

“I’m very thankful and excited to come to Utah,” Brewer said.

Brewer added later, “Once they took me, I was kind of shocked. I think I can definitely come in and vie for one of the wing spots.”

Brewer will team in the backcourt with point guard Deron Williams. In an interesting twist, the Jazz drafted Williams ’ backcourt mate at Illinois, Dee Brown, in the second round Wednesday.

Coach Jerry Sloan said Brewer will bring the ball upcourt occasionally.

“He has the ability to get on top of the basket,” Sloan said. “I think his upside could be very good if he works.

“ We needed an athlete. He’s a pretty good-sized guy. We can play him a little at [point guard ]. We can play him at [shooting guard ]. It appears he can adapt to situations, but you have to remember he’s still a young guy.”

Going so high makes Brewer an instant millionaire. Brewer is scheduled to earn $ 1. 6 million as a rookie and will receive a two-year guaranteed contract, according to the NBA rookie salary scale.

That draft position probably won’t land Brewer the jersey number he wants, though. He requested No. 10, the one he wore in college and the same his dad wore in the NBA, but the Jazz’s Gordon Giricek already has that number locked up.

A blog on The Salt Lake Tribune’s Web site reported that about 2, 000 fans attending a draft party at the team’s arena, the Delta Center, only cheered Brewer’s selection for a few moments but didn’t boo, either.

Brewer is scheduled to go to Salt Lake City today.

“The Jazz have to be thrilled,” draft analyst Chad Ford wrote on ESPN. com.

Ford ranked Brewer the eighth-best player in the draft.

Brewer was one of 15 players invited to the draft headquarters at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Wearing a cornflower blue suit closely resembling part of the Orlando Magic’s color scheme, Brewer was reported to be high on Orlando’s draft board for the No. 11 pick. The Magic chose another guard, J. J. Redick of Duke, instead. As luck would have it, the blue also matched the accent color in the Jazz’s jerseys.

Parents Ron Sr. and Carolyn sat with Brewer at a table that ESPN’s cameras panned by a few times before he was selected. The first interview after his pick went to his dad and then a panel of draft analysts commented on Brewer.

They wasted no time commenting on Brewer’s unorthodox, elbow-out shot, and the first question he was asked in his ESPN interview was about the shot that formed after he broke his arm as a youngster. Brewer talked about having the confidence to stick with his shot and not change and said Michael Jordan advised him to keep working at it.

Analyst Jay Bilas said Brewer is a solid scorer and has the potential to be good NBA defender. Brewer averaged 18. 4 points and led the SEC with 2. 6 steals per game last season.

“I think he’s got a pretty good understanding of how to play,” Bilas said on the broadcast. “He’s got an awful lot of potential to get better and better, another one of those guys that’s got freaky length to his arms.”

Analyst and former NBA first-round pick Greg Anthony liked Brewer’s upside.

“His dad played the game so you know his basketball IQ is going to be there,” Anthony said on the broadcast. “The athleticism is there. And again, he’s a good fit for Utah because he’s a slasher, something they don’t really possess.”

More Stories From: SCOTT CAIN


recent_blogs.jpg

Question of the Day: How many points will Arkansas score?

Jul 01, 2009

We're always thinking of questions here at WholeHogSports.com, and with two-a-days a little more than a month away, we've got plenty to ask the Razorb ...

[+] More of this author's blog

dots_under_blog.gif

Brandon Marcello

Petrino would rather be 'grinding away' at work than Tweeting

Jun 30, 2009

Bobby Petrino isn't ready or convinced he'll join Twitter, the popular social networking Web site,  any time soon. In fact, he'd muc ...

[+] More of this author's blog

dots_under_blog.gif

Brandon Marcello

More basketball recruiting class analysis

Jun 28, 2009

We've got a couple of basketball-related stories on WholeHogSports.com today. Tom Murphy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette ha ...

[+] More of this author's blog

dots_under_blog.gif

Brandon Marcello

LB Battle arrested again

Jun 28, 2009

Linebacker Khiry Battle has followed up his arrest for a failure to appear last month with an arrest earlier this morning on charges ...

[+] More of this author's blog

dots_under_blog.gif

Brandon Marcello

New turf, end zones at Razorback Stadium

Jun 27, 2009

Northwest Arkansas Times staff photographer Andy Shupe got a shot for us this afternoon of the ongoing work on the new synthetic turf ...

[+] More of this author's blog

dots_under_blog.gif

Brandon Marcello

Baseball America Poll

Updated May 20

1. UC Irvine 40-12

2. LSU 41-14

3. Arizona St 41-11

4. CS Fullerton 38-14

5. Texas 38-12

6. North Carolina 41-14

7. Ole Miss 40-15

8. Oklahoma 40-16

9. Florida 38-18

10. TCU 35-15

11. Rice 35-15

12. Florida St 40-14

13. Clemson 39-17

14. Georgia Tech 34-15

15. East Carolina 41-15

16. Virginia 39-12

17. Kansas St 39-15

18. Alabama 37-17

19. Cal Poly 35-17

20. Louisville 40-14

21. Minnesota 35-15

22. Elon 37-14

23. Miami Fl 35-18

24. Missouri 32-23

25. South Carolina 37-19

Who is the best defensive lineman in Arkansas' history?


Dave "Hawg" Hanner

Wayne Martin

Jimmy Walker

Dan Hampton

Loyd Phillips

Vote

Arkansas Razorbacks' 2009 Baseball Schedule

Feb. 20

Washington St. (DH)

W 7-5

Feb. 20

Washington St. (DH)

W 4-2

Feb. 22

Washington St.

W 4-3

Feb. 24

Kansas

L 3-9

Feb. 25

Kansas

W 9-8

Feb. 27

Western Illinois

W 8-7

Feb. 28

Western Illinois

     6:00 pm

Mar. 1

Western Illinois

     6:00 pm

Mar. 3

Valparaiso

W 7-3

Mar. 4

Valparaiso

W 9-6

Mar. 6

California

W 5-4

Mar. 7

California

L 6-12

Mar. 8

California

W 13-3

Mar. 10

@ Centenary

L 3-8

Mar. 11

@ Centenary

     6:00 pm

Mar. 13

Florida

W 11-4

Mar. 14

Florida

W 8-4

Mar. 15

Florida

W 4-2

Mar. 17

Nebraska

W 7-3

Mar. 18

Nebraska

L 4-7

Mar. 20

@ Auburn

W 3-2

Mar. 21

@ Auburn

W 10-6

Mar. 22

@ Auburn

W 12-6

Mar. 25

Missouri St.

W 10-0

Mar. 27

Mississippi St.

W 20-9

Mar. 28

Mississippi St.

W 5-1

Mar. 29

Mississippi St.

L 4-12

Mar. 31

@ Missouri St.

W 2-0

Apr. 3

@ South Carolina

W 6-4

Apr. 4

@ South Carolina

L 1-9

Apr. 5

@ South Carolina

W 7-4

Apr. 7

Arizona St.

W 7-3

Apr. 8

Arizona St.

W 8-7

Apr. 10

Vanderbilt

L 0-9

Apr. 11

Vanderbilt

L 6-13

Apr. 12

Vanderbilt

     1:05 pm

Apr. 14

La.-Monroe

L 2-3

Apr. 15

La.-Monroe

W 10-9

Apr. 17

@ Georgia

L 3-4

Apr. 18

@ Georgia

L 3-4

Apr. 19

@ Georgia

W 2-0

Apr. 21

@ Oral Roberts

W 9-6

Apr. 24

@ Tennessee

W 9-3

Apr. 25

@ Tennessee

L 4-5

Apr. 26

@ Tennessee

W 15-8

Apr. 28

Oklahoma

W 8-7

May. 1

LSU

W 11-4

May. 2

LSU

L 0-5

May. 3

LSU

L 3-4

May. 8

@ Alabama

L 1-2

May. 9

@ Alabama

L 6-8

May. 10

@ Alabama

L 5-6

May. 12

Oral Roberts

W 3-2

May. 14

Ole Miss

L 5-7

May. 15

Ole Miss

L 3-9

May. 16

Ole Miss

L 3-16