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MaTT4281
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http://www.indystar.com/articles/8/174116-9948-036.html
Brewer lands 2nd chance
By Mark Montieth
mark.montieth@indystar.com
August 29, 2004
The logical assumption was that Jamison Brewer had killed off his NBA career in a singular moment of self-delusion when he turned down an $840,000 contract from the Indiana Pacers earlier this summer.
Who else would make such a commitment to a point guard who had averaged 1.6 points over 36 games throughout a three-year career, and then flopped in summer league play?
Isiah Thomas, it turns out.
Thomas, the New York Knicks president who coached Brewer for two seasons with the Pacers, signed him to a one-year deal Friday that allows the hyperactive, charismatic and tenaciously optimistic point guard to play another season.
"When you're a person who comes from nothing, you learn not to worry," Brewer said via cell phone early Saturday. "I never really worry about too much. I just live for the next day."
Brewer declined to reveal the terms of the contract, but the minimum salary for a player with his experience is $720,000.
Brewer's journey appeared headed for a detour from the NBA after he failed to impress with the Pacers' summer league team in Salt Lake City in July. He averaged 3.2 points, hitting 21.5 percent from the field and 2-of-10 foul shots, and never found a quarterbacking rhythm with a group of inexperienced, unfamiliar teammates.
The Pacers responded by rescinding their offer and signing Eddie Gill as the third point guard on July 28. But Brewer, who was born to a drug-addicted mother and grew up in poverty, remained upbeat.
"Other people were wondering what I was going to do, but all that stuff motivates me," he said. "After summer league, I spent every day in the damn gym. I had to crank it back up."
He found a lifeline in Thomas, who, like current Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, admired his reckless hustle and spirit.
"He was the reason I came back for the third year," Brewer said of Thomas, who was fired after Brewer signed a one-year deal with the Pacers last summer. "He always saw something in me that others didn't see. To have one of the great point guards to ever play the game see something in you is an honor."
Brewer's lack of response to the Pacers' offer was an attempt to keep his options open rather than a refusal to play for them. He has maintained communication with Carlisle, speaking to him as recently as last week, and said he leaves the franchise that drafted him with the 41st pick in 2001 with no hard feelings.
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8/28/2004 9:18 PM