Corey Brewer: HOH's Week 11 Silver Booster Award Winner

Another incredible week has passed for the Houston Rockets.

This time, they’ve fared better possessing a 3-1 record after last week’s 1-4 debacle.

As I proposed last week, the starting lineup of Patrick Beverley, James Harden, Trevor Ariza, Donatas Motiejunas and Dwight Howard appears to be working.

Josh Smith coming off the bench is what the doctor ordered because it seems he feels more comfortable in that role.

Besides, he still looks quite uncomfortable in that role as he is still learning Kevin McHale‘s system that he has installed for these new-look Rockets.

Although the Detroit Pistons have been quite successful since Smith was jettisoned from the team — they’re 7-1 — I think he has tremendous value here in H-Town.

He just has to understand that although he feels he has intense offensive prowess, it’s his defense that makes him an asset.

He block shots, grabs rebounds, plays the passing lanes and can help to get his teammates involved. But his TOV% has been 20.9 since with the Rockets, nearly twice the league-average. He’ll get that shored up soon enough in his new role.

The Rockets are 4-1 when he comes off the bench — Smoove has also averaged 15.0 points per game, 5.2 rebounds per game and shooting 52.8 percent from the field.

He averaged 5.3 PPG, 4.5 RPG, shot 29 percent FG and the Rockets were 1-3 when he was a starter.

So the numbers don’t lie — he needs to come off the bench either indefinitely or until he feels comfortable with the Rockets’ system.

I’m glad that he finally has found his niche with his team as the goal for this team is ultimately an NBA championship but definitely improve off their early first-round playoff last season.

Jan 3, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Miami Heat guard

Norris Cole

(30) drives to the basket during the third quarter as Houston Rockets guard

Corey Brewer

(33) defends at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

He will provide invaluable tangibles during the postseason and his chance to shine will be there.

Anyway, enough about Smoove.

Let’s talk about a guy that has been quite consistent and has known his role since being a member of the Rockets.

Because of this, excellence deserves to be recognized — today on that type of basis continuously, we will honor an individual player that made the most impact in helping the team, despite whether it resulted in a win or a loss.

We’ve dubbed it House of Houston Silver Booster Award…

And this week’s Silver Booster Award goes to…

Corey Brewer!

Brew has been terrific since his acquisition from the Minnesota Timberwolves Dec. 19th.

He’s always there to provide instant offense, grab a key rebound, make a key steal or play hard-nosed defense to help the team win.

I’ve actually seen all four of those attributes while watching him play.

He’s the ultimate team player and seems to have fit in nicely with the Rox.

It does help that Brew has played for McHale before and is quite familiar with the system that is place.

So it was pretty much a “plug-and-play” mentality the Rockets had for Brew.

No lengthy instruction manual, assembly not required, just plug-in and go!

He did a solid job this week against this week’s opponents.

Jan 5, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls guard

Derrick Rose

(1) moves around defenders Houston Rockets guard

Patrick Beverley

(2) and Houston Rockets guard Corey Brewer (33) during the game at United Center. The Chicago Bulls beat the Houston Rockets 114-105. Mandatory Credit: Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY Sports

By the way, he averaged 10.25 PPG, 2.0 RPG, 2.75 APG, while shooting a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line. He also shot 13-for-30 from the field (43 percent) and 7-for-19 with the three-ball (37 percent).

His above-average PER since joining the Rockets is a whopping 18.2 while his AST% is at a 16.7, meaning that he’s definitely doing everything he can to keep his teammates involved.

The amazing stat about him is that he has averaged 26.7 PPG per 100 possessions nearly doubling that stat from when he was with the T-Wolves, he had been averaging 18.5 before the acquisition.

Corey Brewer: HOH’s Week 11 Silver Booster Award Winner

By Brian K. Patterson | Jan 10, 2015