The Brew Crew Returns

Get used to seeing this face at the United Center again, Bulls fans.  The team needed somebody to take Erik Murphy's roster spot, so they turned to former Bench Mob member Ronnie Brewer.  The swingman will reunite with several teammates and Tom Thibodeau for the remainder of the season.

Brewer has struggled to find a permanent home since leaving the Bulls after the 2011-12 season.  Last season, he started 34 of 46 games played with the Knicks before joining the Thunder, seeing action in 14 regular-season contests coming off the bench for one playoff game.  This year took him to the Rockets, who gave him action in 23 games and started him in three of them.  He averaged 0.3 points, 0.6 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 6.9 minutes.  Unable to deal him at the trade deadline, Houston waived him, leaving him without a basketball home for over a month.

I was wrong about Jimmer Fredette making an impact when the Bulls signed him, so I'm not going to make any similar predictions for Brewer.  Thibodeau has his rotation set in stone and I don't expect it to change for the rest of the season.  The signing, if anything, is strictly meant to get the roster back to 13 players.  The Bulls have changed quite a bit since the end of Brewer's first tenure in Chicago, so I expect him to play more of a reduced role.

On the flip side, Thibodeau knows pretty much everything there is to know about Brewer the basketball player.  That just seems to be his nature or he wouldn't be so effective as a coach.  It's entirely possible he trusts Brewer enough to put him into the rotation right away.  If that's true, Tony Snell will be riding the bench for the rest of the season.  That would tie back into Thibodeau's tendency to not give his rookies much of a chance to show themselves.  With Snell getting regular playing time, it appeared that trend was breaking a little bit.  Now, with Murphy gone and Brewer possibly unseating Snell, it appears old habits die hard.  Still, if it helps the Bulls lock up the third seed, so be it.

The slightly-altered Bulls will debut Wednesday in Minnesota as they take on the Timberwolves.  That's a time simply trying to finish above .500 with the playoffs no longer possible.  The Bulls can make that goal a little tougher while simultaneously helping their own postseason positioning.  Also, they'll have Joakim Noah, which won't make it as easy for Kevin Love to have his way with the Bulls, unlike the game I attended at the United Center this season.  A little vengeance can go a long way.