BRADENTON, Fla. -- Corey Brewer used to think of himself as a winner. He isn't so sure anymore.Brewer, 23, will be going into his third season with the Minnesota Timberwolves, still trying to establish himself in the NBA and still struggling with the weight of losing game after game on a team going through a painful rebuilding process.
"This is a big year for me, for the team,'' he said earlier this week after a workout at the IMG Training Center in Bradenton. "This (transition) has been tough. I went from a team that didn't know how to lose -- we took losing real hard -- to a team where we just lose and you get used to it. Things have got to change.''
Brewer came into the NBA as the No. 7 pick in the 2007 Draft, fresh from back-to-back NCAA championships at the University of Florida. In his two NBA seasons, the Timberwolves have lost 60 and 56 games, respectively.
He played 79 games that rookie season, but he didn't play very well, averaging just 5.9 points. Last season, he played only 18 games before he tore up his right knee. Now that's he's healthy, the Wolves would love to see him become their starting small forward, but there are no guarantees with a new coach (Kurt Rambis) and a new general manager (David Kahn).
"We needed something new around the franchise. We needed change,'' Brewer said. "When you lose so much, you fall into a losing mentality, and you can't let that happen.''
Brewer was in Minnesota when Rambis was introduced as the new coach, bringing with him the NBA championship experience of being with the Lakers, first as a player and then as an assistant coach. It was a mentality that Brewer remembered from his days at Florida.
"I like what I've heard from Coach Rambis. He'll be good for all of us,'' Brewer said. "We're trying to build something. We're trying to change the way we think.''
The Wolves are being built around power forward Al Jefferson and center Kevin Love. They drafted point guards Ricky Rubio, who may or may not come this season from Europe, and point guard Jonny Flynn, Brewer would love to join them as a part of a bright future.
"This is the season I have to prove myself,'' Brewer said. "We all do. When you're losing so much, you fall into that losing mentality. We needed fresh ideas, a fresh way of looking at things. I want to be there to help do it.''
