Reunited Brewer feeling good

CHICAGO — Ronnie Brewer saw a perfect opportunity with the jazzed-up Chicago Bulls.

With a chance to start in the backcourt and reunite with former Utah teammates Carlos Boozer and Kyle Korver, Brewer (Fayetteville, Arkansas Razorbacks) decided Chicago was the place for him. So he turned down a potential sign and-trade with Boston for a three-year, $12.5 million deal last week.

He joins a team that’s looking for more after consecutive first-round playoff losses, and he believes the Bulls’ best days are coming.

“They’ve had some success, but I feel like this team hasn’t really scratched the surface of the success that we’ll have in the future,” he said.

Brewer sees “a great young core group of guys” that includes All-Star point guard Derrick Rose and top-tier rebounder Joakim Noah. And he believes with the Utah contingent in place, the Bulls “can go a long way.”conference by about 2 1 /2 hours, and has been working out all summer. He hasn’t been playing in as many pickup games because he didn’t want an injury to jeopardize a potential deal. Instead, he’s been focusing more on individual drills, with an eye on one goal.

He sees championship potential in Chicago. And he’s conceding nothing to the Miami Heat.

“Just because those guys went down there, you can’t crown them as champs already,” Brewer said.

Those guys, of course, are LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Chicago had enough cap space to land two major stars and made a push for all three.

Brewer has averaged 10.3 points in four seasons, almost all with Utah. He got dealt to Memphis at the trade deadline last February and appeared in only five games the rest of the way because of a strained hamstring and the fact that the Grizzlies were out of contention.

“My hamstring’s been fine for a long time,” Brewer said. “Toward the end of the season, I was healthy and ready to play. The circumstances in Memphis, we weren’t going to make the playoffs so they kind of held me out.”

He underwent a magnetic resonance imaging and various strength tests before signing his contract Monday, delaying his introductory news Once they decided to form a fearsome threesome in Miami, the Bulls wasted no time signing Boozer.

The addition of Korver gave them a shooter they desperately needed.

And when Orlando matched a three-year, $19 million offer sheet to J.J. Redick on Friday, the Bulls turned to Brewer - giving them another scorer and a solid defender in the backcourt.

Now, those three will try to make a run in the Eastern Conference after falling short out West.

“We had some success, but we really haven’t scratched the surface of making it to the finals or winning the Western Conference finals,” said Brewer, whose father, Ron, briefly played with the Bulls near the end of his career in the 1985-1986 season. “We’ve been there before, we’ve had some success. We’re going to push our teammates hard and get to that level, because I think that’s one of our goals, and it should be a team goal to win a world championship.”