Corey Brewer has done a little bit of everything in basketball.
He won back-to-back national championships at the University of Florida, earning Most Outstanding Player in the 2007 Final Four.
He won an NBA title with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011.
His 13-year NBA career included a 51-point game for the Minnesota Timberwolves against the Houston Rockets on April 12, 2014.
He even finds time to play in the Big3, the 3-on-3 league founded by Ice Cube.
Brewer, entering his sixth season on the New Orleans Pelicans coaching staff, now gets to do something he’s always wanted to do. He’ll sit in the coveted first chair on the bench as head coach of the Pelicans’ Summer League team.
“It’s a great opportunity for me,” Brewer said. “Thanks to the Pelicans organization and coach (Willie) Green for letting me have this role of being a head coach and coming out here and teaching these guys.”
Brewer conducted his first practice Sunday. He has just three days to get his team prepared for Thursday’s Summer League opener in Las Vegas against the Timberwolves, one of eight teams he played for during his career. He was pleased with what he saw in his first practice.
“We are going to play hard,” Brewer said. “That’s going to be our identity. We are going to be the hardest-playing team, and we are going to get some wins.”
While winning is welcomed, the ultimate goal is to give the rookies and younger players a chance to showcase their talents in what will be for many their first taste of the NBA. For Brewer, it’s a chance to get a taste of being a head coach.
His players liked what they saw in their coach after the first practice.
“He’s one of those guys who is going to continue to push you and continue to give you every piece of advice he’s got,” rookie guard Jeremiah Fears said. “As a player, something I’m taking from him is continuing to pick his brain. He’s picking my brain, so I’m going to continue picking his brain and learn everything I can from him.”
Fears and Brewer have something in common. Both were selected with the No. 7 overall pick in their draft class.
Fears was taken with the seventh pick last month. Brewer was selected seventh in 2007 when Fears was just 8 months old.
Rookie forward Derik Queen, drafted with the 13th pick in June, specifically remembers one play from Brewer’s career. On the play, Brewer stole a pass and went in for a slam dunk before falling hard on his back. While Queen may not have been impressed by Brewer’s fall six seasons ago, he did like the first practice under Brewer.
“He drew up this set and I had never seen it before,” Queen said. “It was a good play. We executed it well.”
Brewer wants to see that execution travel to Vegas. He wants to see guys such as Fears and Queen shine as they get their first experience of NBA basketball.
Perhaps one day, Brewer will get to see his own son in the NBA, too. Kellen Brewer will be a junior at Metairie Country Day this fall. As a sophomore, Brewer and Curtis McAllister (son of legendary Saints running back Deuce McAllister) led Country Day to a state title. Brewer is expected to be one of the top players in the Class of 2027. A social media video of him throwing down two thunderous slams this summer went viral, making Brewer one proud father.
“He’s been working,” Brewer said of his son. “Hopefully he keeps getting better.”
Knowing how to separate being a coach and a dad can be difficult at times, Brewer admits.
“It’s been different,” he said. “Being a player and then coaching and being a dad is three different people, I guess you can say. I want to coach him. But then I want to yell at him. But then I’m like, ‘Let me sit down and be Dad.'”
Brewer the dad knows his son’s opportunities will come.
Brewer the coach is hoping to make the most of the opportunity that has come to him this summer in Vegas.
“My goal is to be a head coach,” Brewer said. “So it’s one step towards that.”
**Pelicans Summer League roster**
Trey Alexander, G
Tytan Anderson, F
Will Baker, C
Keion Brooks, F
Hunter Dickinson, C
Jeremiah Fears, G
AJ Hoggard, G
Chase Hunter, G
Yves Missi, C
Micah Peavy, G
\*Antonio Reeves, G
Derik Queen, F/C
Lester Quinones, G
Christian Shumate, F
Trey Townsend, F
_\* Reeves is playing for the Pelicans' Summer League team despite getting waived last week._