Jazz take Arkansas guard Ronnie Brewer

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By DOUG ALDEN AP Sports Writer

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Ronnie Brewer impressed the Utah Jazz enough in an interview and game footage that the Jazz were happy to see him still available when they picked midway through the first round.

Utah took the 6-foot-7 guard from Arkansas with the 14th overall pick Wednesday, hoping Brewer's size and quickness compliment point guard Deron Williams -- Utah's first-round pick a year ago.

"I think his athletic ability is a dimension that we needed," coach Jerry Sloan said. "We needed somebody who was athletic because the league has so many athletic guys that you have to match up against (defensively) and still have some semblance of order on the other end of the floor."

The Jazz liked Brewer's defensive ability and the fact that he can play either guard position, which would give Utah a young tandem Williams and Brewer.

"He's a guy that has the ability to get on top of the basket. I think his upside could be good if he works," Sloan said.

Brewer is the son of former Razorback and NBA player Ron Brewer. He had 216 steals in his three years at Arkansas, including 83 as a junior last season when he was an All-Southeast Conference selection.

Brewer had an interview with the Jazz on Saturday, but did not actually work out for the team. He said he got a late start on workouts because he took a while to decide to leave Arkansas with a season of eligibility remaining.

He was a 46 percent shooter in college despite an unorthodox release caused by a broken arm when he was a kid.

"It might look funny, but it goes in," Brewer said from New York during a conference call.

Jazz fans who attended a draft open house at the Delta Center cheered when Kevin O'Connor, vice president for basketball operations, announced the pick and confetti dropped from the ceiling before NBA commissioner David Stern announced the selection on television.

Brewer wouldn't have been the first choice for many fans, who groaned when Orlando took Duke guard J.J. Redick with the 11th pick.

"I thought you wanted J.J. Redick," O'Connor joked to the fans. "Hey -- We're happy with what we got."

Redick's name was the most talked about in Utah before the draft and fans wanted the Duke star. Many cheered after the 10th pick when Seattle took center Mouhamed Sene Saer, who worked out twice for the Jazz and was a possible pick for the Jazz, because they wanted Redick over the 6-foot-11 center from Senegal.

They didn't get either, but still celebrated.

"When we sat down and started this whole thing, we actually didn't think he'd be there," O'Connor said. "We addressed the need, we talked about athleticism."

The Jazz already have shooting guards in Gordan Giricek, who missed the last 37 games last season with an Achilles' heel injury, and C.J. Miles, a second-round selection out of high school last year.

Miles is only 18 and played little as a rookie. Giricek wasn't known for his defense or speed before he injured his ankle and was often in Sloan's doghouse for not listening.

Brewer could quickly get a chance to play.

Brewer is the first Razorback to be drafted since Joe Johnson went No. 10 in 2001. He is the 11th Razorback to be drafted in the first round. The first was his father, who was picked seventh in 1978.

Brewer's father helped lead Arkansas to the 1978 Final Four.

Utah had two picks in the second round and took guard Dee Brown, Williams' former teammate at Illinois, 46th overall and Paul Millsap -- a power forward from Louisiana Tech -- at No. 47. The last Louisiana Tech player drafted was Karl Malone, 13th overall in 1985.