Corey Brewer Full Q&A with CBS

Q&A: Rockets' Corey Brewer talks Game 6 comeback, 51-point game
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on...brewer-talks-game-6-comeback-random-drug-test

What was free agency like?
I guess you could say that it was stressful, but it was fun from the same aspect. Just because I had a chance to get another deal. That's what it's all about, you want to stay in the NBA as long as you can. I felt I had a pretty good year and I was hoping to cash in on the year I had and it worked out perfect for me. I was happy to come back to Houston.

Was that always Plan A?
Yeah, the No. 1 option was to come back to Houston. I had some looks from other teams, some offers from other teams, but all in all I wanted to come back to Houston. I feel like this is a good situation for me. I really have a chance to win a title here.

You talk with your teammates about what you can accomplish next year?
We'll all get together here soon. We're talking about guys getting together to work out. I feel like we all know, everybody has that mentality that we're going to be good and we're going to have a chance to win. Especially now that we got Ty Lawson. I feel like we're going to be a really good team.

Reaction when you found out Ty was coming?
I was really happy. I had some good years in Denver with Ty so I know how to play with him and I love the way he plays because he plays fast like I do and he's going to push the pace, push the tempo. That's what we need here. That's what we like to do. We like to run.

You think being in this situation will help him?
Yeah he's going to be able to do a lot. You got to think about the different guys he's going to play with. Denver had some good players, they didn't have James Harden or Dwight Howard. It's very different when you play with guys like that.

How would you describe last year?
It was good for me. I loved Minnesota, I really didn't want to leave. I liked being there. I liked coach Saunders and I liked the young guys. For me it was a good situation because I was helping guys like Andrew [Wiggins] learn, Zach [LaVine] learn. It wasn't a bad situation. It was just we were young and we weren't very good.

So getting to have the opportunity to come to Houston was great. I knew there were good players over here, I knew coach [Kevin] McHale really well. I knew he was going to put me in a situation that I would succeed, just for me to go out there and play my butt off. When I got here, it was an easy transition. I was able to go out there and play my game, get out in transition, play hard every night and once the playoffs started, that's what it's all about: the playoffs, NBA basketball. We gave ourselves a chance, we just ran out of gas I guess. Golden State played great.

What was it like to leave Minnesota when you were mentoring the young guys?
It was weird but, yeah, I always keep up with those guys. I watched the games. I texted Shabazz [Muhammad] the other day actually. I think they're going to be good in the future, they have some good talent over there. Now they have KG over there. I they're going to put it together, they're going to have a good year this year. I don't know if they're going to make the playoffs, but I feel like they're going to be a lot better.

Your college coach, Billy Donovan, is in OKC now -- you reach out to him?
I talked to him, I congratulated coach. I think they're getting a great coach over there. I feel like for him, he's getting a great team for his system, the way he likes to play. And it doesn't hurt to have Russell and Kevin.

How often do people bring up your 51-point game?
People bring it up pretty often. I just remember it was amazing. I felt like everything I threw up was going in. It was fun. And especially it was fun to do it in Minnesota where we had a rough year, to get the crowd something to cheer about.

There was a one-hour delay before you talked to media after that, right?
I had a random drug test from the NBA. So I couldn't do the interview until I got done with my drug test. I didn't have to go to the bathroom. So it took a while. It was weird, it was just funny at the same time. I was like ‘Wow, I played the best game of my life, now I gotta go to the bathroom to take this drug test.'

What's the second-best game of your career?
Second-best game, probably I'd have to say, it's probably the Game 6 we just had against the Clippers when we came back from 19 down. Just because it was in the playoffs, we lose we go home. We're down 19 going into the fourth, we were able to come back and win. I had 15 in the fourth. That was a crazy game.

Have you watched the tape for either of them?
I've seen ‘em both once or twice. It's something to watch. I like watching stuff like that. Sometimes you need some motivation. The season is long -- when you're struggling, you gotta think of something to get your mind back on the right track.

Can you put into words what happened when the fourth quarter started in Game 6?
Man, it was like a switch clicked or something. It was just, everything started going right. We started making plays, Josh [Smith] started making shots, I started making shots and it went from there. By the time I looked up, I got a dunk and I was like, ‘Man, I just tied the game.' After that it was all she wrote. We won.

Could you kind of sense after that everything had shifted?
Yeah. After we won that game, we kind of knew we were going to win Game 7. The whole mindset, the whole mentality changed.

Your 2010-11 season was kind of crazy -- what'd you learn from that?
I took a lot from that year because I went through so many different situations. Going from Minnesota where I was playing decent, but they brought in the young guy, they wanted to play him, Wesley Johnson. So I got traded. I go to New York, [Mike] D'Antoni doesn't play me at all. So I was able to get a buyout, which was great.

Dallas gave me a chance. I got there, I played a little bit but a lot of older guys were there. Coach Carlisle had his guys he wanted to play, so I'm not playing really but I learned a lot. I learned a lot by working out with coach [Tim] Grgurich, who was there in Dallas, which helped me a lot, working out with him every day. And just seeing all the older guys, how they went to work every day -- watching Jason Kidd, watching Dirk, watching Jason Terry and Shawn Marion, I learned a lot. I learned how to be a pro, I guess you can say. I learned how to take every situation and make the most out of it.

When you're talking to young players now, what do you tell them?
That you have to learn every day and you gotta want to get better. You can always get better, and the guys that work their butts off and get better are the guys that stick in the league and the guys that become superstars. Like, Kevin Durant is a superstar but he works his butt off. LeBron works his butt off. All those guys. And that's what it's all about if you want to be a superstar in this league.

Who helped you as a rookie?
When I first came into the league, I was with a bunch of young guys. It was tough. Actually a guy who kind of kept me straight in my rookie year, I was struggling, and we made the KG trade and we got back like Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair. [We had] Rashad McCants, everybody was like my age.

I had a tough rookie year but I had Greg Buckner to actually help me straight. It's funny, he's my coach now. He's the kind of guy that was like, ‘Don't get caught up on this. This is not what the league is about. These guys are young, they don't know what it's about. You have to work, you have to work harder, you have to get better. This team is not what it's like. You want to be on a winning team.'

Biggest thing you've overcome?
Probably the situation coming into the league as a rookie and being in the situation I was in with all those young guys, not playing very well and people saying you're going to be a bust but now playing pretty well and I've become relevant in the NBA and I've become a pretty good NBA player.

Some guys, they peak later than other guys. Me, my first couple years, I really didn't play well but now I feel like I'm just as good as any other guy when I step on the court. So sometimes guys need a chance. ‘Bust' can get thrown around a little bit too early in guys' careers.