CHICAGO — Ronnie Brewer saw a perfect opportunity with the jazzed-up Bulls.
With a chance to start in the backcourt and reunite with former Utah teammates Carlos Boozer and Kyle Korver, Brewer 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."
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. I've been healthy for quite some time."
He underwent an MRI and various strength tests before signing his contract on Monday, delaying his introductory news 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. Once the Heat decided to form a fearsome threesome in Miami, the Bulls wasted no time signing Boozer and acquiring the inside scoring presence they lacked for years.
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 1986. "We've been there before, we've had some success, but not nearly as much success as we want to have. We're going to push our teammates to go 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."
SUNS EXPECTED TO HIRE AGENT: A person with knowledge of the situation says the Phoenix Suns have hired agent Lon Babby to head the team's basketball operations.
The person, who asked not to be identified because the official announcement has not been made, told The Associated Press that Babby will be introduced at a news conference at US Airways Center on Tuesday.
Until his move to the front office, Babby represented the Suns' newly acquired Hedo Turkoglu and is the former agent of Phoenix's other recent addition, Josh Childress.
Babby emerged in recent days as the leading contender in Suns owner Robert Sarver's search for a replacement for general manager Steve Kerr, who stepped down in June and has returned to his previous role of NBA analyst for TNT.
CHO TO LEAD BLAZERS: New Trail Blazers general manager Rich Cho says while he's impressed with Portland's youth and depth, the team is still lacking the piece that will bring the city another championship.
Cho, who spent nine seasons as an assistant general manager with the Oklahoma City Thunder, was introduced as the Blazers' GM on Monday. He replaces Kevin Pritchard, who helped usher the team out of the Jail Blazers era several years ago but was ultimately dismissed last month.
The Blazers also considered former Cleveland GM Danny Ferry and former Miami GM Randy Pfund before settling on Cho, 44, who joined the franchise as an intern when the franchise was based in Seattle.
BUCK, KINGS NEAR TRADE: The Milwaukee Bucks have signed guard Keyon Dooling, and two people with knowledge of other talks told the AP on Monday that the team is in trade discussions with the Sacramento Kings to obtain forward Jon Brockman. The deal would send forward Darnell Jackson and a second-round pick to Sacramento as part of a sign-and-trade arrangement for Brockman, a power forward who started four games and appeared in 52 overall for the Kings last year as a rookie.
NETS HIRE COACHES: Former NBA coaches Sam Mitchell and Larry Krystkowiak joined the New Jersey Nets' coaching staff Monday. New coach Avery Johnson also hired Popeye Jones and retained John Loyer and Tom Barrise.