OKC Thunder: Ronnie Brewer won't play until Wednesday

As a result, he did not practice with his new teammates Saturday and will not play in Sunday's 8:30 p.m. contest against the Chicago Bulls at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Brewer is expected to join the team's morning shootaround on Sunday, but OKC coach Scott Brooks said he will not activate Brewer until Wednesday's home game against the New Orleans Hornets. That way the newcomer can at least get in some practice time, however little.

“I think it helps just to get practice time, not only for the (new) player but the team,” Brooks said after Saturday morning's light practice. “The situation we're in, he might only have one or two practices. He will definitely watch film with our coaches and myself and walk through some plays and some sets with the guys, not live, just to get the feel for what we do defensively and offensively.”

TIMING MATTERS

With the Thunder struggling defensively and searching for consistency, is now a good time or a poor time for Brewer to try and blend in?

“He's a blend-in type of guy,” Brooks said. “He's not a guy who's going to demand the ball. He's not a guy that has a strong personality. He's an easy going guy that loves to compete. From what I gather, he's always been one of the guys that you can count on being a great teammate, the guy that's always committed to doing the team thing and the right thing. … But if the guy wasn't like that, he wouldn't be here.”

OKC center Kendrick Perkins also was involved in a trade deadline deal two years ago Sunday.

“It's hard to just come out on the court, not knowing what the team system is,” Perkins said. “Then all the sudden he messes up and he's got KD (Kevin Durant) or Russ (Westbrook) or even myself yelling at him, so he might want to get a few practices in before he starts playing.”