"Corey Brewer stood in a cramped, steamy visitors locker room and acknowledged that all this is new to him.

He wasn't referring to the absence of teammates Al Jefferson and Kevin Love, a problematic situation that has thrust Brewer into the unlikely role of a primary offensive option in the Timberwolves' final preseason games.

Instead, he meant a new feeling in a NBA career that's about to enter its third season with Brewer -- the former two-time NCAA champion and Final Four MVP at Florida -- still needing to prove he belongs.

"I'm feeling more comfortable, like a basketball player, like I've been doing my whole life," he said. "I really never struggled playing basketball my whole life until my rookie year. The NBA is hard, but now I'm starting to feel real good, like myself, again."

He has played through a preseason schedule that ends tonight in Sioux Falls, S.D., on a surgically repaired knee that has that not affected his foot speed, his energy or a jump shot modified enough that he hopes it will keep him on the floor enough to do what he does best.

That shot proved so unreliable through his first 96 NBA games -- including only 15 in an injury-shortened season a year ago -- that more than a few loyal Wolves fans already had concluded there's no future for a 6-9 swingman who can't shoot straight.

New Wolves coach Kurt Rambis has worked with Brewer to improve his balance and his posture and he has inserted him into the starting lineup at shooting guard since the first preseason game nearly three weeks ago.

"It's one thing to say his shot is like this, so should we just give up on him?" said Chicago Bulls forward Joakim Noah, Brewer's teammate at Florida for those two titles. "Or he is somebody who we've got to give a little extra time. It takes time in this league. He's a young player. Character means so much in this league, and he's got that. He's got character. He's a real competitor. And those are things people seem to forget about.

"You look at him at Florida: He shot the ball pretty well for us, and those weren't all layups."

Brewer shot 38 percent and averaged 5.9 points in those first two seasons. After Thursday's 122-114 victory at Detroit, he is shooting 39 percent but leading the Wolves in scoring with a 15.2 point average, because, of course, in some measure to the absence of Jefferson and Love.

Expect Wolves basketball boss David Kahn to exercise Brewer's $3.1 million option for the 2010-11 season by the Halloween night deadline.

Brewer led the Wolves in scoring for the second consecutive game with 21 points on 7-for-15 shooting. Included was an assertive drive through the lane and finger-roll layup that pushed the Wolves' lead back to double digits with 1:22 left.

"People didn't watch me play in college?" asked Brewer, who also provided a soaring third-quarter block on Ben Gordon. "I can score when I want to."

Rambis envisions Brewer as his team's defens