DEERFIELD, Ill. -- The biggest difference in Ronnie Brewer's game this season isn't just the fact that he finally appears to have a consistent jumper.

It's that for the first time in his brief Chicago Bulls' career, the veteran forward is playing with some sustained confidence. Through five games this season, Brewer is averaging 9.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists a game. In Sunday night's win over the Memphis Grizzlies, Brewer dropped 17 points while starting in place of an injured Richard Hamilton.

"To me, it's a huge confidence shift," Brewer said after Tuesday morning's shootaround. "Last year, I came in here with a lot of high hopes with an opportunity to try and win a starting job and tweaked [my hamstring] right before working out here. [I] had to try and work my way into shape, learning the plays. It's a different speed.

"Playing with D-Rose and the level of defense [coach Tom Thibodeau] preaches, it kind of takes a little getting used to. This year was a little different. I came in in a lot better shape. Healthy, working on my shot and just been playing with a lot of confidence so far."

The change in confidence can be explained, at least in part, by the fact that Brewer has put in a lot of work on his jumper. It appears the work is paying off at least early, with Brewer hitting 13-of-17 shots over his past three games.

"It's still early," Brewer said. "It's not like I've accomplished so much. I've still got to get better every day. That's why I continue to work with coach [Adrian] Griffin. Jimmy Butler and myself continue to work hard every day to get better. That's what you've got to continue to do in this league, so if I have shots I've got to continue to shoot them with confidence, and if I do that my teammates are going to continue to find me."

While Brewer has always said and done the right things publicly, there's no question he was frustrated by the Bulls' decision to sign Hamilton. But he turned the frustration into motivation and spent even more time working on his game, especially his three point shot. He is 4-for-4 from beyond the arc this season after making just six last season.

That ability to knock down open shots is vital playing with slashers such as Derrick Rose and Luol Deng.

"D. Rose gets a lot of attention. [Carlos Boozer] gets a lot of attention," Brewer said. "And especially [Deng] when he cuts. Whenever they make the pass, you got to knock down the shots with them to keep on dishing the ball. That's all I've been trying to do."

The last word: "Anybody can win a game or lose a game. I don't see anybody going 66-0 this year so when a team loses, you don't be like 'Oh, that's the team to beat.' Because they beat a team like the Miami Heat that's got a lot of talent. So you have to take every opponent seriously. I think Thibs prepares us for that night in and night out. And we just have to be ready for that so they're definitely on our radar." -- Brewer, on if the Atlanta Hawks have even more of the Bulls' attention now given that they beat the Miami Heat on Monday night.