When Andre Roberson went down with injury it had a huge effect on the Oklahoma City Thunder's play and it is still having some effect.

When the Los Angeles Lakers reached a buyout with Corey Brewer, the Thunder jumped all over the opportunity to sign him because they felt he could bring some of the things that the team lost when Roberson was lost for the year.

Brewer drew his first start with the Thunder on Thursday night and Russell Westbrook was really impressed with what he saw.

“It's great man, he got moving around and cutting..it was something that Andre was really good at, moving around and cutting and he did a good job of that tonight.”

After getting little run with the Lakers this year, he had a bit of a coming out party again on Thursday night. He put up 17 points, four rebounds and one assist.

He shot 2-of-4 from beyond the arc, but his importance most games isn't even measured in the scorebook. Like Westbrook said, he is a good slasher who draws a lot of attention from the defense and does a good job of getting himself open.

He is also a pest on the defensive end that can really create issues for the opponents. With the Thunder in the middle of a really tough Western Conference playoff race, they are going to need to continue to get good play from Brewer as they try to find someone to fill the void that Roberson left.