if brooks keeps balling w/ rafer out then he should be the starting pg. he can finish a lot better than rafer can. only bad thing w/ brooks is that hes small but ya he makes it up w/ his quickness. handling the job good so far.
Rafer Alston, he is the player that can set up the offense. I'd rather have Alston be able to set up 2 great offensive players, instead of one great offensive player ( Ron Artest ) Brooks and Artest the 2nd lineup should be the run and gun team.
this is ridiculous whenever the rockets win people still like to blame alston.........now that the rockets beat who? the kings and barely squeak by the lowly twolves who basically didnt even have mike miller for most of the game people want brooks annointed the starter? brooks finally shot well for one game after going 4-11 yesterday...........if it was rafer going 4-11 yesterday people would still be wanting his head......this team does not need a devin harris wannabe running point.
The problem with this is that rafer will shoot 1-7 game after game. He is highly inconsistent. Yes he can set up the offense but teams will feel much better knowing they can double tracy or yao because rafer will not make them pay for doing so. Having AB out there spreads the floor. Also I think AB's ability to drive and kick the ball out is very underrated. He has consistently gotten battier, scola and landry wide open shots. I think the idea here is efficiency. Simply put if the offense is more effective with AB out there with the first unit, then you should play him. I will agree that defense is a large concern but I think he is adapting and will learn to play better team defense. Thats my 2 cents, but it is good to have options.
Brooks has more freedom to score when coming off the bench, and he won't be as much of a defensive liability either. Rafer should start.
Good point, Brooks really isn't a good defender at all and doesn't know how to set up Yao Ming who is the focal point of this offense.
i dont see how you can say the offense is more effective when you just played against the queens and t'wolves........with AB out there, Tmac has to handle it more to help yao get shots.......making it harder for him to get off and wasting his energy.......this team won 50+ games how many straight years with alston running point? there's something wrong when freaking yao ming passes the ball to aaron brooks more often than aaron brooks passes it to yao.
It really is getting hard to keep Alston as a starter. Brooks is just too good. Brooks may be instant offense, but he is not as good a playmaker as Alston or McGrady, putting him in the second unit with Artest will just mean we have no one who can run the offense well. If you have Brooks starting, you can have McGrady as the playmaker. He will also complement with Brooks because Brooks can finish. Brooks has done well since Alston's injury, very well. In fact, I believe we are 4-0 with Brooks starting? Not to mention, when Brooks started, we managed to have our big 3 score 20+ against Denver, and this game McGrady had 20+, Yao with 18 and Artest with 19. Yao would've got 20 if the refs didn't suck so much. Also, we have faced strong competition. Denver is not weak anymore, but we beat them. The Kings are much better than their record show. They beat Lakers!!! So in conclusion, should Brooks start? I am 80% yes, going to 90%. Brooks has already showed that he can guard the likes of Billups and Chris Paul, and the fact that we're 4-0 with Brooks starting, I really think we should just try Brooks as a starter.
I agree. I think a lot of their comparisons are a push. Also Brooks has proven he could start. However, I think for team success, he and Artest coming off the bench gives us the best "manu-like" offensive we need with the 2nd unit. Then, during the course of the game whomever is more effective between him and Alston gets the minutes and gets the finish. Alston's experience gives him the edge to start but not by a wide margin.
Let's get the record straight. I've seen some people say the Rockets are 3-0 or 4-0 with Brooks in the starting lineup. As of now, they really are 4-1 if you included the two games that Brooks started during Rafer's two-game suspension. The only reason you would play Rafer with the starters is that he wouldn't have to score as much as he would have to if he were in with the second unit. Coach RA needs to play it by ear as to who plays. Are the opposing defenses more on their heels with Aaron playing the point rather than Rafer?
You are right. I was at that game in SA. And although Brooks wasn't the only reason for our collapse and loss, he did definitely play a part with some poor play. He hasn't fully arrived yet, but is definitely working his way there.
What is the identity of this team? One of the first things you're supposed to be thinking about is DEFENSE. You somewhat lose that identity with Brooks starting over Alston. In the last 2 games, we've given up 33 points to the Kings in the 1st quarter and 32 points to the T-Wolves in the 1st quarter. It's not all AB's fault, but some of the blame goes to him.
Selective memory? Brooks has started FIVE times this season. These are probably the games you're forgetting about. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=281114024 http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=281115010
I agree with the consensus that AB is better playing along another playmaker, be it rafer, tmac or barry. So i say, let AB starts. The more scorers around tmac, the better and easier for tmac to do his stuff. And about comments that rox are playing weak opponents, rox beat Denver with AB able to limit Billups who dominate the rox at the last game when rafer is playing.
passing? if you have brooks in with tmac and yao brooks passing to yao can be a problem but because tmac is the best passer on the team that solves that defense? his defense is actaully picking up as seen agaisnt billups in the 2nd half. maybe more time will adjust him better but I still picked rafer to start even though i dont know why now that im starting to make excuses, lol
I think we should start Brooks each game until he proves he can't handle defending his man. He did a great job on Billups and if he can do that against all point guards then he definitely should be the starter. We can always bring Alston in if Brooks is struggling.
Anyone remember the begining of the season when our second unit looked better offensively that our starters? Theres a reason for it. Brooks works great with a SG that can setup the plays. He plays fantastic alongside Barry and Tmac and I think he should start and get the majority of the minutes. Anyone have his stats for the last 3 games, or the +/- with the Brooks/Mac/Battier/Scola/Yao lineup? We may give up something defensively, but our offense just looks beautiful with him in the game.
