I have been saying this all year. The 3 of them not playing would have definitely given us a few more wins. We have so many problems like the need for a finsher and need for an enforcer. But having the 3 of them not playing would definitely negate some of our problems. The only way they can contibute to our team is by getting traded for a contribtor in return. That wont solve all our problems but it would be a start.
Myth. Lowry is younger than Brooks. Patterson is younger than Hill. Ish is younger than Budinger. Making mistakes is fine, and natural for a young player. However just because you are young it doesn't mean you can't play with effort, intelligence, and heart 100% of the time, every single game. When Lowry, Patterson, and even Ish make mistakes, it is either from over aggression, adjusting to the speed of the league, or honing their skills. When Brooks, Hill, and Budinger make mistakes, it is far too often from laziness, stupidity, or timidness. That is inexcusable.
Brooks is statistically having a worse season than Ariza did last year offensively. That says it all.
In Budinger's case, I used to feel that he could be a very good player. In his rookie year, he was not great in defense, but he played hard. In this year, I have seen him played very, very lazy on the defensive end, while his offensive skills stayed the same. I think the coaches is to blame in his development. If it were under JVG, he could have been a better player. As Brook's case, I used to yell trading him while his stock was high (in summer). Now I realized that I was wrong. Other teams are as smart as us fans. He is worth nothing if we trade him. He is valuable only to RA, and he helped us as many as losses as he helped us wins, if not more. As for Hill, I used to be excited for getting him, but it turned out that NY was right on his potential. We did not gain much that TMac deal. On Rockets coaches, like I said before, with RA, we will have no hope to be a good team, let alone to be championship team. He certainly will not make Rockets to be bottom part of the league, and that is actually more of a problem to us. However, firing him might not solve any problem. The only coach that could save us that I can see, would be JVG. With Alaxander being owner, this would never happen. There could be some unamed young coaches whom can lead us to success, but we never know who they are. In short, this team has no hope, not in the foreseable future.
Hill absolutely must be benched, but I think is still soon to say this. Raw, inmature, very unexperienced, weak (physically and mentally). A bad collective dynamic, play out of position or being scared about the deadline, don't help guys like him. He's currently overwhelmed by the situation, but a lot of things can change in the future. He has shown he can play good minutes in the NBA, he has shown he can defend, he can rebound, he can score... He needs to live more summers, and watch a lot of basketball games.
The problem with some of our younger players like Brooks, Budinger, and Hill is that they are one-dimensional. If they can't produce on offense, their defense isn't going to contribute to the team. I really like Rick Adelman's motion offense, but we need to bring in some players that are "two-way" so to speak. Brooks is a great sixth man off the bench, but only if he's breaking down defenses and hitting his shots. I believe there was a thread earlier talking about how Brooks should add a midrange game to his repertoire -- I completely agree. I think watching old tapes of Sam Cassell playing would really help Brooks improve his game. Budinger's weakness is his poor lateral quickness, which means that he's a pretty poor one to one defender. He can mitigate some of this by having a higher basketball IQ and doing the best he can with his physical tools (i.e. not being out of position and utilizing team defense and rotations as well as he can). I'm not really sold on Budinger right now because if he isn't shooting well, he gives up a lot of points on the defense end and shouldn't be playing. Jordan Hill is still a project. The only reason he is getting so much playing time is that we really don't have anyone with size to put out there in the center position who isn't old (Brad Miller). I think the best thing we can do is try to draft or trade for a young shot blocking center (what I would do to get a young Deke on this team ). Most of all, I think it's pretty clear that our team lacks a "hardnosed" mentality. A bunch of role players (albeit above average ones) on our team is not going to lead us to a championship, so as an organization the Rockets need to think about how they can either trade (carmelo anthony who we're unlikely to get) for a superstar, or foster one through the draft. A lot of people criticize Rick Adelman, but I think he's doing the best job he can with the tools we have on the roster. Past a certain point, if it's clear that we aren't making the playoffs, we should probably play the younger players more so they can get more experience and also showcase them to other teams for potential trades. Everything this year was hinged on Yao coming back from his injury and becoming a leader on the floor for us, and unfortunately he got hurt again. I think we should try to resign Yao Ming unless there's a good opportunity to get a great player. There's still a chance that he can come back and you can't teach size to a player.
would have been nice to develop Hill and Bud more last year, perhaps they would have a better feel for the game by now. Hard for young guys to get a chance to develop when our rotations are too deep. With Brooks its mostly mental at this point. But he needs to man up and he will get his minutes/money.
Right now everyone is saying Brooks, Hill and Bud suck and that Morey should trade them. Then when Ish, Twill and Pat play crappy in 1 game everyone would start throwing a hissy-fit and start making threads of how they suck. What a ridiculous forum community...
Except JVG would NEVER give PT to a young guy. They stand for 233 seconds and jack up shots. That's not the answer. Need a coach to hold them accountable but give guys chances to fail.
There was too much pressure on him at the starting position and the coach/ development team was trying to develop him too quickly.
No reason to be down on Bud, he's shown steady improvement this season. He can be a very good guy off the bench in this league.
after seeing it in person, these guys were just stinking it up...especially Hill and Bud...AB couldn't have been better but IMHO, he's trying too hard/much... I'm not sure what the answer is, but something has to happen...Hate to say it but glad we have Lowry...and that's not saying much..
You mean, steadily working towards just getting back to where he was last year? http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/stats?playerId=3968
Bud - he is who he is. He is great at what he does. Asking him to do anything more wouldn't be fair to him or the team. He's a great sharpshooter off the bench, who has some hops, terrible defender. Sounds like the perfect role player off the bench on a Rick Adelman coached basketball system. Look at what other teams pay for a player like Kyle Korver or Mike Miller and see the deal that the Rockets are getting. Again, he is who he is. Brooks - well, I dont know. I think he's still a unique player, just cant find out why he hasn't been consistent this year. Could be alot of things... injury, chemistry with second unit, frustration, overachievement the year before.... I dont know. I have a hard time believing that he will be traded this year now though. I think there are too many question marks that teams will make in signing him longterm after a trade in February. That could throw trade deals out the window because of his restricted free agency. More than likely, I believe the Rockets will get him back a very reasonable price next season, and Lowry or Ish are more likely to get traded in February. Jordan Hill - He's just not a basketball player. He has all the abilities physically, but some people just dont have it. He has another year and I believe a team option on his rookie contract, and is worth keeping on the roster and developing if he cant be traded. He is just on the floor too much now, and needs to be playing next to Brad Miller to be effective offensively. I think he can learn how to play defense effectively with much more training in the offseason and have a smaller role next season IF he is still on the roster after trade season. Right now, yes Hill sucks. Brooks, is a role of the dice, and Bud, is who he is.
its a bit easy to pile on the three of them right now of course but their flaws are much more glaring now than they've ever been. I've been saying since the offseason that Brooks should have been moved then when his value was the highest for a piece that would have fit this team better even if it was getting less "talent" back in return. Unfortunately his limited skill set is showing through and he is struggling off the bench which is a shame because given his capabilities I feel he was better suited for a sixth man role. The staff is really high on Smith and he probably does warrant some more minutes but its going to be hard to not play Brooks at all or play him very little without killing his trade value entirely. Hill seriously is reminding me of Swift in every single way except that Swift was far more refined on the low block, could pass the pass better, far more athletic and a better shot blocker. But though everyone says Hill has just started to play basketball compared to others that to me is even scarier because you would think his would be learning more with his limited knowledge now but it doesnt seem to be the case. Defensively its just atrocious and offensively really limited though he has added a flat jump hook. Not expected him to go from pauper to prince in one offseason but the lack of improvement for a guy that young who has so much to learn is a bit alarming. Chase to me is the least worrisome of the three, the guy is what he is I am not so sure of his work ethic either to be honest. He came into Arizona as a highly touted prospect but hasnt really improved his game since, he has gotten better since his freshman year at Arizona but better in the sense that he improved his jumpshot (which was fine to begin with) but he hasnt added anything new to his game. Something that has always confused me (and this goes for Martin as well) for a guy who knows how to find the open spot on offensive and where to move Chase routinely gets lost defensively when his man does the same thing. Chase isnt a bad player to have off your bench I think, no way in the world do you want him to be a starter. I think Chase showed his ceiling his rookie year, maybe it can be a bit higher but not by much. Its great that he was a mid second round pick but its sad to think that after a promising start you wont see any growth. For a team to get better it needs internal growth from its young players. There are only so many stars out there, fewer still that actually hit the free agent market to be signed the best way to go about is drafting and getting growth from within. I feel that most players have it within them to be really good NBA players if they keep improving and working at their game in the offseason and throughout the season. We seen guys like Chuck, Landry, Lowry (his jumper is better this year than its ever been), heck Yao all these guys improve through their own hard work. I think Patterson is more in that mold in that he is a hard worker, is he going to be a star? I dont know maybe, maybe no but the guy will do whatever it takes for him to be one though. Personally I would bench all 3 of the guys above to give more time to Ish, Patterson and Williams to see what they can do all 3 show they have more promise and with this season becoming another lost season the Rockets should start looking towards the future of this team and its players. Of the 3 mentioned in the thread title Hill has disappointed me the most, I expected that Aaron would fall down to earth after last season (been saying all summer long that MIP is straight 'fools gold' and I think SamFisher compared AB to the "perennial all-star" and former MIP winner Dana Barros), Chase didnt expect him to improve at all - I didnt expect him to be in such a slump though to start the season. I thought Hill had the most room for growth and yet there will little to none. Glaring that through the last two summers you barely heard any info about these 3 guys and their off season workouts but you did all the time with Landry's (back then), Chuck's, Lowry, Martin etc. Morey has his work cut out for him, if a trade is going to happen expect to take back far less value in "talent" than originally hope...Like for example Brooks and Budinger for a future lotto protected first (example only)
Nay I mean he's shown improvement, mostly defensively and rebounding. He's not a huge negative on the defensive end anymore. Sure he went through a long ass shooting slump, I fail to see how a shooting slump indicates that he as a basketball player has regressed. Btw, get those garbage stats outta here, they don't even tell half the story. At least point to meaningful stats...
