I guess you forgot these two guys called Yao and Artest. When T-Mac went down, Yao and Artest were primary and secondary scorer. AB had a few good games against much older and slower PG's. Yes he did good, but don't try to blow it out of proportions please. We saw what happened the next year. We didn't make the playoffs and AB won MIP despite simply scaling points with his minutes. He didn't improve his passing. He didn't really improve his scoring abilities; his only real weapons were spraying away from the perimeter and a stop and pop that he still rarely utilized at the time. The year after that, when we had Martin from the start and Scola emerged as a more efficient scorer, Brooks still thought of himself as numero uno. Hmm... imagine that. Not only did he start the season pouting for an extension, he had his worst shooting season and his first injury later on. Now I think he still has the potential to be a really good scorer, but he needs to get his head out of his ass first. W hen his shot is not falling, what else can he bring to the team? The sooner he realizes his shortcomings and how to better utilize his strengths, the sooner he can move forward. He needs to utilize his speed for better penetration and actually finish. He needs to actually play D consistently. Outside his speed and shooting, he has nothing else to offer a team. People talk about scoring PG's and that is fine. The difference between Brooks and those other PG's (Parker, Billups, Fisher) is that they had clearly defined stars on the team and they were not restricted to only one way of helping out the team. When you have stars on your team like Duncan, Ginobli, Bryant, etc, you can AFFORD to have a scoring PG like Brooks. Also, table? He has no D, is a poor passer, and is not very efficient outside his 3pt shot.
I was talking about for the season. As for the playoffs, those numbers were achieved with Yao, the primary scoring option, out for the majority of the Lakers series. With Yao in the lineup, he only scored over 25 points once, when he scored 27 in the first game against Portland. Not so coincidentally, he scored the majority of his points that game in the second half of a game already blown open, with Yao barely playing since he already dominated the first half, giving us the lead we had.
I thought that was the point, I love me some Aaron Brooks too when he is playing against us. Well, I hope that was his point.
Scoring more is not the same thing as being a better scoring option. AB had easy matchups to exploit while Yao was busy being fronted and Artest was spraying and praying when not harassing Roy. Also, with Battier and Artest holding down the perimeter D, Brooks could get away with his nonexistent D.
Brooks was 1 dementional not neccessarely saying he can't help a team out, but he is better utilized in the Barbosa role scoring off the bench and with a good defensive team. He could play on a team that had Howard, Ariza, Ibaka, because that would be a good defensive team. Brooks really didn't fit the Rockets being a poor defensive team. And having him in the mix makes it even worst.
There's really no point. People are going to re-write history because they need a hero and a villian. Brooks was good on a great team in the playoffs and played well the next year on an average one. He got injured, lost a step , cracked under the pressure and the rest is history. Not sure why people need to diminish his contributions. Its probably because we have some really terrible "what have you done for me lately fans", but he is gone now, so not sure why the Brooks/Lowry debate is still raging.
No. People re-write history when they have been proven utterly wrong, utterly shamed, and have no face to man up and simply admit to it due to their self-inflated petty internet egos. Do us all a favor, instead of pumping Aaron Brooks up as some kind of elite PG that you thought he was, or some messiah that got us out of the first round the first time in ten years, come back to reality and realize he was an average player as average can be, who has turned into utter dog ****. I don't need a hero or a villain. I already read enough fantasy on here from guys like you, DD, and that tmac guy.
It's only seen as "diminishing his contributions" to the people who still, despite mounds of evidence proving otherwise, believe Brooks was more than what he really was. From my perspective these "diminishers" are the ones actually creating a more complete and accurate description of Aaron Brooks' skills and contributions to our team.
Not really, its just desperate people with obvious biases scratching at every thing they can think of trying to be right. meh Chenyj put forth this statment: "Any team that relies on him as a primary or secondary scoring option is in deep crap." Believe what you want, but Brooks was pretty pivotal in the playoffs versus Portland/LA. Like I said, people need a villian and a hero.
What is this? Just because this is coming from you, you are trying to convince people it isn't exactly describing yourself? What in the world would these "diminishers" be desperate about? You do realize the little fact that your love seed has already been shipped off to another team with Lowry as our starter now, don't you? Or have you really lost track of that in your fit of rage and delusion? You realize those "desperate people" don't need to "try" to be right. They have already been proven so by that little inconvenience called "reality".
So I guess "reality" meant that Lowry was a 3rd-stringer that didn't deserve the time of day in Memphis? "Love seed," as expected.
It makes me chuckle how every player has atleast one poster who is dedicated to discrediting them at any cost. Battier - Kwame McGrady - Tinman Brooks - Cx Martin - DaDakota Although....I admitidly loathe Trevor Ariza.
Just to let it be known, I don't even like AB. He's not on my list of favorite players (top 5 Rockets in the past 3-4 years) The reason I'm defending the guy is b/c posters like this guy tries to discredit Brooks for what he did that year, and claimed he was a "mediocre" player--his words, not mine, which is a ridiculous argument. A mediocre player wouldn't make Phil Jackson scratch his heads in the playoffs and wonder how to stop the guy on defense. I mean, he only coached some of the greatest players in the NBA. And the Lakers won the championship that year. A mediocre player wouldn't have the role of go-to scorer/playmaker put upon him by a HOF-coach in Adelman, a role usually reserved for all-stars in this league. And he was being paid what that year? Put Lowry in that position as a go-to scorer + playmaking and see how he does for a whole season. And another thing he doesn't seem to grasp is that the NBA is about opportunity. AB lost his b/c of his inability to handle his contract situation. Lowry gained (an opportunity he never got in Memphis). I'm sure if AB gets his opportunity again to show what he can do, he'll regain his place in this league as of the good players. AB is a good player. Another thing that really showed his hatred of AB is discrediting AB's MIP win. Really???? I guess he should discredit every award given out there since they are mostly judged similarly by the media (same criteria every year for the most part). I really don't like when fans discredit former Rocket players who put in work for us. And AB put in work for us in 09-10. And yes, I also do loathe Trevor Ariza.
It is funny, but I do not hate KMart, just think he and his production are prime candidates to be traded. DD
Something I readily admitted he was and the reason for that is... wait for it again... FAVORABLE MATCHUPS. Both against aging PG's that could not keep up with his speed. He won us a few games, yes. He also was complete in a few too. Guess what happened when we DID rely on him as the primary scorer the next season? We were a lottery bound team. I said it before and I will still say it again, ANY TEAM THAT RELIES ON AB AS A 2nd OR 3rd OPTION WILL NOT BE SUCCESSFUL. AB is not Iverson, Parker, or Hardaway. He is a speedy shooter with poor D, poor vision, and poor attitude. You want him to be your hero and keep overrating him, go right on ahead. I will maintain the satisfaction knowing that at the end of the day, history proved me and others of the same opinion right. AB was overrated and shipped off too PHX where hopefully he will actually improve and become something after Nash is traded or retired. AB was and is a mediocre player. No one denied that he was a hard worker. No one denied that he was a good scorer in a lot of games. What we are discrediting is the notion that he was a good PG. Sure he averaged 20PPG and 5 dimes if you are simple enough to read that stat line and call it a day. Sure he scored a lot more points than his previous season. This is what we call productivity scaling with increased minutes. He got more PT so his stats went up. OMG WHAT A CONCEPT!!! If you take a look into his actual stats beyond the box score or better yet, WATCH the games. You will see his actual improvement was very little. He did not become a better passer. His usage rate when up a lot higher, but his assist rate was virtually flat line. He also could not pass the ball twice without being expected to turn it over once. The MIP award is a joke, much like the MVP and CotY awards. It did nothing for the Rockets save inflate AB's ego. AB was a good scorer and had mad shots in the 08-10 seasons, but don't let that full you. That was all he had to offer. You ever see the games where his shot did not fall? Our team may as well have been playing 4v5 out there, with AB trolling from the 3pt line. Again, if you guys want to love him and defend him that much. Go right on ahead. I personally will not lose any sleep at all over it. I will continue with my opinion that he is overrated and watch the Lowry that some of you still believe to be worse than AB.
What would be funny is that more than likely AB will bounce back, and Kyle will get better and both of them will be good NBA point guards, with different roles being asked of them. Why we are still arguing this is silly, AB was very good as a first time starter, got hurt and that and his immaturity cost him last year, whereas Kyle was pretty average early, and spotty with his shooting, but once he became the starter, and got consistent minutes improved immensely. The Rockets benefited from having them both...... DD
To be fair to DD, I think he was talking about playing level. Lowry was playing at a "career backup" level last season, I don't think meteoric increases in playing level happens all that often, the people who become stars have usually been projected as stars so its really easy to say he was a career backup. What happened to Lowry was like Josh Smith suddenly having Dirk Nowitzki's shot from the perimeter, the dude went from not being able to hit open shots the year before to shooting almost 48% from the 3.
