Que?! I guess you missed his first post which was sarcasm comparing Lowry to Magic Johnson. And then he posted that he is bitter that there is a thread about Lowry when the Rockets just lost. So he is clearly upset.
I love how you people are arguing the minuscule differences in their offensive game and completely ignoring half the game. It's not even close.
Here is my phone number, 409-followme and its toll free. Of course thats what I said and I maintain it. Session is a placeholder,but that doesnt mean he cant play. They took Davis to get the unprotected 1st and now he's starting. I just laugh at the silly nature of this board by most that can play or understand basketball. Players play to their strength and do what it takes to win games. If that means scoring 30, score 30. If that mean dropping 10 assist, drop 10 assist. I was just saying how if brooks had the exact same game, which he had alot of them last year with ariza,chuck,and shane starting last year, he shoots too much. This particular game when phoenix made lowry beat them, he did what he had to do. Thats what basketball is about. Lowry is playing well and he kept them in the game because of the exact faults of the system and lowry. Teams wont always allow backdoor cuts,leak out hoops, and foul martin. In fact, the suns decided to play everyone straight up and force lowry to beat them. Last year and I've heard this from more than 1 scout I know that the biggest threat last year was brooks even with Martin and scola on the floor. When teams view you as the number 1 threat, they're aiming to take you out the game. If you cant just beat people off the bounce, you're going to struggle like martin did. Thats why I've maintained he's a 3rd option. Its not lowry's fault he had to try to pack the team offensively because thats not in his dna,but it says something about doing what you have to due regardless of the ignorant labels. 32pts 4 asst for a pure pg? He should have taken less shots and got his assist numbers up, right?
I don't remember much criticism about Brooks shooting too much. When you're shooting 40% from the 3 point line, fire away. I think most of his criticism stemmed from his poor court awareness and poor defense. Yup, we lost b/c of the Suns' stellar defense that took away backdoor cuts, transition baskets, and refused to foul Martin. It's not like we were missing our starting pf who averages 18 ppg. I highly doubt that any team game-planned to stop Brooks last year. He was largely single covered.
Brooks was playing pretty well in Phoenix, but he laid an egg against Houston. I'm thinking that his problem is more mental than physical.
He's still averaging 8 assists a game in his last 5 even with the low game against Pheonix. Oh and he's also scoring 22.8 ppg in this stretch.
Dude I called and no answer. What's up? Again you compare 30 and 5 with 30 and 5 as if every 30 and 5 has the same impact on the game. You know better than that. You are the one who keeps telling people how stats are BS and you need to watch the game. Stats aren't BS, you just have to know which stats to look at. 30 and 5 ain't it. The reason why Lowry getting 30+ points again is impressive is that it means he carried the offense, IN ADDITION to everything else he does on a nightly basis that impacts the game greatly yet does not always show up on the boxscore. Like the way he controls tempo, runs the offense, pushes the pace, runs the break, offensive rebounds, hustle, deflections, heart, leadership, oh and defense, defense, DEFENSE. That is the difference between when he get's his 30 and 5 compared to Brooks. But you should know that, if the sting of being wrong weren't blinding you so.
Great post. It's hard not to see his impact on the game. Lowry leaves it all out on the floor. DM would have to blown away by an offer to include Lowry in any package.
AB groupies are much worse than Tmac groupies. Tmac actually made a huge impact before he completely fell off a coupe seasons ago, and his groupies stopped looking for excuses after he's traded. AB did nothing really impact to winning in his short career with Rockets, yet his groupies keeps making excuses for him. AB groupies are the ones who praised AB as "elite PG" last year, when Lowry is doing better than AB has ever done, they call him "placeholder". What a double standard. They just can't face the truth and admit they were wrong.
Cxbby, you always call, I just got tired of answering :grin: There was no different impact last night, nor was there stellar defense by lowry. Thats not his fault, but he did what he was suppose to do. Phoenix dared him to make shots and he did. They dared him to do it because of no scola. So now the defense focused on Martin. In particular, old man river in the hip pocket of martin. No easy break away 3's, no easy back door cuts. They played lowry to score the ball and he almost pulled it out. Thats basketball in general, do what you need to do to win. Overall, I think lowry has played well this year. I dont think he has played any better than brooks last year. People will say that he has, but the team with martin,a 2nd yr bud and hill and a rookie in patterson and miller are pretty much the same as last year.I dont think thats lowry's fault anymore than I thought it was brooks fault. Once they trade for martin last year, the fga went down for him,martin picked up some of the scoring load, but the team finished 42-40 which is probably where they will end up this year. Choulje,I personally dont care about the names on the back one way or the other. I'm not some johnny come lately who pick favorites. Bottomline for me is who can help my team win games. I said they shouldve traded Tracy,Yao,and shane 3-4 yrs ago because they were heade nowhere. I knew if they didnt extend brooks, morey was going to trade him to avaoid an 8m salary match in the offseason.Thats the difference between me and alot of other posters on this board when it comes to rocket players. I dont have favorites or I dont hate a certain player. If I think a player should be moved because he's not playing well,i say so. Just because I think a player should be traded doesnt mean I dont think he's not a good player. I think the rockets should trade Scola this summer. I think they should have done alot of things the minute Yao limped off the court that they are kinda moving towards now.Its never personal and I've seen enough basketball and been around it to know there are alot of different kind of players at positions that can help teams win a title or be successful. Many on this board box people in like there is 1 set way and 1 player skillset to win a title or be successful.
:grin: We will have to disagree on that. Big time. I can point to the +/- or advanced stats all year, but I know you don't believe in that mumbo jumbo. I won't nitpick about everything else because we can do this all day, but this is something that you have repeated a few times now on this board, and I can't let it slide. There is another difference between this year's Rockets and last year's. A BIG difference. Think, lee. Think.
Please let me know the difference. Last year, I was told ariza was an average defender because he gamble and lee was a better defender. Ariza is in New Orleans and they have a top 5 defense. In another thread you questioned why lee didnt play more than he didn with hill and carter both going off. Well, he's too small to guard either, thats why he didnt play more last night. Are the rockets averaging more ppg this year? Are they a better defense than last year? The two players who received the brunt of the criticism last year are no longer here and the other was minimized due to play and injuries yet, the rockets record is on pace to be the same if not worse. So maybe I'm dumb or playing dumb, so tell me why the team is not any better than last year.Tell me why the defense isnt better despite adding lee and the 7ft miller.
The difference isn't Ariza. I always thought he was unfairly criticized last year. He tried to expanded his offense earlier in the season because that is what the team required. That made him look bad at times, but he fit in perfectly once we got Martin. I don't think adding Lee is a HUGE upgrade, though to my credit I didn't think it was that much a downgrade either. He is not as disruptive a defender, just solid. Meanwhile he is a superior offensive player in every facet. Overall probably a lateral move for much lower cost = great move. Adding the "7ft" Miller does nothing for us defensively. Of course. None of that is the difference. Last year we had a Brooks playing at his best, who according to you is as good as Lowry now. Along with that we had Lowry who was a beast off the bench, keying many of our runs/wins. This year we have Lowry playing at his best, who according to you is as good as(or worse) than Brooks last year. Along with that we either had NO brooks at all for 25 games, in his place a green as can be undrafted rookie, OR a Brooks who was a shell of himself, COSTING us many of our runs/wins. Despite that, we are on pace to either equal or improve on our record last year. How could that be, when a huge positive last year in our bench has turned into a huge negative, if everything else was equal? The answer is everything else isn't equal. Lowry this year is far superior to Brooks last year. His expanded role and minutes are the sole differences and reason why our record is where it is and will be where it will be, DESPITE swapping a 20 and 5 guy for a cancer on the floor.
your claim of Brooks being a "Lowry" will carry more substance when one doesn't have 1.5 seasons of proven play of that kind to a 5 game stat run. Look up his FG and 3pt%. Look up his assist numbers. Look up anything if you will, while they split minutes and tell me how you substantiate your claim. No one is claiming a fluke yet. The fact that we are skeptical shows we examine past evidence , the context of the situation and cross examine it with the future. The only problem is the premature ejaculation that his been littered everywhere. Leebig is right. It would be a great thing, but acting like he is the best player in the world when it was clear brooks wasn't with equal if not better shooting in stretches of games for over a year and half, and the real test of all which is the playoffs, is an insult to anything that uses reason and intelligence to function.
Cx, I will just have to say I disagree with your last post. I think alot of the factors set up in certain situations. I guess you forgot about the 7 minute mcgrady fiasco. What about having martin for the entire season this year? What about our record vs teams over .500 this year vs last yr? I disagree and we wont agree, but I do like lowry and the way he is playing. Brooks is gone and i wish him well like the other traded rocket players except against the rockets.
Lee, fine. Agree to disagree, vehemently. But I am getting the last word. :grin: The 7 minute Mcgrady fiasco? That was for 6 games. And we went 4-2 in those 6 games. What about the 20 minute every other game Yao fiasco this year? Having Martin the entire year certainly helps. Losing Landry also hurts. Net net it is a positive since Martin > Landry. However along with that trade we had to play Jordan Hill this year. Jordan Hill is a HUGE negative. That is probably another topic that we will have to disagree on another day. Though apparently Adelman agrees with me. Net net net it is Martin - Landry + Hill = not much of a gain. I admit I am a huge fan of Lowry's. Always have been of guys who show as much fire and scrappiness as him(not many). I also admit it is surprising even to me how far his game has come. It is probably(definitely) the biggest positive of the year. I think with Brooks it might have worked out under different circumstances. At his best he had an unique skillset that is very valuable especially when games tighten up. However I don't and never did think this ONE skillset overshadowed everything else and made him a better player than Lowry. That was the crux to the debate on my part. The fact that his one skillset failed him this year due to the injury he suffered to his ankle or to his confidence means his entire game degenerated to literally a pile of crap. That is unfortunate for our win total, his trade value, and probably his pocket book. C'est la vie. The fact that Lowry is now starting to develop the ONE skillset(shot making) Brooks had on him should absolutely close the book on any debate going forward. Not that it matters anymore.
anybody that liked brooks's play likes lowry's play right now. people liked brooks for a reason, not because he looks like chris rock. Its the hypocrisy of the ideology of the PG can't score! drama everyone was flinging that is in question.
I don't think that he's becoming a star and I really want him to pass the ball more. But when he's hot, he should shoot, no doubt, but I like him as a true pointguard, not another Aaron Brooks
He MUST shoot the ball. Because right now, defenders are sagging off on him because the book is that his outside shooting's suspect. He needs to shoot his jumpers for the same reason Ariza and Rafer always shot those bricks. It's necessary for the offense to work. Otherwise, teams will just sag into the paint and the offense will never work. It's when defenders start playing him close that he can drive more and kick out. Also, the Rockets are #5 in the NBA in assists. We're not lacking in passing.
