Seems there is a growing sentiment that Aaron Brooks is selfish and won't pass to Yao or won't pass to open teammates when he penetrates. Is this a semi-widespread belief or is it just a few (but very vocal) who are upset with him?? Me personally I think he is young and a bit inexperienced at being a "facilitator" or setup guy. I think he is a solid shooter though and from what I gather he is asked to be more of a scorer than distributor. This offense is not run off the point guard creating it. Its a motion offense, and any of the 5 guys is as likely to get the assist as the bucket.
Some guys just play the game a certain way.. and in Aaron's case that way is a scorer. It is pretty much widely known that he is primarily a scoring PG.. that's just how it will be. I don't think its because he's selfish at all.. Most evidence points to the fact that Aaron is a down-to-earth guy who wants the team to have success. In my opinion, as long as our offense is performing well and we're hanging in games, I'm not going to get too hung up on his assist numbers, which, like any other stat, can be overvalued.
Some people are just idiots and in love with the assist totals that guys like Nash and Paul put up and say Rafer was a better passer than Aaron because he got more assists. Lowry for Rafer was the best thing for this team. No doubt about it.
I guess I am also a bit fascinated at the way some have turned on AB after being all over him starting when Skip was still here.
It's pretty simple actually. When our only options were Rafer and Brooks, we chose the best available option. Hell, some people went so far as to ask for T-Mac to play point. Now that our only options are Brooks and Lowry, there's an entirely new outlook on our PG options. Lowry is still too green to run the offense this year, but at training camp next year, who knows. Brooks has always been the type of player Adelman was looking for as that spark off the bench; maybe his scoring mentality will be an asset in that 6th man role like Bobby Jackson in Sacramento.
The chain of ClutchFans love-turned-to-hate for PG's: Francis ----> James ----> Rafer ------> Brooks. It may not be an exactly perfect chronology, but its true - we'll never be satisfied with a PG of anything less than Paul/Williams. Why is this true? Because armchair know-it-alls don't understand just how hard it is to get the ball to a 7-footer who the opposing teams ENTIRE defense is keyed around - and when you don't do that, you get labeled as a failure for misusing their idol.
I agree completely. Only thing I ask of Aaron is to cut down on the fast break mistakes and always keep his turnover down. But he's a young player and he's going to make a lot of mistakes. That's what people need to realize. At least it is better (IMO) then having a 30 yr old guy make the same mistakes.
Aaron said he wants to be more of a passer during the pre-pre season, I'm pretty sure he's still trying to do that, but I don't mind him turning into AI, the more he scores, the more people will focus on him, leading to more open teammates. If you score, you will pass.
Yes, I look forward to next year's battle at the point. I think Aaron can improve his dishing skills over the offseason. Will be interesting to see both kids coming into camp next year. I also would not be surprised that whoever is the starter to begin the season is the backup at the end. Competition is a great thing.
You can call him selfish. But you cannot expect a guy who used to be sg and scorer in college to all of the sudden become a playmaker. Brooks is young. He is a pretty good shooter and he is quick. This is called habits. He is not used to passing the ball. We have to wait. This is his first real year as a point guard in the NBA. He is gonna be much better next season. Give him some time. He is still better than Rafer, though.
Brooks just tends to speed things up. I think people are used to Houston playing at a certain tempo and Brooks and to a limited degree Artest shatter that tempo by hoisting up shots very early and starting mini-fast breaks. Also Brooks has a tendency to move the ball away from Yao, which is kinda annoying. That said, he's an awesome scorer and he has a knack for getting it to open shooters. Whether or not he's the long-term solution at PG will have to hinge on him developing his passing even further (with a focus on getting it to Yao) and his regulation of the game's tempo, which is one of the most important duties a PG has. Brooks tends to go way too fast for the team to catch up; once he has a couple of more games started though, he should be able to fix that up.
AB is not selfish he is playing his role, the same role as Tony Parker plays in the San Antonio offense. DD
Aaron is looked at all wrong. Even though I still would prefer him being a sixth man I still think he has done a good job as a starter. Sure he doesn't dish the ball like Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, or anyone of that sort but he does a great job of taking good shots. He does take bad shots once in a while but in general he takes shots within the flow of the offense. I think most of you guys like complaining for the sake of complaining. He doesn't need to be some sort of high assist guy to approve that he is a PG. I see the word selfish thrown around but Aaron isn't selfish. Selfish is a guy like Allan Iverson. Aaron on the other hand plays within the offense.
Brooks is basically a poor man's AI. A little better outside shooter, a bit more speed. Less driving, inside shooting, PG skills.
Agreed. The only one ClutchFans never turned on was Bobby Sura who was the worst "point guard" of the bunch. Why is that? Todays rotation is pretty simple to figure out... We need a guard that can hit an open 3 playing with Yao -- Aaron Brooks. Kyle Lowry (a non 3pt shooter) is great coming off the bench w/ shooters like Von Wafer, Brent Barry, Carl Landry and next year.... James White and Maarty Luenen. I think many clutch fans just like complaining regardless. Our record w/ Aaron Brooks starting is something ridiculous like 21-6. If it aint broke... STOP b****ING.
I hope that wasnt directed at me. I said in first post I dont think he is. I think there is a sentiment around there that thinks it. Based on the responses here however I think thats a very small but vocal minority. It was just popping up everywhere I looked....
Like Parker, Brooks will never be an awesome passer. He will, at his best, be just average. However, mark my words, if the dude stops going to the basket and getting fouls, he will not start for long. i don't want to see this guy become a shooter because his game is at his best when he attacks. When he attacks, he has so many options. 1) Go to the hole and finish, possibly get fouled. 2) Drive n dish. 3) Stop and pop or just take the 3 if the defender has backed off. 4) Pass the ball to someone who can make a good pass. This guy needs to know his bread n butter. Drive opens up his entire game. Shooting makes him extremely mediocre and bogs the rest of the team down. I'm very dissapointed about the drop in his FGA's recently. Clearly, he's becoming complacent and needs to be reminded that driving is one of his strengths and being Steve Nash-ish is not. He is a Tony Parker kind of clone, and Tony Parker knows that driving opens his game up. He doesn't sit back and try to win with shooting+passing from distance. I hope he learns this lesson soon because he has the tools to excel here.
Anyone calling him selfish has no clue about the game of basketball and what his role is on this current team. DD
