We don't suffer on offense with AB running the show, we might even gain a little. But we suffer on defense. The problem is with AB/Martin on the court together, the gain on offense seems to be less than the loss on defense. That alone makes Lowry a better starting option for current makeup of the team. Not to mention Lowry's other superior parts of the game like rebounding and hustle play.
Believe whatever you want. But here is a fact: 90% of our offense is initiated in the high post. Court vision isnt a make or break skill for our PGs. It just isn't. "General team offense stupidity"...I like that. You mean like shooting multiple 3 pointers a game when you shoot at a 22% clip? Or maybe shooting 8 shots a game at a 37% clip. We gave up 108.2 ppg under Brooks and 106.9 with Lowry. Kyle hasn't slowed down any of the PGs he has played against.
Save your keyboard some wear and tear bro. There are posters that will argue with you till the cows come home about this. When pg's are lighting up lowry, there tough shots, but when its brooks, he's a poor defender. Posters will think what they want and in college, I've played with both kinds. In pro am, I've played with both kinds also. When I've played with a threatmimg guard like brooks, it made my game easier than playing with a guy who they didn't guard. Npw if the pg was special non shooter like kidd,I'm sure he would make the game easier, but dirk hasn't played any better with nash and kidd than he did with terry starting. BTW, he won his mvp and went to the finals the year prior with the shoot first pg.
I didn't say that. Kidd is a hof, but certain players can effect certain players game differently. I stated that eventhough Kidd is a better pg than terry, dirk had his mvp season and his best years with terry at pg. When you don't need someone to get you a shot, then it doesn't matter.
Its funny how things work. A couple years ago we wanted Rafer's head because AB could shoot/score the ball better. Now that AB has blossomed into a good young PG, we want the backup that can't shoot but plays defense better. Its a vicious cycle (that sane/knowledgeable rocket fans don't participate in).
Yes. I was one of the ones that could not wait for Aaron to get Rafer's minutes. The frustration was Rafer could neither shoot nor finish at the rim. And his defense WAS overrated. I knew Brooks was the better player for us with McGrady and Yao on the floor. Brooks was a great, great 3rd option for McGrady to be able to kick it out to, which was the role Rafer primarily played for 111. However, after the Rafer trade, that left us with two contrasts at the point. And that also came at a time when our team was changing with McGrady injured and phased out of the team. There was no primary playmaker except the points, Brooks and Lowry. And Martin came along at the same time. Look at that setup, with Yao healthy, you have Yao as your #1 option and realistically because of Martin's extreme efficiency, he has to be your #2 option, and then both of those guys should be followed by Scola as the #3 option since Scola is a very efficient offensive option. That is a different setup than McGrady running the PnR at the point and tossing it out to the PG for a three-ball. I still believe Brooks is best served playing off the ball as a third option with a big time post scorer and another perimeter scorer. However, with the current setup, I think it is best to have Lowry out there, creating and getting other shooters the ball, and getting his other skills involved, his defense, his rebounding, his finishing at the basket (which we have not even seen yet to the level he played at last season) rather than Brooks handling the ball all the time and taking a lot of shots away from more efficient scorers. We are still built to play around Yao. Yao being out has affected us tremendously this season because of the fact that we do not have Brooks to supplement the scoring and Battier and Budinger have disappointed us with their shooting. So, it has not been the best and Lowry has not looked good at times, especially when he is having to jack some shots. However, I am impressed more and more with Lowry knowing his strengths and weaknesses and Lowry's ability to force the defense to have to defend him anyway. We saw it last night with him making multiple trapses through the lane, stopping and going right back in there, forcing the defense to help and then getting the ball to the open shooter. Lowry is doing a great job of playing to his strengths and playing away from his weaknesses. I would love to have Aaron back. No question he would help us. But when everybody is healthy and Yao is back, we are still going to be better served to have Lowry's skillset supplementing our scorers than we are having Brooks as our primary go to guy. Now here's the thing. IF we traded for a guy like Iguodala, who is a playmaker that also brings defense, then Brooks' shooting skillset may take precedence over having Lowry's defense and playmaking out there. I don't know. It would be interesting to see. Because with Iggy playing alongside Martin and Brooks, Iggy is the obvious facilitator and spreading Brooks and Martin out on the wings with Yao in the post, in my opinion, would make us a very dangerous offensive team. It would be like having McGrady but without having McGrady's attitude and ball domination. Here's the other thing. IF we traded for a guy like Melo, who is obviously a go-to scorer, then it is going to be even more obvious that a point like Lowry is the best fit because he WILL get the ball to Melo and he WILL NOT take shots away from Melo. On the other hand, Brooks on the court with melo takes shots away from Melo. Not a good fit. And for all the guys that think there is not enough difference between Lowry's defense and Brooks' defense, you are crazy. Lowry is in a different league defensively than Brooks. Lowry is a top 5 defender at the point. Brooks is not even in the discussion there.
Or we get caught in the insanity of trying to explain the truth of the matter....to the vocal minority. Again....let's go to the expert, Rick Adelman when asked about who will start once AB is back. Adelman said "That is an easy one, AB will start and Lowry will back him up from the bench" Case CLOSED ! Actually it is, to those with a seasoned eye. DD
Adelman is going to be loyal to his vets, if Rafer wasn't traded he would probably still be starting right now. Morey will have to make the decision for him, because realistically Aaron Brooks is the best trade chip we have.
This thread was about Lowry. Want me to reference clutch's advice to you in his Lowry thread? And no their passing skills aren't close. Lowry works so hard to get others involved. He keeps his dribble alive and runs all over the court. He has had a few double digit assist games now.
You can reference whatever you like......I like Lowry, just hate people making bad leaps of logic about other Rockets players. It is bizzare, the Rockets won, Lowry had a good game, and people want to use that to push down an injured player whom both the coach and GM say is our starter. Backup QB syndrom 101..... DD
Lowry is not the backup anymore, he is the starter. And lowry's play since Brooks injury has provn he is a legit starter.
The majority of us like AB but hate how you bring him up in every topic. Every loss is due to Brooks' absence to you and you actually think he's better than Scola and Martin.
A. I don't bring him in every thread, I refute the ignorant comments of others about him. Case in point: B. I don't think he is better, I think his SKILLSET is needed and greatly missed. And I am glad you are now speaking for the majority Sammy, I must have missed that election. And I have repeteadly said we need them both to win.....also when they are both off, we have no chance of winning.....we need them both.... DD
I think you are turning the blind eye with that argument, the difference is way too palpable and I know you don’t need to be explained all the ways Lowry has been so much better. It’s all about making the other guy work like a horse for his points, the way Battier does even if Kobe went 9/10 on him for most of the night, and I am saying that’s what Lowry gives you (or at least close to it) and AB doesn’t . We all know we can’t expect AB to be a stopper, but he has to rotate much better, he has to do a much better job with his defense awareness overall, and simply, he has to be more of a challenge than more of a cupcake to score on. I think we can all agree on that.
We do need his skillset. But we also need an upgrade from his skillset to be a true contender. We need his skillset packaged in a much larger frame that can get to the FT lien more frequently and can defend. This is a team of parts, parts, parts. Some of those parts need to be combined to form a singular player that has all those parts. Because the sum of those parts in one player is greater than the individual parts added together. I love Brooks. But he is a part. I love Lowry. But he is a part. If we are actually able to combine some of our parts into a superstar that is a primary scorer and can distribute some and defend then we need Lowry more than Brooks. If we are actually able to combine some of our parts into a superstar playmaker/distributor that can also score, then we probably need Brooks more than Lowry. Right now, we need both because they are just parts.
DM does not make rotation decisions and RA has been dumb more often then not about making right subs and calling appropriate time outs.
I can say the same and say the other guys are teeing off on lowry because they don't have o guard him. Kobe was 9-10 coming off a game when he was 9-27 vs xavier genry and rudy gay guarding him. I agree he needs to anticipate passes and rotate better or contest better , but through the blindness of some is the fact lowry has been getting blown by alot by alot of different guards this year and he hasn't even played with the new,immobile yao. Right now, he's playing with the rockets best space defender in hayes. Look, lowry is a good player, brooks is a better player. When brooks get back, players will fall back into their roles and everyone will play better. If Ish had a tad bit more seasoning, I think he's better than lowry and right below brooks,but could actually surpass and put brooks on the bench. Lowry isn't good enough to do it just like he couldn't do it in memphis. He's basically like earl watson to me in terms of a guy good enough to push a starter, but not good enough to be the starter.
