The Rockets haven't played many of the quick guards this year. Maybe more shifty than quick, but Amen got the defensive assignment on Brunson in the second half and was excellent. I don't recall Brooks on Kyrie (I think he was probably either on Doncic or preswitching so Dallas could not get their centers lobs). I remember Simmons and Halliburton doing well last season against the Rockets. Not sure how much that was on Brooks, but if he could guard those players well, he would have been the guy on them as no one else on those teams are worth having him defend. Maybe my memory is faulty, but when I remember Brooks's best defense, it is usually frustrating the bigger guys and just keeping the offense from what they want to do. This is anedotel, but I don't get as good of vibes when Brooks is matched up against smaller players than I do against the bigger players. Amen, specifically, he navigates screens well and can handle quickness/shiftiness in isolation and PnRs very well.
With this Rockets roster, it makes sense that Brooks never get the quick guard assignments on defense. He's basically the team's only bruiser type defender so it would be a waste to put him on shifty guards.
If a quick guard is beating your team nearly singlehandedly and someone on your team is capable of guarding them, that person should guard them. On guarding big guys, he's probably the best against skilled big guys, but Jabari and Tari aren't completely ineffective even if they don't fit as bruiser defenders. For the starters, I don't see FVV as a good guard on the quicker guys and Brooks is the best POA defender of the bunch. Maybe it is because of the guys on the team, but Green still doesn't look great at the POA.
The poster that I replied to said "Every time he gets switched on quick guards he gets eaten alive.". I was just curious as to who the poster percieved as eating Brooks alive.
When guarded by Brooks, Lillard was 2-5 (40% fg%) and 0-1 on 3 pointers and 1 turnover and 1 assist. That's below his season average on fg%, 3pt% and ast/to ratio. Do you classify that as "eaten alive"? You said "every time he gets switched to a quick guard he gets eaten alive". Obviously, that's not the case. Can you even name one? I'll give you a hint, it's not Kyrie, Ja or Ivey.
We're at the 4 week mark for Jabari's injury I believe. They said 4-8 weeks. We should start seeing him in practice the next couple of weeks. Dillon vs Jabari begins soon.
I don’t think he’s coming back for another 6 weeks. He opted for no surgery. Ime said he’s nowhere close.
I heard on the radio him saying the later part of the timeline they predicted and maybe more depending how they feel. Don’t want to rush him. I bet he comes back mid March.
Ahh but I took that to mean the later part of 8 weeks. Hairline fracture in the hand is not that big a deal, I think he'll be in full practice by 8 weeks.
https://www.si.com/nba/rockets/news/houston-rockets-jabari-smith-jr-still-a-key-piece-moving-forward This dude reading my posts or something? hahaha
Jabari is a more versatile defender than Dillon. Dillon can guard stretch bigs in the perimeter but not in the paint. Jabari can do both. On offense, Dillon is shooting better than Jabari so far this season. It's really a hard choice between the two. I'm leaning toward Jabari because he is much better at rebounding. I think he will thrive playing alongside with Amen.
the defense has been worst since Jabari went down. The rebounding has been worse since Jabari went down. Brooks 3 pt% went down for a while, but he has been hot the last few games. As long as we keep winning Ime will bring Jabari off the bench, but Jabari is the clear winner in my opinion.
Ime originally said because of the decision to go the "no pins" route of healing, it may take another week to heal. That was about 2 or 3 weeks ago. Earlier this week or sometime late last week, I think, Udoka said he had no further updates on the situation.
We miss Jabari so much, don't think many are noticing. His height inside, shooting, rebounding, was blocking shots really well, relatively switchable, plays his role well for the most part. Was ready to take on some 3PT volume from the backcourt. Should be out of a cast any day now and shooting alone in a week to 10 days. It's his non-shooting hand so I think we will be fine. I guess that's better for his rhythm too, because when your shooting hand is in a cast you lose critical muscle mass and balance.
