LOL that is a BIG assuming, assumption that is. even though it seems, and it really seems lol , that tmac's attitudes changes when he's on the court with thee quote unquote ballhogs, e.g. francis, mike biatch james, bonzi whales, and scola, well, relatively more ballhoggin compared to chuckster hayes... So, Tmac better adjust when comes back... though i always have a feeling that tmac is so much more complicated a person than we clutchfans assume him to be... i really like tmac as a basketball player and a person in many senses, so i'm not worried
What offense is it in that doing his job = shooting 33% from the field, most of which were his predictably wide open shots. SOme big shots? Name one other than the one you just said. Also, I don't understand how his job was to be absolutely eviscerated by Deron Williams AND then disemboweled by Derek Fisher. Williams - fine, he's a great player, but when Derek Fisher is your kryptonite, that is not an optimal performance. As for the "throw in another player" argument, not to excuse McGrady from sucking and sulking as usual, but yeah when you have a series that is decided by a few close plays you can say that for any player, role player, superstar etc - if Yao grabs those rebounds, if Luther hits some shots, if if if if....blah
I remember during the last Mavericks game at the TC, Yao and Brooks were practicing post entry bounce passes during the team's pre-game warm-ups. I thought to myself at the time that it wasn't going to work. Luther Head who is 6'3 has trouble so how is a 6'0 point guard going to do better? Plus they were bounce passes ... They have to be pretty much perfect for a big man to receive in scoring position. Hakeem Olajuwon hated them. But Brooks has really surprised me with his chemistry with Yao. Since Brooks has gotten into the rotation, it seems like all the bigs and especially Yao are getting more shots near the basket in scoring position. Yao has shown no trouble catching the bounce passes during the game and Brooks is really developing chemistry with all the bigs on where they should get the ball.
Thats what happens when you have guys that can penetrate and create plays. Same thing happened when Francis got playing time, the bigs got easy shots from Francis creating plays off the pentration. That is what we are missing from Skip and Head. Skip is a decent PG, he makes the right passes when guys get in position but he doesn't create plays. Case in point, Skip got most his turnovers last night trying to beat guys off the dribble, which is not his forte. Head is a good shooter so there is always room for him. Brooks is a play maker and can shoot well. James is a black hole that never passes. Francis is a play maker but doesn't shoot well. Rafer is a safe PG, doesn't shoot well and is not a play maker.
It's very early, but I do like his A/TO ratio (about 2) and his FG% (47); as a Brooks apologist from day one, I'm not totally surprised. It's interesting to review the draft, even though it's way too early to do that. Or it's interesting to me at least. Glen Davis of Boston has a better efficiency number in more minutes, but it's amazing that as a post player, he's not shooting any better from the field than our rookie guard Brooks. Afflalo is getting similar minutes in Detroit but producing quite as much (though they're close in EFF #s). Aaron Gray (Bulls) is surprising from the 2nd round. But nobody else taken under Brooks is showing any signs of life at all. Splitter's not here yet, so that's a question mark I guess. McRoberts was a pick some people wanted and he hasn't scored yet for a young Portland team. And I won't even get to some of the people taken over him (e.g Almond, Cook, Crittendon...) I mean, I'd rather have Brooks than Noah at this point. You can say some of those guys haven't had the chance that Brooks has had, but for better or worse, Brooks has won time against three (allegedly solid) veterans.
Yep, for the most part the PG position can either make or break a team. PG is the QB. He facilitates the offense, sets up his shooters on the break or goes inside to his C or PF to draw the defense or get the ball down low in advantageous positions to create multiple scoring opportunities and/or get their big guys in foul trouble and force them to play your game.
More accurately, 2 of those 3 veterans have earned bench time, paving the way for Brooks to get some minutes.
This couldn't have been possible if JVG were the coach. Anyway, if in that case, AB would not have been drafted.
I will root for Aaron Brooks as longest he keeps a pass first (to Yao especially) mentality. He jacked up some bad shots today. I think I saw a 15 ft+ floater at one point...
