I know I'll get flamed for this, but I'd like to see what Steve Francis has before we jump into any crazy trades. We're 3-1, our one loss was a close one to the champs and we played sloppy and uninspired ball.
Steve has already proven that he can't play Adelman basketball. He proved that last year. If he has learnt anything new, then maybe its worth give him a shot. I say give him very limited minutes and see what he can do. I expect he plays just like he did at the beginning of last year. (Which was really bad).
i say, play barry as the starter. And AB as the 2nd PG along with Battier. The 2nd unit of AB, Barry, Artest, Landry and hayes, could now be battier. Talk about killer defense. Heck, take out hayes and put in Tmac. Thats a unit that teams like celtics could not just play big on us. As their big guys will have no match up on the defensive end. We basically have 5 shooters, and the 2 players that will post is artest and tmac who play the wings. With battier back, yao on the bench will not be felt as bad. Without battier, by playing AB and Barry, it puts a lot of pressure on the players in the paint, as 1 is small while the other is slow, allowing guards to post or penetrate at will.
Brooks is better coming off the bench. If we start him, Rafer will play back up. Just let Rafer start but give Brooks significant more minutes and play him down the stretch.
If you start Brooks, then who is going to come off the bench? Rafer? Who can not shoot, score, then what is useful for the team. Please do not say Luther is the one for the PG.
I think Brooks is a good spark plug off the bench for 20+ minutes. He can't start nor play long minutes because he will get abused at the defensive end. We need to start Barry at PG but half of the time let TMac initiates the offense which he does quite often anyhow. Rafer needs to go sit next to Head on the bench.
If he hasn't produced by February, get him out of here and try to move him along with Head / Hayes / Francis for a nice back-up behind Brooks.
I agree with you to let AB play down the stretch and play more minutes but i think its so important for us to get off to an early start(lead) in games to kinda set the tone for the rest of the game and when you start strong, you tend to maintain the early confidence throughout.
How easily you guys forget who led us through the Winning Streak while T-Mac and Yao were injured. I understand that the PG play is the most exciting position to watch play, and when Rafers shots arent falling it is not too fun to watch. But what you dont see is the veteran knowledge that Rafer uses to manage the clock, game tempo and distribute the ball. The hustle on the defensive end, and the leadership on the entire floor and locker room. It should also be said who the rest of the team is most comfortable with getting them the ball and setting up the plays. Like it or not, this person is Rafer. Granted he is no Steve Nash or Chris Paul, but he is the best that we have. Brooks still lacks the above qualities and it will take time for him to gain them.
Couple things that make me hesitate doing this. 1. Last year Rafer was very efficient at running the offense. I don't mean scoring himself, but just setting it up. See hte playoffs last year to see what I mean. It's only a matter of time before he and the rest of the starters are in better sync. 2. Aaron Brooks and the rest of the second squad seem to have incredible chemisty. Do you want to break that up? 3. Having a great point guard with our starters is less necessary since we have 3 guys who can pretty much create on their own. I'm inclined to let them figure it out and let the 2nd unit come in and do what they do. Now if Rafer continues to struggle really, really bad you have to start limiting his minutes. Let Brooks play 35-40 a game and have Rafer in there just to rest Brooks for a little. However I think it would be better for the team overall if we stuck with Rafer at least for a few more weeks and see if he and the rest of the starters can get it going. Gut reaction decisions (ala "BENCH HIM!") are usually r****ded.
