I agree wholeheartedly with this, and would like to call Game 2 of the Jazz-Rockets 2008 playoff series to the stands. Brooks had a stretch where he torched Utah, and all of my friends were thinking "where did this come from?", but then his youth showed, he missed a couple shots, and came out, and we subsequently lost. This year is a Brooks who has basically taken all his good stretches from last year and made them much more constant while his lapses are much more scarce.
The thing about Brooks is he exploits defense. You have to leave a big under the basket cause he can blow by his defender at any given moment. Therefore any mistakes or lapses in defense schemes gives us easy easy baskets. Rafer gets wide open shots, which he misses...Brooks gets wide open layups and other good shooters open looks. FFS we are averaging ~110 ppg with Brooks in the starting lineup. Going back to Rafer is a MISTAKE, leave Brooks as the starter until someone actually exploits him.
I think Brooks explosiveness and speed on the court can wear down a defense and point guards chasing him around.
I don't know if we can consider Brooks a defensive liability anymore, at least when compared with Rafer. The game against the nets showed it. There was this one play Harris decided to attacked the defense himself, in which he airballed. Did anyone see that play? Harris ran into Brooks, but Brooks simply took the contact with his body and stood his ground. Then Harris tried to shoot but airballed horribly. When I saw that play, I knew Brooks meant it defensively. Perhaps we'll see it again in 2K's highlight, but I'm 100% sure, Brooks was sending a message to the defense. Something along the lines of "you're bigger than me, but you aren't walking over me".
I am glad to admit I was wrong about AB, I thought he would be a mediocre Tyron Lue type of marginal NBA player. But so far he has developed into a solid NBA guard despite his size and height shortcoming, he is quick, and accurate, he did not become defense liabilty as we concerned. Keep it up AB, he will then be a key factor to help pushing Rockets further into playoff
Guys when I played the point I could dominate guys my size it was those little runts that would frustrate me because of their quick feet hands and their low center gravity its almost like a big guy you can always see them but those midgets were just annoying.
3 games are not enough to make a fair judgement. imho there are 3 factors that each played a part on the opposing point guards not playing too well. 1. brooks has played good himself (offensively and defensively). 2. team defense (defense is still played by the whole team). 3. luck (all 3 opponents had basically off-nights regardless of the defense). imho it's impossible for brooks and the rockets to keep up with that. at some point the picture will look different again because you just can't deny the facts that brooks is not the best defender and that he has a lot of disadvantages because of his body (speed can't make up for the lack of strength AND size on defense). i mean i hope that the streak of brooks / the rockets shutting down good point guards without rafer continues forever but i just don't see it.
Something else to keep in mind is that Aaron Brooks is his own 1 man fast break. He and Scola are basically our fast break points. Rafer is not a good 1 on 1 fast break player.
Denial is not just a river in Africa. You are going to have to come to terms that Brooks is just better. DD
I know lots of fans are really hyped up over his recent performances (to be honest, I am too -- it really is a lot of fun to finally have a point guard who can shoot the heck out of the ball and break down defenses at will). But unlike most fans, I don't have a short memory, and I am never in favor of making knee-jerk reactions after a few games. I think Aaron still has a lot of growing to do, and he is still better served learning under Alston for now. While his personal offensive game is already very good, his point guard skills and floor leadership abilities still need a lot of development. I see him eventually taking over that mantle from Rafer, but right now this team needs Rafer, in my opinion. And as far as Rafer's offensive game goes, I think this is also an indicator of fans' short memory -- I still vividly remember how Rafer played last season and how instrumental he was to that 22 game winning streak. I still remember how we just couldn't get it together during the playoffs against the Jazz because of his injury. I definitely want AB seeing plenty of burn. But I think we've had all the regular season fun we need. We need to see the big picture, and I know Adelman feels the same way -- which is why he isn't going to bench Alston just because Brooks suddenly started playing well in his absence. That's what bad teams do.
exactly....we all though he will get torched by billups because of the billup's postup ability. I though Denver did not exploit that enough, but still aaron did a gd job.
Small sample size. I love Brooks and hope every day that he will eventually take Rafer's job. But I need to see him play some more against good PG before I declare him the heir.
Wow, can't believe no one has commented on this excellant post. AB is finding out what he can do in the league and is gaining confidence. He puts way more pressure on the other team offensively than Rafer, and that adds much more to the team than Rafer's supposed "true point guard skills". Think of how comfortable Brooks should be by the time playoffs get here. Brooks was a prolific scorer in college and he has learned how to use those skills, speed and quickness to score in the NBA. As far as his defense goes, what the heck do you think Rafer does that Brooks doesn't. Brooks is way better at staying in front of the quicker guards, and any guard that can post up Brooks can for sure post up Rafer.
AB for President! On a serious note though, AB's offensive ability outweighs his disadvantages on defense. The spacing on the floor is much better with AB on the court, and not to mention Yao can take over the paint inside with teams respecting AB's ability to shoot the ball. Having Rafer on the court puts too much pressure on Yao inside and he becomes a turnover machine with the defenses collapsing on him. There is nothing wrong with starting Rafer, but I want to see AB getting more minutes atleast 32-35.
That is a bunch of bull. Who is supposed to be the leader(s) on this club? Rafer? Or McGrady and Yao? Do you realize that referring to us needing Rafer's floor leadership ability only magnifies the fact that McGrady is not taking his rightful place as the floor leader and Rafer is providing him and Yao their own personal security blanket to wander around waiting for Rafer to tell them what to do? Gimme a break! Rafer's floor leadership ability is so overrated and unnecessary when McGrady and Yao are on the floor. Who do you think is a better creator/distributor, McGrady or Rafer? Who do you think the other teammates would respect more as a leader if he would be the leader, McGrady or Rafer? Durn it, who is supposed to be leading out there!?!?! Don't you see, we don't NEED Rafer's leadership when McGrady and Yao are out there. We may need his leadership when McGrady is out. But we don't need his leadership when McGrady is out there if McGrady will do his job. What we need is a point guard that will defer and hand the ball to McGrady and will run around and get his and continue to facilitate everybody else behind McGrady. This team will not go from good to great until this happens. For all Rafer's floor leadership strengths, he is better served running with the 2nd unit and keeping those guys in check. They need more floor leadership than the starting unit with McGrady and Yao. The starting unit needs firepower and space for McGrady and Yao to operate by having guys around them that can bang down shots and finish. The transition to Brooks running primarily alongside McGrady with Rafer shoring up the 2nd unit is an obvious event in the future that is necessary for us to move to the next level. And the sooner the better. Look reality in the face guys. Rafer's stock would go up in my eyes if he would simply go to coach and tell coach to start Brooks. It's the best thing for the team, now.
ok so the starting pgs have performed poorly the past 4 game against brooks but the back ups seem to have done pretty well. i know this isn't a perfect analysis but it is just something else too look at. here are the raw numbers 4 games starters v. brooks 28.5 mpg 37.8 FG% 25% 3p% 77.8% FT% 2.25 rpg 3.25 apg 1.75 to/g 11 ppg 4 games for the back ups 24.5 mpg 50% FG% 60% 3p% 80% FT% 2.25 rpg 2.75 apg .5 to/g 14.5 ppg
