Brooks is really playing bigger than he is (size-wise). Watching the games this year I notice that he's holding his own boxing out bigger guards and even forwards at times for rebounds. He's right there in the middle for putbacks. He's thin but giving it all he has. That's what really is separating him from other little guards and getting playing time. I'm impress each game moving forward how he's adapting to the NBA dispite his small size and not allowing bigger guards to take advantage of this. He usually get's posted up when he comes in but as the game moves on this becomes clear to the other team it's not effective. Everyone know's he's quick and has a nice touch from the outside but I don't think many people would have imagined him being able to drive in for layups consisitently each game. What I love most is his ability to finish inside. He'll get blocked at times but more often then not he'll make the layup. I can't stand to watch Rafer go inside. Point is I'm starting to forget that he's smaller than the other PGs out there when I use to think this would always be a issue.
He is still young so folks shouldn't be surprised when he has a stretch of bad games. I believe his decision making should get better as his career progresses.
Running a pnr with rafer is useless. Why? He is no threat to penetrate or shoot the mid range jumper. So when they run it, the defense only has to honor the roll. The pnr is 3-d if run right. That's why when healthy, tracy makes it work because he can drive, pullup, or pass. Rafer has 1 of 3, brooks has 3 of 3. There is a huge difference.
They are still inexperienced. With more playing time and their determination and willingness to learn, I am sure Rox offense would improve with Von (SG) and Aaron (PG) as starters. If Rafer don't improve his shot selection, he'd better be a bench player.
brooks has got to learn how to pass. if he doesn't, he'll never be a starter in this L. dude has one of the quickest triggers i have ever seen. he's def. not shy. if he just improves his post passing (so he can play better when yao is in the game) and general playmaking, he'll be a gem. but judging from his play since he's gotten into good graces with adelman, dude shoots all the damn time. every game, it appears he is top 3 in shots taken.
Yeah, because in addition to passing he's a legitimate threat scoring. There's no question he should be starting.
people want him to start simply b/c rafer is just beyond awful. but ultimately, brooks is not starting material as of yet. if you saw the past few games, even i would think luther head is a better post passer than brooks. brooks can score, but a lot of guys can score also. if he wants to start, he needs to improve his playmaking.
i knew Refer is awful in shooting, but he does provide controlling pace of game, his defense is good and most importantly he is only G beside tmac who can pass ball to yao. seriously, you people, if brooks is not making the shot, he is terrible, he will be defense weakness, the reason our defense is falling down is that when you put brooks in, our lineup is short, wafer is playing no defense at all, scola played below ave-defense, so how can our defense be good.
I concur with those saying he needs to improve his passing. When he breaks down the D he usually has eyes for the bucket rather than the open man. Love him though, and that sort of penetration where he looks to slash all the way to the goal is needed with TMac unable to do his normal things. If AB can find the right balance, and get better at reading situations (which will come with experience) then he has a bright future in this league (and hopefully as a Rocket)
Once again, we talk about improvement in pg play and someone wants rafer to play because he passes it to yao. Brooks passes it to yao also, but when someone is frontng or overplaying, he does what basketball players do and attack the rim. He's a good enough playmaker, he just needs experience like parker had to learn. They had the vet backing up the rook vs the other way around.
agreed. maybe we really need to experiment the idea of letting mcgrady play the 1 once he's healthy? aaron would be a tremendous backup pg for a championship caliber team. too bad we don't have an excellent starting pg. but then again, if mcgrady plays 1, who starts at the 2? you know wafer would be weak. something is missing here.
Mcgrady is the pg and what I said this summer is the big scoring days of tracy are over. He is better suited in the magic-like role. So a byron scott/paxson/armstrong type of 2 is suited. That guy has to be able to play against pg's, yet score like a sg. He has to be dangerous enough to score and able enough to run a break or even the offense. Does that sound like Rafer or Brooks? That's why I think brooks may more sense. He can do all those things and plus he will push the tempo and make the other wise mello yao,tracy, and shane pick it up. That's why the team was getting of to fast starts vs the slow we got off to once rafer came back.
