this has been bugging me for a while now. let's look at things rationally, one player at a time. Ron Artest: not a go-to-guy. best as a 3rd option. cannot really create for himself off the dribble. people then wonder "why is he jacking up so many bad shots?" some are not smart at all (a few 3's at the end of the warrior game for example). for the most part the volume of shots comes from not having another player who can create on the perimeter. without tmac, he's the best the rockets have out there and it falls on his shoulders to create something. again, sometimes he does take some bone head shots. those you can criticize. however, it's important to keep in mind that if another perimeter scorer was out there, ron probably wouldn't have the ball out of his comfort zone so often. Aaron Brooks: the poor kid has taken a beating from the fans and i really wonder how many people truly blame him and think he sucks, or are just frustrated with the situation and need to take it out on a scapegoat. so a late first round pick who never really played a significant amount of games in his rookie year, let alone make the rotation, is thrust into being a starter half way through his sophomore year. this isn't the recipe for success. of course there will be growing pains. you can complain about his weakness on defense. that is a deserved criticism. he's got the quickness to stay in front of anyone. there is no reason to get beat off the dribble as much as he does. again, to that i say, think of how inexperienced the kid is at the nba level. what can you really expect of him? his court vision isn't that good. he's never going to be starter material. those aren't insults. it's probably a fact that he's better as an earl boykins type of scoring only spark off the bench. so what if he's never going to be a great assist man? i'll take a great 6th man scoring punch off the bench next year when lowry starts. some people will look at him as a starter and say "only x number of assists?! he sucks, he needs to be traded, etc..." just because he's a better fit off the bench doesn't make him a bad player. keep in mind that he, like ron, is being asked to take a few more shots than they should be taking. so why is AB still starting over lowry? i think everyone can agree that lowry is a true pg, with nice court vision, passing ability, and can defend. this guy should be the starter... next season. this team needs stability. there was so much lineup change during this season. i believe once rafer was traded and brooks was put into the starting lineup, RA decided that's the last change we're gonna see this season. consistency = chemistry = success. i'm sure that after lowry goes through training camp next year he will be the starter and AB will move back to a more comfortable roll of spark off the bench.
ron makes boneheaded plays at times; ab has tunnel vision issues and that's fatal for a starting pg (i don't care if he's a scoring-first pg). i agree too much is too much, but you haven't convinced me why some criticisms on ron and ab are not justified.
Ron deserves the criticism he gets. He is a ballhog at times...simply refusing to pass. And thats not because we don't have any other options. That's just Ron being Ron. AB I think is unfairly critized by many on this board. Kid's doing as well as he can under the circumstances.
I've given up on Artest, there will be times he sees a guy wide open and refuses to pass to him. Brooks shouldn't start, he's simply not starter material at this point and is best suited providing a scoring spark off the bench like Wafer. Lowry is a much better point guard. I also think if Brooks comes off the bench to do his thing, he'll take less heat. This team is pretty much the Ron and Brooks show whenver these two are on the court together, and its infuriating to see them play at times.
I agree 100% with your analysis. If we had Kobe, our fans would be talking about how he doesn't dunk as much as they want, he just takes bad shots. If we had Lebron, they'd be upset over his 34 percent 3pt shooting. Cheer for your team, fools.
I also disagree with the stability notion that Brooks should still start. Playoffs are all about adjustments, you can't be stubborn and not make changes.
I honestly don't see Lowry do a whole lot better than Brooks as a starter. If Kyle started he would be the scapegoat on this board. Our two PGs are very young and they are not top notch PGs in the league yet. A lot of people just don't realize that.
Aaron Brooks is weak in the following area: 1. Court vision. He doesn't see play develop ahead of time. Unlike Lowry, who already knew how certain plays develop before he even pass the ball. 2. Passing skills...he's weak. He can't pass over defender so he had to rely on bouncing pass and then his pass got intercepted because his decision to pass the ball is either too late or not quick enough. 3. Defense is weak also. He can never stay in front of his man...his footwork is horrible. This is the main reason this guy doesn't start over Rafer even though he's a better shooter than Rafer. Lowry passed all those step above. His shooting isn't bad imo because he's an excellent FT shooter and has great form. Eventually he will become a great shooter. I can see him being a starter. Also one other thing and this is very important: Lowry has the IQ and hunger to take over game. Did you see him drive recklessly and just will his way to the basket for two?? That's the desire you want your player to be.
Whole lot for nothing: So, you are saying Ron isn't a go-to guy but he thinks of himself as a go-to guy, takes ill-advised shots because he isn't that good and we don't have better parameter options available? hmm, how about passing and searching for a shot? (actually I'm not hard on Ron. He gives you some unexpected things.) you are saying AB sucks, but it's not his fault he starts? Well, that's exactly what people are saying. there goes your dissertation.
I'll point out Lowry's strengths over Brooks: -Far superior finisher around the rim, can absorb contact and finish -Takes much better shots and plays within the system, thats why his fg% is so much higher than Brooks. On top of that, he plays much more controlled. -Better at passing and getting his teammates involved -Much better defender -Better ball handling ability The only thing Brooks is better at than Lowry is really 3 point shooting, but even so Lowry is still no slouch. He's shown that he can consistently hit wide open 3s when he needs to.
not at all. i never said ron thinks of himself as a go-to-guy, and thats why he takes some bad shots. i'm saying he's being asked to do things outside of his comfort zone because there isn't a better option. blaming ron for taking a high volume of shots, or trying to do things outside of his comfort zone, is just missing the big picture. i never said ab sucks. i said he has his faults, but those who want to say that he sucks are not realizing that he too is being asked to do things that aren't quite in his skill set. if he were coming off of the bench to score like von wafer, people would be singing his praises.
Well Ron Artest.... As for Brooks, he's basically a rookie out there, i'm never too hard on the guy he's going to take his lumps. I just know one thing...Rafer would have missed 3 of those 4 clutch FTs tonight
Ron...that's just the way he plays. If you watch his play in Sactown, you'd know. But I can live with that. AB...when people say AB sucks, they really mean AB sucks as a starting PG. Ready or not, fair or not, if you're starting, people measure you as a starter. (remember many folks, including you, can't wait for him to start?) So there.
But Rafer would have much better chance to dish out 8 assists against this Worrier team and a small Rox lineup, and those FTs wouldn't even needed.
Artest makes bonehead plays, but he still does a lot good things, basiclly everything when he's under control. He basiclly played under control the past 2 games. AB is a different story. He is good off the bench as a spark plug, or when we need 3 pointers to catch up, need to speed up etc. But he doesn't have starting PG quality. His sikll set is suited as a shooting guard. But his size is too small to play that position. It's not AB's fault since we don't really have that many options at PG, but look at his PG play I have to worry about how Rox will hold up when defense in playoffs gets tight and we don't have a starting PG who can get the ball to the right person at right time.
Artest is fine as long as he stays within the offense. The problem is keeping him in the offense. Brooks needs more playing time. He's got a lot of potential but he's only a sophomore.
