Neither yourself or myself, at this point in time even know if Yao Ming will even play next season, never mind how good or how bad he will be. so we need to get off the high horse and be more humble about it! You like me and our fellow posters are no experts in prediction and dogma, just fans of the game and our Houston Rockets in particular.
That is exactly my point, you were the one that said When in fact, the team will more than likely NOT be centered around Yao, but Yao will be a big part of it. IF, he can stay healthy. This is true, but some fans are smarter, and understand the game of basketball better than others. Not all fans are equal. DD
Day 1, really Day -200 before the 2007 draft of Rick Adelman basically scouting and handpicking Aaron Brooks to be on his club. Thats really all that needs to be said.
Too true, Yetti. We don't know what kind of Yao Ming we'll be getting next year. Yao in a suit on the sidelines? Yao retired and living wherever he desires? Yao playing, but hobbling around, a shell of what he once was? Yao healthy, but slow and cumbersome? Could it be the Yao I hope to see, the Yao we should all want, a Yao closer to what he was when he first arrived in weight, but physically stronger? A Yao with more mobility, not less, who likes to pass and is good at it, along with his great talent as a shooter, as well as a terrific defensive rebounder and the Great Wall? That's the Yao I'm hoping for. I must be dreaming.
Has everyone forgotten that brooks was given that starting role right before the playoffs last year and he was our best player in those playoffs? Or that he leads the league this year in 3s made? Give the guy a season w Yao and martin and watch him become an all star
Reading tea leaves, I think it's evident that very few players will have a secure spot on next year's roster. Morey will be gunning aggressively for (LeBron) Bosh or Amare in a S&T, with others as back up options. I would not be surprised if Brooks joins Battier and others as bait. Landry should be evidence of that. Sell high, especially on guys that are scorers first, second, and third. Assuming we end up with an All Star SF or F/C next to Martin, I think the team will have very smartly removed pressure on Yao to carry the team. After such a long layoff, it would be irresponsible to just throw him out there as a primary option. Let him come off the bench, limit his minutes, let him play in the high post as a facilitator more, put him in a position to succeed and buld on it.
Well honestly the way things are going around the league who knows who could be traded. Our leading scorer was just traded weeks ago so who knows. Maybe Brooks can be dealt in a package maybe not but it is annoying for crazy threads to pop up cause someone is in a slump.. Let Yao have a slump. Im sure someone is going to come up with a thread about we need to trade him he sucks. Same goes for anyone. It happened to Ariza it happend to Scola and Battier.. When they were hot everyone was on the bandwagon.
Oh you must be referring to the days that the screamed and moaned about how Vspan wasn't getting enough time. How wrong the Rockets were for not playing him more, and how much better he was than the other PGs on the team. RIIIIIGHT. Your a freaking bastion of basketball knowledge. Maybe it was the days you were proclaiming Dan Langhi to be the next Larry Brid. Im tired of picking your posts apart piece by piece. Id throw the mandatroy "owned" or "pwnt" after each beatdown I gave you, but it seems you aren't into internet childish games. So lets go over the points that I have illustrated to you that you continue to not pay attention to. 1. The Rockets score more points, and give up fewer points when Brooks is on the Bench. 2. Brooks has a 1/3 chance of having a game with three or less assists, but a 1/14 chance of having more than double digit assists, and a 1/8 chance of having 5+ turnovers. Not very conducive to great PG skills. 3. Yao does not have a problem getting the ball, as apparant by his own numbers up until Brooks became involved. Ill point out again that he wen't from 13 ppg up to 25 ppg till Brooks came along. You used players from different decades to show proof of Centers who had less issue than Yao, but those players didn't play in an era were you could double team. Hakeem struggled mightily against the Sonics because they employed an illegal zone style defense that refs didn't call. Hakeem might of struggled alot more if zones and doubles were allowed before he caught the ball. 4. Since by your own words Brooks was all but an all star, and so was Landry, the Rockets sit outside of the playoffs and over two months have had exactly 2 winning streaks over 1 win. Both streaks were of two games. 5. You crazy if you think this teams offense isn't going to revolve around Yao Ming next year assuming the big guy is healthy. 6. Brooks is a shoot first, doesn't make his team better, look to score only, never drives to the lane with the intent of dishing, horrific defensive player, boneheaded PG. Who happens to score well and shoot well on a bad team. Im sure I could pile post upon post of you proclaiming how X player only puts up stats because he is on a bad team. Brooks is Steve Francis light. Nothing more, with less ceiling.
yeah but they had divac and webber, probably two of the top post passers in the league along with 3 3 pt shooters and bibby wasn't a bad passer either, their players were perfect for the system, but ours, not so sure. yao and scola are decent passers for post players, battier, martin, brooks are average if not below.
ROFLMBO!!!! I never knew how many people never really read thru the entire threads.... They read the title or the first post and then run with it... LOL!!! Like a teacher passing out a test with a blank cover sheet and instructions on the next page... After the teacher is finish passing out the test he tells the students to turn over the test pack and to READ all the questions first before answering anything. Finally, the kids turn over the packets, rip open the test and they read and ANSWER the questions... Once they get to the last questions it states... "Please only write down your first and last name... and then turn in your test"
that's great and all, but if nash or deron wanted to average 20+ppg they could, but don't forget they also average around 10 assists per as well, when you take that into account, who's more valuable. but brooks scores, which we lack now. so, he's a keeper.
brooks is an asset, he's a piece coveted by morey. young, very reasonable contract. this is my point here, we don't trade him for the sake of trading him. i see him more like i see landry. a player who has overachieved, and playing well, but we all know he's not going to be THAT player. if you think he's going to take us to the promise land, we'll good for you, but i disagree. we CAN trade him with a pick and or expiring contracts to get a better player, whether it be a post player or a wing or another PG.
1. Brooks is part of the best 5 man +/- teams on the Rockets. 2. Brooks is in an offense that does not require the PG spot to make something out of nothing. The PG basically brings it up and sets the offense in motion. The offense is a read and react setup where anyone can dish out the assists. Adelman has said time and again that Brooks is doing what he is supposed to be doing. Oh yeah, lets not forget about the guys starting with Brooks in Ariza, Battier, and Hayes. Offensive juggernauts those guys are. 3. Yao didn't face much of a fronting defense until the Warriors tried it in 2007. It worked for the most part, but there werent many other teams that had the capability of doing that. In 2008 he went down with injury, but the front was STILL a problem with Rafer Alston at the point. Bringing Scola in helped decrease the fronting because he would burn teams big time. There surely must be tons of highlights where the team fronted Yao and he burned them for an alley-oop right? Oh wait, I think that was once or twice his rookie year. 4. T-Mac was surely right about one thing, it takes 5. The Rockets as a whole have been playing poorly since Lowry started missing games. He is the key off the bench. He changes the pace with Budinger and Landry. Remember he has not played since the trade. 5. The offense can have a player as an integral part of it without revolving around it. An offense that revolves around one player who can be taken out of the game with a bracket defense is a flawed one. An offense that makes teams play straight up can be much more successful with Yao in it. 6. You must be watching a different Brooks. How bout that great pass to Martin on the break last night? Or maybe when he drove through the lane, sucked in the defense, and kicked it out to Martin for the wide open 3(which he drilled)? The offense just got revamped and he is averaging 6.5 assists per game since the trade. BTW, this point just reeks of an unnatural vitriol towards a player who is doing well from the POV of the coaching staff, GM, owner, and the rest of the league.
