Looking ahead to the summer - Do we extend Brooks?

Made up BS alert...made up BS......

DD

 

I hope you read carefully enough to understand he meant by FTA...

 

How has getting the MIP award have anything to do with Brooks' FUTURE growth as a player?
He made the biggest jump THIS year, how many players got the MIP award (outside of sophomores) and then went on to improve significantly after that?
Surely he can't be in running for the MIP award two years in a row?
Also, brooks is already in the second tier of PGs in the league, do you see him becoming as good as Paul, Williams, or Nash?

YOUR statement was the ridiculous one.

 

So what if he doesn't become a top tier PG, who cares?

He is good enough to win a championship.

Seriously, Brooks is underated by so many people on this board.

How many PGs can shoot the 3ball as well, score nearly 20ppg and dish 5 assists in their first year as a starter...heck....even in their 3rd years?

Not very many.

DD

 

My bad. I see your point now. It was just a bit ambiguous within the context of the thread and the post you were quoting.

That may be somewhat true, but remember that Brooks will be a RESTRICTED free agent. Plus, the number of teams with significant cap room in 2011 AND in desperate need of a PG are not that great. The Rockets can match any offer sheet and would likely do so. Most teams won't even bother making Brooks an offer next summer. Meanwhile, Brooks's cap hold (barring some drastic change in the CBA that does not allow grandfathering in cap rules for 2011) will only be about $6M, which will likely be less than the salary Brooks will expect to receive. Waiting to re-sign him will allow the Rockets to have more cap room in 2011.

Great points about Lowry's ability to play alongside Yao. I would add, however, that the additions of Kevin Martin and Trevor Ariza may allow for Lowry and Yao to play together a little more than late last year. Martin's shooting ability will open some things up a little; and both Martin and Ariza are "full-court players" who can get out on the fast break with Lowry. Plus, we all know how good a fast-breaking "big" Luis Scola is.

I truly believe that the Rockets' philosophy next year will be for Yao to get the defensive rebound and to then start the fast break with the outlet pass. Only if nothing is there on the break will the Rockets set up in the half court. By then, Yao will have plodded his way down the court.

I'm not saying that Lowry will/should start over Brooks. Based on what we've seen so far, Aaron is definitely a better fit with the starting unit. But if Brooks were traded for Bosh, I would not have serious reservations about going into camp with Kyle Lowry as the starting PG on a team with potentially three All-Stars in the starting lineup and a fifth guy (Ariza) who loves to run. That said, I would want the Rockets to try to move some of their other assets to bring in a good shooting PG, or at the very least bring over Sergio Llull a year early (buyout be damned!).

 

You make an excellent argument here, made me think twice about my earlier suggestion, HOWEVER Kyle will not be playing along side pre-foot surgery Yao instead he will play with post-foot surgery Yao which means 20-25 minutes a night Yao. I keep hearing how the new Yao will be Kareem like in that the team will run run run and if nothing develops then pull back and run the half court so this plays perfectly into Lowry'sstrengths. I will agree 3 point shooting would be an issue but hey if Lowry wants to be a starter in this league the dude needs to hit the gym this offseason and make himself a better shooter. Avery Johnson was a horrible shooter and made himself in a pretty good one, so it can be done.

All this is assuming Morey stands pat and does nothing else with the position but that would be hard to believe. We still would have the MLE and LLE to work on getting a replacement for Brooks if Morey feels Lowry isn't the answer. Take for example Raymond Felton who will be a free agent, while the guy doesn't score as much as AB he shoots a bit better from the field and the same from 3 point land while bettering AB in most other categories. Felton could be a guy gets to replace AB if he is traded in a BIG trade. He is only one example but a lot of people make it seem he is irreplaceable and that is simple not true. No one on this team should be untouchable and all options should be explored if it brings us the missing link to be a title contender.

 

Im not questioning Brooks' ability - you missed my original post to which jeapardE replied to.
Im saying that Brooks' potential to be significantly better than he is right now is not very high.

 

Right now we dont know what Bosh wants at all other than he said he wants to be "the man" on the team from his past quotes. If he says he wants to go to Houston then yes Colangelo does have his hands tied a bit, but not completely. Houston doesnt have the Max money to sign Bosh and at the same time Bosh isnt going to leave the 20-30 million on the table that he would receive from re-signing a max deal from Toronto. If he wants to go to Houston via sign and trade Colangelo still holds a good deal of pull. He knows that there is no threat of Bosh leaving the team for nothing, and before anyone says its possible tell me the young, in his prime all-nba, all-star player that took a massive sized paycut like that to go to a different team. Players may use it as a threat but ultimately its about $$ to them.

IF it has to be a sign and trade Coangelo still has a lot of say of who he wants its not a position of "oh he wants to go here we'll take some of these things off your hands" The potential lotto picks are really nice but in a world of "what have you done for me now" Coangelo is going to have to show some sort of on court all-star type talent in November to appease the Raptors fans. Of the players on this Rockets team Brooks has that sort of hype after Yao and Martin.


Also to say Morey "played" them is a bit false I believe. Morey has been more than masterful in his moves but I believe if anything he has just gotten the maximum out of the deals he has made. take a look at his 3 biggest deals:

1) scola deal -- we get scola which is great and jackie butler (not as great) and the spurs got what they wanted in being able to get under the luxury tax and the savings it brings.
2) artest deal -- we get artest for a year helps us get to the 2nd round--great success! sacramento gets rid of a guy who wouldnt necessarily help their rebuilding process and gets two first round picks, Greene and Casspi out of it who are not rotation players for them
3)tmac/landry deal -- martin, hill and picks! woohoo! Sacramento again gets rid of a higher salary guy that isnt fitting with their future and get back a young PF that does and saves money in the process. NY who is all in to the summer of 2010 was able to clear enough cap space for two max free agents.


Basically while the Rockets do seem to come out ahead in every deal the other team also gets exactly what they wanted. That to me is the beauty of Morey, he realizes what other teams want, gives it to them but gets the maximum out of that team for it. If Coangelo wants Brooks Morey will give him Brooks if it means Bosh in return.

ick I do not want Amare at all on this team, so yes I would rather have the Bosh option

except that it is not 100% correct as you say (and that 100% correct is just YOUR opinion)

Lowry and Yao worked fine Lowry was one of the few players who actually was able to get it and pass the ball high to Yao where only he could catch it on plays and give proper entry passes. I remember watching when Lowry first got into the game it was obvious that he knew what worked in getting the ball to Yao. Brooks passes the ball far too low for Yao to properly catch or still makes bad decisions and gets caught up in the air with no where to go.

Lowry also is by far the better decision maker you talk about tougher defenses how many times has Brooks gone in late into traffic and instead of "Barreling" in for contact loses the ball and turns it over? To me even in a 1/2 court set Lowry sets up and runs the offense much better than Brooks does since he is a pass first shoot 2nd pg and Brooks is more of a natural SG.

To say Lowry comes in at times and has no effect at all is silly. There is a reason why this team did soo miserably when he was injured this year he does have an impact on the game even if he doesnt score.

Lowry shooting from 3pt land has much to be desired but he has improved from last season and most of the time he is smart enough to know not to take them and will try to penetrate for a shot that he is much better at.

Lowry had a higher PER and TS% during the regular season last year than Brooks

Brooks had a higher PER and TS% in the playoffs than Lowry, I would probably say you also have to look at the PGs he went up against, Blake and Fisher the two worst starting PGs in the west last year. Had Brooks faced Billups, Williams, Paul, Parker, Kidd over a 7 game series he would have been exposed a lot more and seen his PER and TS% go down. Lowry saw his minutes drop in the playoffs compared to the regular season, the favorable matchups for Brooks had to do with this. Sure Brooks may get the best of them in a single game but over a 7 game series give me Lowry to go up against those guys than Brooks.


Brooks' game really took off to another level when Martin joined the team if anything having Martin there helped him get more option looks and let him played off the ball a bit more since Martin can handle and is more of a playmaker. We dont know how Brooks will adjust to being there with both Martin and Yao back. Next year I would say Yao, Martin, Scola and then Brooks should be the scoring options in the starting 5 (Ariza being the last obviously). Right now Brooks is option 1A with Martin being 1B. Of the starters look to see Brooks and Ariza's touches to decrease the most. Scola will still get his looks as more often than not its his man near the paint that will come for the double as soon as Yao puts the ball on the floor to make his move. Brooks has been the most effective this season with the ball in his hands, he is going to see far fewer touches next year with Yao back and his perceived value for other teams will go down because of this.


In late game situation as DD brings up that you should have AB with the ball ...heck no I want Martin with the ball a much more talented offensive player that can get his shot off in traffic, beat his man off the dribble, get into the lane and finish AND also get to the line and hit his free throws late (something Brooks has had difficulty with late game FTs).

the way I see it right now with Martin and brooks in the backcourt you have two of essentially the same type of player, and while having both is great and it has shown with the 45-50ppg the two produce combined it is also a luxury. Give a choice of keeping Martin or Brooks I keep Martin and let Brooks go if it means being able to bring in an all-star like Bosh to the team.

With Lowry also being a RFA and DM stating that he will bring Lowry back (at the press conference after the tmac trade and in recent tweet stating how Lowry, Martin and Yao next year will be at the FT line a lot) it makes it hard for me to think Lowry will be moved after he is re-signed (plus he wouldnt be able to be moved as part of a package right away)

If Llull makes enough of a leap to be a backup PG or if Morey can find another "diamond in the rough" in the draft to be the backup PG then more signs point to Brooks being moved when his value is the highest much like Landry was.

for that matter I've said that I would not be surprised at all if a package of Brooks, Shane, Chase and one of the 2012 1st round picks was offered in a sign and deal package that involved one of the bigger FAs this off season it gives the team cap relief in shane and great young talent back now and future.

 

In this player's first FULL season as a starting PG (only the second season as a starter on a quasi-regular basis), he put up the following numbers:

20.3 PPG
5.8 APG
.469 FG%
.442 3PT%

That player's name: Mike James

Before you have a conniption fit about the differences between James and Brooks, just realize that my point is simply that one great statistical season on a mediocre team does not an All-Star career make.

When Yao comes back and Martin has a full training camp to be integrated into what the Rockets are doing, both with and without Yao on the floor, you will most definitely see Brooks's usage going down. Sure, he'll still play a lot and will get his share of threes and drives to the hoop. But I seriously doubt that Aaron Brooks will ever make an All-Star team. He is simply too small to ever have the total package of a truly well-rounded game, especially on the defensive end.

You may be right that he's good enough to win a championship with as your starting PG, but I'd rather get a superstar like Bosh (the caliber of player you REALLY need in order to win a championship) and take my chances with Lowry and another quality PG addition.

Just my opinion, though. Still love Brooks as a player.

 

yes....my favourite player...AB

 

I think you're missing the point of why DD likes AB and I agree with him. Regardless of game stats, take a look at Brook's ability in the last two minutes of games to break a defense down and generate clutch offense. Was James knocking down jumpshots over and over again in close late game situations in that season you bring up? I don't know but when I think of James, I think empty statistics like you're thinking. When I think of Aaron Brooks, I think of a player who has and is still developing as a dependable late game weapon. I see championship potential with Brooks not because of what he's doing the first 3 quarters of the game but what I've started to consistantly see from him this season as he has developed more and more confidence. He is proving that can take over in tight, late game situations. My knock against him is that he just needs to hit those last second free throws more often.

 

I'm confused, why would Brooks' usage go down because Yao comes back? I don't see him having less minutes, and if you mean offensive usage (as in shot attempts), I'm not sure that will be an issue either, since Yao is likely to come back playing cautiously and only 20-25 minutes per game.

Brooks already plays with two pretty high usage shooters in Martin and Scola and he still does his thing when they're in the game.

 

I'm just referring to the number of offensive plays being run for him.

With Yao back, most of the offense will go through him. Brooks will still get his touches, but the offense won't be based around just getting Brooks or Martin in one-on-one situations.

 

I am 100% sure Morey won't re-sign AB this summer unless AB accepts MLE type of contract. Morey wants to look at how the current players work together with Yao. AB is an undersized pg with below average defense. He also cannot run the offense efficiently like Lowry. The only advantage AB over Lowry is his perimeter shot which fits Yao very well.
If Landry's contract is 9M/3 yrs, No way AB can get 45M/5yrs from Morey. Rockets will probably do S&T if AB insists on that kind of salary and keep
Lowry.

 

At the end of next season,it will be proper to talk this topic.Regarding me,i hope he can stay.

 

I kind of envision the second unit looking something like this:

Lowry
Budinger
Ariza
Scola
Draft pick center

I'm putting Scola with the second unit (though he'll still see 30 minutes, most likely) because I see Hill as a better complement to Yao's abilities, and because the bench needs a scorer who can create for himself.

Hill is a mobile offensive rebounding machine who can come in and bring some weak-side shotblocking to cover up Yao's lack of agility. His mid-range jumper shows the signs of developing into a similar weapon to Scola's, so that part of it shouldn't be a problem.

I also put Scola in the second unit because Luis loves to run the floor (which is why Ariza is there). The bench becomes a change-of-pace unit which comes and and radically alters the tempo of the game.

I mention all of this to illustrate why I don't think Aaron Brooks will see his usage go down. Hill is a lower usage shooter than Scola, and Yao will only be on the floor when Scola is not.

 

Why?

He can improve in a lot of areas.

Defense, court vision, shooting better. He is not a finished product.

DD

 

Wasn't James in like his 5th or 6th year in the league, and how was Toronto's record that year.

And let's take your example.....you found like how many? One?

I think that sort of proves my point, not very many have done this.

DD

 

To bad this will be his first/last ''big'' contract. He's already 25.

 

We should wait one more year, but if we sign him now we might be able to do it for a little less. It's a tough situation but Morey will get it figured out.