I think the reason why Brooks is a more attractive trade piece is for a variety of reasons. The main ones supported by posters so far are that he does fit in with the system better than Brooks once you add Yao and Bosh to the mix because the paint becomes infinitely more clogged and a penetrator like Brooks has less utility. My added reasons for preferring Lowry over Brooks (straight up) are: 1. Brooks had better stats last year, was named the MIP of the NBA, and as such has the most trade value. 2. Brooks stands to make a lot more money over the next five years than Lowry who will probably get his 3-5M per year contract for the next five years in this offseason. Brooks in an open market next year might cost 8-12M per even if he only costs 2M this year. 3. While Brooks is a shooter and Lowry is not, someone like Rondo has shown that you don't need to be a good shooter to coexist on a team of stars, just don't make stupid decisions. Lowry and Rondo share this trait, and they have a similar bulldog mentality to their games that lends itself to winning. The difference between the two of course is that Rondo is long and creative in the paint to get the majority of his points, where Lowry is equally athletic but manifested as not length but a combination of speed and strength. He barrels his way into the paint, draws fouls, shoots free throws, and makes them at a much higher rate than Rondo does. This component of his game also synergizes well with Martin and Yao, both foul-drawing free-throw-shooting aces who become much more effective in the bonus. 4. The other thing Lowry and Rondo have in common, and the most important point of the four: DEFENSE. By carrying this bulldog mentality and combining above average strength at the point, Lowry is a much better on-ball defender (and team defender I would say) than Brooks. You can't really hope to win a championship playing Mike D'Antoni Don Nelson basketball; you NEED defense. In the last decade, the Spurs, Pistons, Celtics, and Lakers have all proven this. In the backcourt, I'll take someone as offensively efficient as Kevin Martin even if he's defensively up to snuff, but you can't afford to have both backcourt spots so inept at that end. Brooks loses to Martin by being less offensively efficient while just as if not more defensively lacking. It just makes senses to pair Martin up with Lowry. So no, even if all things were equal financially, I would still go with Lowry as my starter. If we keep Brooks I think he's a fantastic 6th man for his penetrating ability, but that skill is gonna take a hit with Yao back in the middle. He can still put up lots of threes, but Budinger and Martin and Battier can do that also. Give me defense or give me death. That needs to be our mantra if we have any hopes of making noise in June.
K-Mart might not have the handles of Brooks...but he can score and C-Bud is coming into his own. This has "potential" written all over it. Plus with Yao, Bosh, and possibly Ariza or Scola.........not bad.
No doubt that just about everyone would want to keep Brooks in the team, myself included, but it's tough to deny that he's probably the biggest trade asset over Chicago and Miami in a SnT scenario. Those 2 teams don't have anything nearly as attractive to trade seeing as their rosters are just about stripped of all their players and, by the article's I've read, Chicago's looking to keep the tandem of Noah and Rose intact and Miami's has what? Beasly and Chalmers for Bosh? Houston has a more attractive package to offer by far. On an interesting note, I wonder how they'd work with their PG rotation between AB and Calderon.
to me it seems like lowry is more of a "true" PG than brooks is. true everyone loves brooke bc he scores at clutch times and such, but at the end of the day a PG is a facilitator, someone who leads the team and distributes. lowry pushes the tempo at the correct times and his passes are almost always right on the dot. i would never want to give up brooks and i agree lowry must come off the bench, but if brooks were to leave, we would alrdy have a solid replacement
Yao of course because opposing PGs would fly by Martin to the basket forcing Yao to foul out in the first half....
LOL! The same can be said if Brooks is starting also. /Jus sayin/ Look. I'm just proposing an alternative...It's not doom and gloom as some on here paint it if we lose Brooks to get Bosh.
Brooks isn't a good defender, but at least he has his speed to help him stay with guys. With Martin on them opposing PGs would just go right by him forcing the other guys on the team to shift to stop the penetration. There would be more penetration and scoring than an orgy scene in Caligula!
Brooks is quick no doubt. But K-Mart would do just fine. Or fine enough. Not too many guards are driving down the middle with Yao waiting in the wings. Plus we would have Bosh as well......Double trouble in the middle.
Opposing teams would love to know that your strategy on defense was basically to rely on your foul prone, limp foot center to guard their POINT GUARD.
Rafer Alston, anyone? Actually, having a pg who doesn't scare opposing defenses wouldn't work too well IMO. Just think, if you ever had a guy like Rafer at pg even with that trio, opposing defenses could just focus more on stopping that trio than ever.
As we saw with Landry, Morey is willing to do what it takes to upgrade the team. Fan favorite or not. What I do think though, is, like Landry, Brooks is on the last year of his deal. It's nice to keep these guys, but when it's time to pay up, I don't think Morey is willing to break the bank. Hence trading them while their stock is high.
That's not my strategy....Just stating that would be a deterrent. The bigger question which I'm surprised you haven't touched on is C-Bud. Unless you feel he is capable of handling the sg...as starter that is. I'm sure the fo has plans in case Brooks has to be moved. I was just pointing out it could in fact work.
so true, players become fan favorites, but at the end of the day this is a business and we all have to get over it and Morey will only improve the team
You haven't actually pointed out that it could work. Martin at PG doesn't work. Martin at PG on defense is like having no one at PG on defense. It's not even because he's not a good defender, it's because he couldn't consistently stay in front of any pgs in the league. The other team would just run by him every play until you either took him out of the game or Yao fouled out. It would be a disaster. What do you mean we haven't touched on C-Bud? Are you suggesting him as the PG now? Edit: And Yao in the center would not be a deterrent to opposing point guards being guarded by Kevin Martin. Even if they didn't score, opposing teams would salivate at the thought of being able to get their pg defended by Yao whenever they wanted. He'd be on the bench with foul trouble every single game.
Yeah, we finally have a top 8 PG in the league and some folks want to replace him with a career backup. BRILLIANT !! DD
Saying AB is a Top 8 PG is downright...stupid. Nash D-Will CP3 Rondo Billups Curry Rose Evans Kidd Parker Westbrook
