Brooks is the best player on the team at getting his own shot. This will be incredibly important in the playoffs when teams are playing lock-down defense. We'll be able to hand the ball to Brooks and let him score.
The thing that impressed me the most was Ish's ability to find his teammates and put them in a position with a pass to either score or go to the free throw line. We had 47 free throw attempts last night. I love Aaron Brooks and his game but with the type of talent on the floor we need a playmaker like Ish controlling and running the offense and Brooks needs to be a 23 minute per game offensive spark off the bench. Aaron Brooks looks great when his shots are falling (see first 24 minutes of season v Lakers) but he brings nothing else to the table for his team when his shots aren't falling. It was the Timberwolves last night so I'll reserve my judgment but the second half of the Spurs game was quite eye opening.
For a long time, people on this board hated the ISO play of SF3. However, it is curious these people has a change of heart when it comes to Brooks. From what I can see there is a lot similarity between their styles, but SF3 is a better defender/rebounder than Brooks.
The next 3 games will be key to what Ish can do. He does have a pg's mentality and his passes are great but it his D. Ish keeps his man in front of him and makes it easier for Yao or Hill to be ready if the opposing guard does get pass him. I hope that Lowry can get to play on this coming road trip though to spell Ish.
Steve Francis's 3 point % over his last 3 years with Rockets were 32%, 35%, 29%. Brooks and Francis are not at all similar.... If Brooks could play defense, he would be a great inside-out fit with Yao. But he either can't or he won't play defense, so he simply cannot be a 38 minute point guard on a great team. Perhaps they should limit Brooks to the same 24 minutes that Yao plays, and let either Lowry or Smith play with Scola and Martin. When Yao is playing, the best offense is to pass to him, let him either score or be doubled, then have him kick out. Brooks fits that perfectly -- the entry pass doesn't require good court vision and he can hit a 3-pointer. And if the entry pass isn't there, Brooks can create on his own. When Yao is out, the best offense is either Martin or Scola -- neither of whom ever kick out once they have the ball. In those situations, creating penetration and a good set-up pass is more important than knocking down a 3. In those scenarios, Ish or Lowry are better options.
It's been a small sample but I like what Ish has been doing. The offense does seem to flow better when he is in the game. He looks to get the other 4 guys on the court a shot before he takes one himself. Brooks, having more of a scorer's mentality, almost can be predicted that once every three possessions, he's going to shoot no matter who else is on a roll or if it is a good shot or not. Morey's tweet from last night stated that out of Ish's 33 passes, 32 of them were "great" and only one of them was bad. Ish might just be so happy and content with being on a team that he doesn't get down when there is some adversity. Aaron, for some reason, lets the refs get to him and he also has a tendency to try and go tick for tack with the opposing pg when they are finding success. He lets that match up effect what the Rockets are trying to do on offense. It's a small sample but I am happy with what Ish has brought so far.
Rafer also knew how to get it to Yao. He was very important to the team despite his inconsistent jump shot.
this. exactly what I was thinking after the first 45 posts or so. I do like Ish, but as others have said, this seems a little hyperbolic.
Ish does remind me a bit of Rafer Alston (though much quicker). Its funny how a couple years ago in December people were arguing for Brooks to replace Alston when the Rockets won 4 in a row with him as a starter. Now it looks like people will be arguing the same thing for Rafer 2.0 this time.
AB has let his shooting ability take over what he thinks is best for the team. The PG is supposed to orchestrate the offense and create for others. AB likes to look to create for himself. AB needs to come off the bench after he's healed up. 5 star thread.
Pretty much. What happens when the scouting report comes out and teams find out ish is a terrible shooter,finisher,and ft shooter? If the rockets never had tracy and wanted a polayer like that, they shouldve kept rafer. Rafer can do all that and some if you turn him loose with finishers. I think Ish is a bigger indictment on lowry than anything. 5.5m for a guy and Ish makes 787k.
I don't see the Rafer comparisons at all, other than the obvious that they can both dribble and neither can shoot. Rafer was a mediocre passer off of dribble penetration (he was fine at setting up the offense and making entry passes). As a result, he was a 5 assist/2 turnover type of guy. Ish is already at 6-7 assist, 1 turnover level -- he has much better court vision and control once he penetrates. It is very early in his career, but his on-the-move passing ability is and will be light years ahead of Rafer's. That said, his shooting (FT in particular) absolutely must improve for him to play a major role on a really good team. As I said in a different thread, his game is much more similar to Rondo's than to Rafer's.
Let's face it. Brooks was one step slow in the previous games. Can't blame him. He was expecting something for his being the most impvoed player last year.
I'm glad we got a win but we still have the same problems. So what happens when the other team scouts find out Ish can't shoot. The PnR with Scola is going to fail because the D is just going to go behind the picks and give Ish the jumper and stay on the roller/popper. I do agree however that Brooks will be the perfect 6th man for this team and you can put him in the 4th in the closing and let him do his thing. Last night we saw that we really don't need Brooks in the starting lineup. I dont remember the full lineup but the Rockets had one play where they ran a triangle on the strong side w/ Ish,battier,scola they couldn't get anything out of it so they swung it to Martin and Martin posted it to Yao and when yao got doubled he kicked it to Martin and he got an open 3. They've actually done this everygame with Yao and it has worked except when Yao has missed.
