he's played 97 minutes this season and has been injured, it's gonna drop as the season goes on. Just like he is not going to keep shooting 28%
Lowry has not looked very good thus far this season - possibly due to injury. If we trade one of our PGs I hope it's Lowry. However, Brooks has more value (imho) so it would probably be him. Regardless, I like what I'm seeing from Ish. This guy has potential.
I see what you're saying, but Gerald Wallace is a great defender as well, right? Battier is my favorite rocket, so I'm not too excited if he gets traded but I thin this would help our team overall.
True, Wallace is a good defender. That might work but would leave us without a good defender at the PG spot.
True, Ish is still very iffy on defense, although he does have quick hands. Hopefully we'll have a better idea of where our point guards are by the time the trade deadline rolls around.
Although Brooks has higher trade value, the writing on the wall is clear to me. With the emergence of Ish Smith as a viable backup, Lowry's days as a Rocket should be numbered. Brooks is just too good of a multi-dimensional basketball player to not try and retain. Lowry's style is not fit for the playoffs while Brooks is a triple threat.
Felton is not a good shooter from deep, it was probably in the game plan to go under every screen. you wouldnt chase Rondo over screens because he would burn you to the whole every time, and his jump shot isn't worth leaving the lane open. Same thing with Felton, but to a lesser degree. Otherwise I completely agree with all of those points.
I don't think i'm comfortable with any of our PG's playing 40 mins a game, as all of them have a weakness in some form or another.
Lowry did not have a great game by any means, but he was solid. Turnovers were high, yes. And his shooting was off. I'm convinced he's still working his way back and we have not seen the best of his game yet. On the issue of getting exploited by the better guards because of weaknesses in his game, I don't know how you can't see how Brooks has been exploited this season and will continue to be exploited on the defensive end. As we saw the year before last, even in the playoffs, we were a much better unit with Lowry on the floor even with Brooks. Sure, we needed Brooks quickness and shooting/scoring against the Lakers. However we still lost, and we were still best off when both Lowry and Brooks were on the floor. Lowry, when healthy, simply brings so much defense, rebounding, and steamrolling of the action from defense to offense that he cannot be ignored. Brooks does none of those things. Brooks shoots. Brooks doesn't defend. Brooks doesn't board. Brooks doesn't steamroll from defense to offense, Brooks doesn't draw fouls and get to the FT line, and most of all Brooks does not move the ball like Lowry does, forcing the defense to respond. Brooks does one thing.........score. And I believe that is exactly what opposing defenses want him to do. They want Brooks scoring and the rest of our guys standing around. Because, Brooks is not an efficient enough scorer and he allows the defense to rest and sag and then down in crunch time, they can start choking him off, doubling him, rushing his shot, and we have lost our offensive movement and nobody else is ready to step up. There is only ONE thing that Brooks does better than Lowry. ONE. And that is shoot the 3 ball. Lowry is better, significantly better, in every other facet of the game. Turnover rate? Look at their career numbers. Lowry may have a few more turnovers in this early part of the season while he is coming off injury, but his career numbers show a better turnover rate than Brooks. Assist rate? Look at their assists per minutes played. Steals? Blocks? It's not even close. FT rate, ability to get to the line? It's off the charts in favor of Lowry. So, the last argument is.........well, he's a career backup, when he is given starter minutes, you will see the deficiencies in his game. That may be so. My response is, will the deficiencies in his game be any greater than Brooks' deficiencies? I don't see how. IF.........Brooks could play defense CLOSE to Lowry's level. IF......Brooks could facilitate, and drive the break, and distribute CLOSE to Lowry's level. IF.....Brooks could look for the pass first and get the rest of his team involved CLOSE to Lowry's level. IF..........Brooks could go to the rim, draw the contact, get the foul, and get to the line CLOSE to Lowry's level. IF......Brooks could play help D, steal passes, block shots, and then go into the paint and grab boards with all the big boys CLOSE to Lowry's level. If Brooks could do HALF of these things CLOSE to Lowry's level, then he'd really be incredible. It's been said a thousand times, Brooks is a shooting guard in a point guard body. That's it. He's some sort of combo of Iverson, Michael Adams, Juan Jose Barrea, and Tim Hardaway all rolled into one. He's a tremendous shooter, no doubt about it. And he can burn anyone offensively with his quickness, no doubt about it. This team, as currently constructed, needs Lowry on the floor. We are weak with our interior defense. And Scola is playing offensively at a very high level. I'd rather Scola have Brooks' shots and have Lowry's defense out there than have Brooks taking Scola's shots and then you have Scola out there as basically a 3rd option offensively with even more porous defense as our opponents walk through Brooks and Scola. If you are going to play Brooks, then you've got to change the big men and get a more defensive minded big that can guard the rim. Scola is a more efficient offensive option than Brooks and Lowry is definitely a more efficient defensive option than Brooks. Brooks' role should be to come off the bench in the shooter/scorer mentality. Let him play with the 2nd unit, a scramble unit, and let him take all the shots he can create with those guys. Put in a couple garbage men that play defense (Hayes and somebody else we ain't got right now) and let Brooks do his thing. Situationally, down the stretch, consider using him in a possession by possession role. That's it. UNLESS Brooks figures out how to defend effectively. Is Lowry the ultimate answer at point guard? I don't know about that. When you look at the upper echelon teams, they all have a dominant playmaker. Boston, Rondo. Miami, Lebron. LA, Kobe. Hornets, CP3. (Orlando, not on the list, no dominant playmaker down the stretch, they will come in a woeful 3rd or 4th in the East and will not make it to the Finals). Lowry is not in that class as a playmaker/creator. At least not yet. That's why I can see the possibility of a trade for a primary point guard if one becomes available (Nash, CP3, Rubio). But until then, we've got to have Lowry getting major burn. He is the best of what we got.
Jop, Sorry, not buying it, when Lowry's minutes increase, his production does not increase proportionally. Lowry is a better defender and rebounder, and he pushes the ball better in transition. But late in games, when you need a bucket, it has to be Brooks with the ball, or early in games when Yao Ming needs space on the low block, Brooks is your guy. Yes, Brooks is not good on offense, but folks jumping up and down and shouting "See I told you so" when the team has played some really bad teams of late, are not making a real strong case. Does Brooks have his warts, yes, of course he does, but he has proven over a year and a half of starts that he is a very good starting PG in the NBA... Lowry has proven he is a very good backup..... We are lucky to have them both. DD
I don't see this mythical concept of Brooks being good in late game situations. This year we are 0-5 with brooks and leading every game in the last 6 minutes. Where is this late game heroics you are speaking of? Last year, Brooks was constantly bashed for his failing in the clutch before he finally hit a few shots. The reality is that the only shots that Brooks can create for himself in the clutch are step back fadeaway jump shots from 20 feet on out, even the shots he has hit to close games out have been those kind of shots. In the clutch, he can't get to the rim, he can't finish over people, he can't draw fouls, he can't create for other people, all he can do is do a step back fadeaway jumpshot from 20+ feet out.
If you've ever played streetball you would know that players will not let you get to the rim for game point. If its a tie game, the guys will foul you so you have to take it out again. In the nba, how many times have you seen someone get fouled or get to the rim for a layup at game point? Exactly, 0.
