We were 0-5 with AB as a starter. It has been mentioned countless times that AB had Battier and Artest to hide his glaring deficiencies on defense. Yes, he was playing out of his mind but that was against a senior citizen with limited lateral movement left. Lowry isn't a one-trick pony. He contributes on the floor even when his shot isn't falling. You clearly don't watch games bc he has plenty of speed to get past his defender and break a defense down. He can drive and dish, create for others, pass, play defense (man to man and help D), and rebound better than Brooks.
Lowry was jacking up some really ill advised shots there at the end when he could have passed it to Martin instead. I hate it when he forces shots like AB does.
you think martin is some kind of defensive juggernaut? Hes just as bad. And no, he can't effectively break his defender down, what he does is try to draw contact and being so little the reffs don't give it to him when he charges straight in the middle.
The point is if we can get the bench to be consistently positive or at least close to positive on the +/- scale, then we are going to win a whole bunch more games. Ish got Chase off. He got the whole second unit off. You guys complaining about Lowry having a poor game are just stupid. He had a poor SHOOTING game. But he didn't have a poor game by far.
Actually, I don't but he's more adequate than AB. 3 steals last night. A backcourt of Martin/AB doesn't work defensively. You have to get rid of one of them. It's clear as day that AB doesn't fit unless he wants to come off the bench and really thrive in another role. Too bad he wants to be the alpha dog.
All you really have to do is look at how we performed last season when Lowry went out due to injury. That's when the season took a downturn. Its pretty damn obvious that Lowry is more valuable to the Rockets then Brooks. I am not taking away from what Brooks achieved last season and in his playoff career, but he is kind of a one trick pony, scorer. I just hope we can get something of value by trading him.
That just about sums up my feelings. Lowry understands tempo, and even if his shot isn't falling, he is extremely effective at everything else. If we can get a solid rim protector behind him, I suspect that he can be a top defender at PG as well. I would love to see Lowry running the break with Kevin Martin and Danny Granger launching ridiculous 3's... :grin: Kyle Lowry Kevin Martin Danny Granger Is going to be freaking awesome to watch!
Yeah it's great that we were able to find the next Nate Robinson or Leandro Barbosa, lmao. But ya, classic example of someone who never watched the Rockets play. We've been winning because we had one of the best benches in the NBA, not because of Brooks lol. Facts are facts, and facts show that Brooks has been a NEGATIVE for two years now, he's lucky Lowry is there to pick him up so often. Just look how terribly we play when Kyle's been out these past two years.
I like the way Ish sprints the ball up the court, even after a made basket. Other team can't rest. Go Ish!
This is a long post but I started laughing and stopped reading after the first sentence, though I can tell via skimming I'm not really missing anything. There's really no stat in basketball that has a better correlation to winning than +/-, which happens to measure how many more points you score compared to the other team. If you can't "win" plus minus when you're on the floor, you lose the game....unless your backup comes in and wins it for you.
+3 without him isn't a big deal. There will always be games when we're better without a certain player on the court. That being said, I did like what Ish brought to the team. He did a great job setting up his teammates (5 assists in his first 9 minutes). He played his role and within his abilities. I do wish we could we seen more of T-Will, but to be honest I don't have any complaints. I suppose his time will come when he deserves/has earned it. Pugs
lowry is playing slightly, only slightly, better than brooks, and that ain't gonna cut it. i really like what i saw from ish last night, though i'm hoping morey ships out brooks and another couple of pieces for a legitimate stud PG.
When I wrote we were +3 yesterday without Lowry, I didn't intend for that to be a poor reflection on Lowry's performance. It has nothing to do with what Lowry did yesterday. Its just been very rare these days for our backup unit to not lose points in the scoreboard when Lowry is sitting. For the season, we're -7 per 100 possessions with Lowry off the floor, and its been particularly bad the last month or so. Just giving props to the backups last night for bucking that trend, even when shorthanded.
Great post. Comment on Lowry is dead on, of course, as is the comment about Ishmael. Ish came in and made an immediate impact, almost a stunning impact with the second unit. RA gave him a run and when he screwed up, starting to get out of control again, he chewed him out and sat his arse down. It was the right thing to do. Ish is a smart cat and these lessons will serve him well. Adelman wants players he can depend on. Smith is obviously learning that and will continue to improve. I love the guy! I'm still waiting for the interview the dude gets where he's introduced as Ish Smith and replies, "Call me Ishmael" with a straight face. ;-)-
I'm glad this didn't turn into a trade Lowry thread...I thought that's what it might be based on the title!
Pre-Martin team had Ariza & Landry. Brooks was not the closer on that team; Landry was. That team was complete different the post-Landry team (which went 15-16) and this years post-Ariza team (currently 25-28). I'm pretty sure teams have won titles with starters who gave little to nothing on offense, but I'm almost positive no team has ever won a title with a Starter who allowed his team to basically play 4 on 5 on defense. People keep saying this, but I'm at a loss as to when this ever happened? When was Brooks the leader of this team? When Deke was here? When Yao was playing? When Artest was on the team? When Battier was not hurt? We beat the Trailblazers with Yao leading, not Brooks. Aside from that, he played "like a star" for 2 games. The other games he was a role player. First off, he only had 2 "star quality games" and 1 truly good game in this series. He ended the series averaging more TO's than Assists. You may be able to say he scored because he had a good match up and no one else could, but he did not perform consistently even with that match up. Second, mediocre players have had great series against good teams. See Jerome James & Bonzi Wells. If this injury is still impacting his game, he should not be playing. If he is trying to play through an injury that really won't heal until the off season, he still needs to act like a leader, which he has not. If the injury has healed and he is back physically but cannot rebound mentally yet, then is that really someone you want your team to rely on? There are always circumstances, obstacles, and reasons, but making sure you are mentally prepared to overcome those, stay focused, regroup, and respond in whatever capacity you are capable shows that you are a leader and cornerstone for a team. Brooks has never shown that, especially now that he is facing his first true rough patch in the NBA. Playing well and staying focused is much easier when you come to a good team, perform well as back up and then immediately as a starter. However, things don't always stay good in the NBA, there are rough patches, and Brooks has not responded the way a team leader or a star should. Now I'm not saying Lowry does have all these things, however I feel too many people here mistakenly believe Brooks can and will do these things.
