A good amount of posters have been asserting that most players really start hitting their stride in year 3. Most of these assertions were made with regards to our starting point guard, Aaron Brooks. In what ways do you think Brooks is going to develop further and how much do you think he's going to improve? I looked up his hotspots and expected to see an improvement in his FG% under the basket from the 07-08 season to the 08-09 season. Surprisingly, I found out that Brooks actually hit a better percentage of his shots under the basket in his rookie year than in his sophomore year (.556 vs. .464). Now, this might be attributed to the fact that he only took 72 shots under the bucket in 07-08, which is nowhere the 278 he took in his 08-09. It could also be due to teams having a better idea of how to play Brooks, specifically how to steer him into situations where he can't finish as well as he usually does. It might also be that he was still adjusting to his role as a starter and his game suffered because of it. I assume that he actually did improve his finishing, but it was more than compensated for by his opponents having a year's worth of scouting on him. I don't know, there might be other factors here. Where I think he could really improve, based on the hotspots, is his midrange game, and his tear drops from the left and right sides of the basket. He's not as effective as I thought he was from these areas, and I know that he has the tools to be an efficient scorer from these areas. He has that herky jerky game that throws defenders off guard, and with his speed and ability to pull up, I feel that he'll be able to inflict some serious damage from the midrange area in. I'm not going to mention his three-point shooting because I think he's all set there. It rose about 3% from his rookie season to his sophomore season despite more shots. More practice and more confidence should improve it even more. On defense, he's going to be bullied in the post by the Billups-es, Kidds, and Baron Davis-es of the league, but I feel like with another year of NBA experience under his belt, he'll be able to adequately defense the typical starting NBA point guard. He can usually beat his man to the spot, and the refs will eventually start giving him the benefit of the doubt as he makes his way further into his career. Not sure what he else he can improve in this area aside from being more seasoned. What do you guys think? How is Brooks going to theoretically make his strides towards becoming an elite point guard (I'm reaching but hey its the offseason).
He needs to really learn how to create plays for other players in order to become elite. If he doesn't, he'll just become another Marbury or Francis. I'm not saying he has to become a playmaker and stop scoring. He can create of the dribble with his speed, and if there is an opening, hecan score instead, a la Tony Parker. As he has proven his range at the 3pt line, people needto guard him out there. This makes it easy for him to beat his man. Biggest weaknesses? As I said before, playmaking, but also his finishing. He cannot finish well, and the OP didn't realise this. I wasn't surprised like he was with some of the decline in stats. Lowry finishes MUCH better than Brooks. Sorry for mentioning that, I dont' want to start another Brooks, vs Lowry thread. I think this season, it is dead obvious that Brooks is our starter and possible our #1 option now. (I think it is better that Scola is number two as he can play very well off Brooks if Brooks develosp court vision).
Bull****, He will never be close to as good as prime Steve was. Just another Francis/Marbury? First off, Francis should never be put in the same sentence with that crazy ass, basketball and non-basketball related. People forget just how good Steve really was...
It's just as you said. He needs to FINISH around the basket. That by itself will open up everything else. Defenders will really have to back off of him, which will automatically open up his mid-range game.
I really doubt Brooks will ever be a good finisher around the basket. How many 5'11 skinny players in the NBA (AB being one of the smallest players in the league) are good at finishing near the rim? AB dun hav no hops like Kryptonate and he struggles to finish around the rim no better than Rafer. Now I'm not being negative about Brooks. In fact he has loads of qualities that I love such as awesome quickness and a sweet stroke. But I think he needs to drive and dish more compared to either driving like a headless chicken or chuck up a 3 when he feels like it. But as Hollinger noted higher turnover young PGs typically improve quite a bit after a couple of seasons. So we may well see an improvement in AB. We're way too overrating AB. It won't take too many games to erase our over-hyping of AB due to us being immersed in AB's performances in those fantastic wins in the playoffs.
I agree with you the chances that Brooks become a top notch finisher ala Tony Parker is slim. But the OP asked what he needs to do to be an elite player. I simply stated the one area that will help his growth the most. Whether he actually does so, we'll see this season.
I disagree. I think he can be a pretty good finisher if he's able to refine his floater. It's already loads better than Rafer's since he puts spin on it (like a one-handed shot) instead of the blind heaves that Rafer kept in fashion. He's also good at slithering in and getting the ball up on the backboard quickly to lessen the risk of getting his shot blocked. I think that with more experience and practice, he'll be a much better finisher than Rafer. He's already better than Rafer at finishing (not by much, admittedly). It's early, though, and I expect there to be improvement.
Sorry, Brooks doesn't have hops? Robinson has a 43.5 inch vert with a 7'7.5 standing reach while Brooks has a 39.5 inch vert with a 7'10 standing reach.
If he develops a consistent mid range game then that stat is highly possible. He can not live alone on his speed and driving to the basket. He needs to keep the defense honest by hitting those jumpers.
yeah ok now I get what you mean. But I think its kinda useless to say and point out "finish better around the basket" when it comes to player types like Aaron Brooks. Its kinda saying "yao ming can improve his game and become a HOF center by becoming a better 3 point shooter and guarding guards better on switches on pick-and-rolls". For a tiny player(by nba standards) aaron will never be able to finish around the basket efficiently(unless hes chris paul of course but hes obv not) and his size and body type makes him virtually impossible to achieve that. I think yeah there are obviously areas in ABs game that could be better. But you know some things cant be realistically gained and some things can never be taught...like natural court vision and awareness etc etc. So AB's ceiling is kinda limited because of his body type and playing style. Its probably better to concentrate on things he CAN improve on like being a better drive-and-kick set up guy and a better 3 point shooter. Those two can definitely be improved more realistically than things like "posting up other guards" or "blocking shots" (lol imagine playin AB at C) Elite or not, AB should be closer to that level if he improved certain particular aspects of his game than others. (if you know what I mean)
Personalities aside, and I hate to say it, they were pretty similar overall. At points in his career Marbury actually made his teammates better. Francis was flashy and a great scorer at times, but the offense never had any flow or continuity with him. If he was having an off night, the whole team was too. I don't think Brooks is the same talent level as Steve, but I think he has the potential to be just as valuable to winning if not more.
well comparing it to Rafer when it comes to Finishing Near the Basket isn't exactly gonna be any PG's claim to fame. Rafer was one of the league's worst finishers and as u'd know his floaters wer UGLY nd yeah, thats pretty much cos it basically never went in lol. one game that comes to mind really vividly when it comes to AB finishing near the basket is Gm 1 of the portland playoff series...I remember AB when he drove to the basket never actually converted much and instead just chuck the ball up frantically like a rushing underhand layup that basically bounced hard off the backboard or rim and yao ming was able to get quite a few putback dunks off that cos AB's layups were nowhere near going in. So basically AB's contested layups aren't consistent at all and they look really rushed. That doesn't really indicate a decent finisher. Don't want to dash your hopes down, and I certainly hope AB will at least become a decent finisher around the rim, but the current prognosis is: gets bounced out of the lanes often by the bigger opponent, yet, he will still try to attack the paint or drive inside, taking off-target shots that fail to connect too often Can be outmuscled anytime he tries to drive to the rim...Tries too hard at times driving to the basket, getting his body out of control and the result has been a high amount of turnovers gosh I sound lyk a hater.....but I'm just keepin' it real dawg
I might need to put on a helmet like Magneto . I am with you on this. I think without Yao clogging the baseline and having to wait for a setup, he can just play.I think even with Tracy there early in the season, he will be able to go off. Brooks,Ariza,and scola will help the transition game also.
There are plenty of PG in the NBA with Brook's body type that have flourished. And if you put the odds of Brooks being able to finish with Yao being able to develop a 3, then the odds are pretty good. Yao never developed a 3 point shot because it interferes with his game. But his shooting touch definitely allows him to develop such a shot though.
Those numbers in of themselves is useless though. It's how many times he can get to the FT line and his shooting % that matters. Otherwise, he's just another Ricky Davis.
I said that Brooks already finishes better than Rafer despite him only being in the league for two years. I don't think it's wise to conclude anything from your recollection of one game. If it were, then I could say that I remember Brooks getting into the lane again and again against the Lakers, and finishing a good percentage of his shots, therefore he makes a healthy portion of his contested layups. His half hooks and floaters are already lightyears ahead of anything Rafer flung at the basket and I'm pretty certain that it's only going to get better since he is only entering his third year in the league. I'd also like to know where you got your prognosis. Draftexpress? It seemed to me that later on in the year, Brooks' game settled down a bit. He was less out of control and it looked like he was beginning to understand how to use his speed calculatingly.
That's actually not true, in fact he did pretty good against Billups and Deron Williams I think Davis as well, not so sure about Kidd though. The big advantage that Brooks has over these type of PGs of course is his speed. (If someone could pull up the stats in those games that'd help a lot but I can't from work) If Brooks focuses on moving his feet correctly and getting in decent position on D he will have no problem guarding these guys by either getting in their jock or drawing charges. His biggest improvement IMO will be his playmaking ability and court vision now that everything has slowed down for him he will turn into a more than average PG for us.
