Nobody has ever had to write a book about how to defend Rafer. I can't imagine how many opposing coaches say "force Rafer to shoot" when preparing to play the Rockets. They may have given some attention to his defense but probably not much.
Yet, the book on how to stop Rafer Alston is a Post-It Note that says, "Don't Guard Him". If there's a book on how to stop Aaron Brooks, that's nothing but a positive.
I thought we're talking about Rafer's and AB's defense. I'm just not ready to say AB's D is definitely not something we should worry about against the better PGs based on the small sample we have so far.
I figured Jason Kidd, Baron Davis, Deron Williams, and Chauncey Billups would give him more trouble. I remember how often Luther Head would enter the game, and the opposing team would immediately post him up, and figured the same would happen with Brooks. Instead, teams haven't been trying that. However, Lawrence Frank would actually trap Aaron in the backcourt to get the ball out of his hands, as if he were TMac . Do the Nets typically do that? or was it a huge sign of respect because Brooks had been carving up their defense?
Yes, but only because Brooks has yet to prove himself on a consistent basis. IIRC Brooks did have his problems defensively in his first season, and even Adelman's mentioned how he needed to improve to earn more minutes. But you're right in that we may have been crediting Rafer for playing good individual defense when in reality, he was playing good team defense. If Brooks can continue to play within the team's defensive scheme, there will be less of a gap between the two PGs. On the other hand, the fact remains that point guards like Derek Fisher and Deron Williams outweigh Brooks by over 40 pounds (and Rafer by +25). It may not happen much in the regular season, but I'm sure the Lakers and Jazz will try to take advantage in the playoffs.
Durvasa, I love reading your threads! They are always informative and you have good statistics to back up your points! Just something I've always liked but never mentioned! Clutch should let you write columns on the main page!
Thanks, but I've had a pretty bad streak going of late with my threads. I tried to keep my opening comments here short and to the point.
Sorry v3.0... I see you only bolded the defense part. I should have replied to the quote you're citing, which refers to a "book" on both. On defense (and offense for that matter), I agree... these are small sample sizes, but Brooks has been a part of a defense that has shut down three of the very best point guards in the league. Do the Rafer Rockets ever really do that? I mean, if Billups had gone off for 28 points and 10 assists (rather than 8 points and 6 assists) against Brooks, would we say he's a defensive liability? Because that's what Billups did to the Rockets with Rafer in there. http://www.clutchfans.net/game_boxscore.cfm?gameID=3045 I don't think Brooks is going to continue that kind of defensive success... he'll get torched eventually by some of the big guns at the position... but so does Rafer.
I don't think there is much other teams can do, they first have to game plan for Yao, TMac and Artest..... It is danged near impossible to game plan for speed, if they double Brooks, the rest of the team will kill them. I think what you see now, is pretty much what you will get with AB....he is just that good, and that fast. DD
I think AB is playing incredible but he caught all those guards on back to backs. I don't know why Chauncey Billups didn't post him up at the TC when he did it in Denver. I have a feeling that if AB had met all of them with fresh legs, the match-ups would have been more competitive. But I will give him his due because he has played heavy minutes and has fought fatigue better than his opponents.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out tomorrow if Rafer does not come back (is he back tomorrow?) Our team defense will be very important for the Cavs game. I kinda hope Rafer doesn't play tomorrow
Adelman said he is starting in the Feigen blog tonight. Rafer starting against the Cavs You just know Rafer can see the young fella balling out there, and is worried about being Wally Pipped.....he has got to protect his turf for as long as he can...... DD
Speed,quickness, and offensive accountability. Teams don't guard rafer. Teams don't guard battier either. When u have to guard guys all over the court, it takes away from ur offense. That's why parker kills nash and nash's numbers go down is cause they're putting pressure on him offensively. I guess Negrodamus was right again. .
Actually, A_3PO already bolded that himself in his post. I should have just edited to the part I was making a point on. My bad. I really think a large part of why these PGs have been struggling against us while AB has been starting is that AB makes them work on the defense. You make your man worry about you when you have the ball changes their thought process on how to manage the game. Natural inclination is that they want to take it right back to you and go mano y mano but that's not a PG's role. Then if you run them ragged trying to keep up with you takes some starch out of them when they are on offense. The key is that AB gets to a good start in the beginning of the game. If he struggles offensively early and has an off night, then it's just a smaller Rafer out there. Edit: Also wanted to add AB really can't shoot himself out of a slump if he struggles early in the game, we got 3 stars' mouths to feed whether or not AB is on. I agree a large part of it is the team defense, cause I honestly didn't see AB doing anything differently or greater on D individually.
True, but so far he has struggled a lot less, at least now we have a better chance of one of the two being on that night, and more often it will be Brooks based upon their career arcs. DD
