Brooks is going to be fine. It's not even remotely fair to judge the guy based on the last two games. Give him 8-10 games to get himself back into shape (and I doubt it will take that long). Having said that, it's clear to me that Lowry is the better fit with this starting group. Those guys are clicking and I see no reason to change that. Meanwhile, Brooks’ skill set might be exactly what the bench unit needs considering Lee is really the only bench player who is a scoring threat right now.
Lowry is the better point guard. Why write hundreds and thousands of words in dispute of the obvious. Let it go and be free! Be free to embrace the truth. Jump out of denial. That's a dirty river brothers!
So that's the reason AB -1 in the end but Lowry +10? Hill, Chase, Lee starting to get better, that has a lot to do with Lowry. Did you see Rockets offense became completely in chaos when Lee was running the point?
Our bench beginning to play well having something to do with Lowry? Our bench does not play with Lowry for the most part, they usually run with Ish Smith (and now AB). The bench starting to play well has more to do with them getting acclimated to the system. Lee is starting to hit his shots and find his niche in the offense, Miller is becoming more comfortable with the parts around him (which is why his passing has gotten better). Lowry is doing a good job of finding him for open threes off the PnR at times though. Jordan Hill playing better really has little to do with Lowry. Hill is primarily asked to play defense and rebound, and that has nothing to do with Lowry. Budinger is still playing bad, so can we blame that on Lowry? The point is Brooks has not been NEARLY as bad as you folks claim he has been this year. You act as if he is having an Ariza like season with all the hate he gets. Even last night you guys claim he had a terrible game offensively and defensively and was the SOLE reason we blew that lead (lets not forget when the starters came back in they kept chipping away and Rick eventually had to call ANOTHER timeout). Brooks actually played good defense last night on Eric Bledsoe AND Baron Davis when they were matched up. His hands were active, he got a steal (and even a block), and on offense he was fine save a couple of possessions. How does the equate to a "horrible" game? I could make the same argument for Lowry playing a terrible game because he shot 2-7 from the field, but that would be absurd. That's the logic your Lowry supporters operate under.
If Brooks can't hit 7/7 three pointers again he should stay on the bench for me. Anyway Brooks' offense goes well with Lee's defense, I really don't see a reason to why Brooks couldn't take the full time job of coming off the bench.
You know I second guessed myself after reading how passionately Chouje, Chen, Trugoy and company believe that Lowry is the driving force behind this team. I sat down and watched how the starters work to make sure I wasnt missing what they were seeing. I was pretty confident I know what I am looking at, but I did my due dilligence out of respect for my fellow Rocket fans. I specifically focused on the first 8 minutes of the the 1st and 3rd quarter because that is where the 5 man starter groups really play. I learned alot and cataloged every play ran. If I was good with computers I would string together the plays in a video. Here is every offensive play in the first 9 minutes: 1.) Battier brings ball up, dumps to Martin, Martin to Scola in the high post. Scola doubled, kicks out to Lowry for open three. Miss. 2.) Martin brings ball up, swings to Shane, swung to Lowry, swung to Martin, Martin takes a weak curl towards the basket, swings to Lowry, swings to Shane (Lowry assist) for a three. HOU: 3 3.) Shane brings the ball up, dumps down to Scola in the high post, dumps down further to Shane in the low post. Fouled hits FTs. HOU: 5 4.) Martin brings the ball up, dumps to Hayes in the high post, Shane cuts off a screen, gets the ball and drives under the baseline after being cut off, throws it out to Martin at the top of the key, Martin hits contested jumper at buzzer. HOU: 7 5.) Lowry brings the ball up on a fast break, passes to Martin (Lowry assists) for a three. HOU:10 6.) Unclear who brings ball up, dumps to Scola in high post, dumps to Battier in low post, kicks it around to Scola for a mid range jumper. HOU:12 7.) Lowry brings the ball up, dumps to Scola in the high post, dumps to Battier in the low post. Battier hits a hook shot. HOU: 14 8.) Inbounds play to Lowry, swings to Shane, swings to Scola, swings to Martin, Martin fakes his man into the air and goes past him. Fouled on shot, should of been continuation, but wasnt. 9.) Inbounds play, Hayes dumps to Martin, repeat of last play. Martin drives past his man, but gets sealed, turns around and flops a foul. Ball out to the side. 10.) Doesn't show the play, all we hear is "Quick shot, oh my goodness", while seeing a close up of a Clipper player doing nothing. 11.) Lowry brings the ball up, dumps to Martin, Martin swings to Shane, Shane drops it off Hayes in the high post. Martin comes off a curl , catches, drives to the basket and draws a foul on Davis. Martin hits both FTs HOU 16 12.) Lowry brings it up, dumps it off to Hayes in the high post, Scola cuts around the baseline and catches the ball mid range corner. Drives, posts, spins, draws a foul. Hits both FTs. HOU: 18 First subsititution with 6:10 left, Hill in for Hayes 13.) Lowry brings the ball up, dumps to Martin the high post. Martin drops down to Scola who snuck into the paint for an open shot. Scola hits shot. HOU: 20 14.) Lowry brings the ball up, dumps to Shane, swings to Martin at the top of the key, Martin drives past his man and dumps to Hill in the corner, Hill drives in and kicks out to Scola, Scola drives and dumps to Martin on the wing, Martin drives into the pain and passes of to Lowry on the opposite side, Lowry drives and gets cut off, dribbles back out and hits a contested three. HOU: 23 15.) Martin brings up the ball on a fastbreak, drives straight in, kicks out to Shane for an open shot in the corner. Shane hits. HOU: 25 16.) Martin steals and brings up ball on fastbreak, drives straight in, passes to trailing Scola for a layup. HOU: 27 17.) Lowry brings the ball up and dumps off to Shane. Hill can't seem to get positioned in the high post so he comes and sets a pick for Shane (lol?). Shane dumps off to Scola in high post, Martin curls behind him, catches the pass and misses open three. 18.) Lowry brings the ball up, Hill sets a pick, Lowry drives to the basket. Kicks it out to Scola for an open shot. Airball. This is important to note. It is now 3:10 in the first quarter and this is the first possession where Lowry uses his ball handling or "PG skills" to create shot for the team. The score is 27-15 The following possession Lowry is fouled just past midcourt. There is a timeout and the bench comes in. In the 18 offensive possessions, Lowry creates the shot a grand total of 1 time in a half court set. The rest of the time, he is parked on the perimeter waiting for a kickout to shoot an open three. He had 2 assists, one of which was on a fast break and the other was swing pass to Battier which was "created" by a Martin curl. At no time in the first quarter, did Lowry use his supposed "court vision" , "tempo control", "floor general-ness", or "superior passing" to create a shot. He got one fast break assist to Martin, which anyone on the team could of made easily and one swing around assist. Heres a breakdown of plays run: There were 8 high post plays. 4 Scola, 2 Hayes, 1 Martin, 1 Hill - Ball is dumped off to a player in the high post. Three man game ensues. There were a couple of dump downs to Shane in the post. The system creates the open shot, not the player. Lowry was not involved in any of these plays, which is the bread and butter of Adelmans system. 7 of 8 of these possessions led to points. There were 3 fast breaks. 2 Martin, 1 Lowry - These were situational plays where there was a lucky long rebound or the Clips didnt get back in time. All three led to points. There was 1 PnR. 1 Lowry - This sole play happened right at the end of the starter groups run in the 1st. It led to no points. There was 5 perimeter curls by Martin - These are Martin cuts, usually initiated by Shane on the perimeter which is basically an isolation play for Martin. 4 of 5 plays ended up in points or fouls. There was 1 mystery play - They did not show this on the telecast, all we heard was the commentator surprise by a quick shot. So what did I learn? 90% of the time, Lowry sat on the perimeter waiting on an open shot. Martin/Shane/Scola drive 95% of the offensive production in this particular game. Martin is the driving force for nearly every play in our sets. Shane is the setup man for nearly every high post and Martin isolation play. The PG, ran no plays and set up no plays that resulted in points. He was an off the ball player and was hit twice for open threes. This is a role better suited for Brooks because it takes advatage of his strengths. The bench is not nearly as well oiled, nor does it have a player of the caliber of Martin to carry it. The bench unit needs a playmaker, not a scorer, which is why Adelman has Lowry's in that role. Why you guys can't see that, I don't know. But the Lowry myth has got to end, as does the Brooks hate.
^ You really didn't have to waste so much time dissecting one of his worse games, lol. Anyway, defense.
I counter with: AB brings up the ball: dribble dribble shoot 3 : miss AB brings up the ball: dribble dribble drive ball, jump pass it to nowhere: turnover Martin brings up ball: Passes to AB dribbel dribble shoot 2 miss AB brings up the ball: dribble dribble shoot 2: socres AB brings up the ball: dribble dribble shoot 3: make Chuck brings up ball: Passes to Battier passes to Brooks dribbel dribble shoots 2 scores AB brings up the ball: dribble dribble turover AB brings up the ball: dribble dribble drive ball, jump pass it to nowhere: turnover AB brings up the ball: dribble dribble dribble 24 shot clock violation Wash, rinse and repeat. Why you can't se this? I don't know why. You are just looking at one game aswell. It's no coincidense we are winning with Lowry as a starter. He gives the right people, Martin and Scola, a chance to score and doen't take thier shots. Face it, Lowry is better for the starters as Long as we have both Martin and Scola on the floor since they are the primary scorers and should be taking the majority of the shots.
Oh you're right, it has to do with the system that got him 18 assists. He's never involved in making plays.
Yes, we are winning. We were winning last year as well with Brooks as the starter and the year before that. Except as I just outlined the play the starters used in the game last night, he in fact does not? CLUELESS
^That would be great if that's how it actually went down. In your play by play analysis where are Brook's 5 assists? Did those possessions just disappear? Moreover, Brooks was credited with 2 TO's in the game, while you credited him with 3? Stop making up stats and have an intelligent discussion.
So you're saying Lowry knows enough to get out of the way of superior offensive players as well as let his team mates touch the ball enough to actually get into a rhythm and be part of the offense and not be reduced to spectators or spot-up shooters? Good work.
Dude they run the same offense when AB is in! AB is only forced into ISO situations when the play breaks down at the end of the shot clock. He doesn't bring the ball up and pound it for 24 seconds like many of you claim he does.
Obviously, he feels AB's dribble penetration and 3 pt shot are far superior to K-Mart's jump-shooting, or Scola's plethora of offensive moves in the post.
I love this. I openly took a second look at our team and offensive schemes out of respect for people with a different opinion than I have. I was open to the idea that I was wrong and I was missing something. I spent a lot of time and recorded what I saw to incur some legit basketball discussion on this forum about how Brooks fits better with the starters. What am I greeted with? A bunch of childish and stupid responses by people who clearly don't understand the game. I don't know why I bother.
AB is forced into ISO situations because he holds onto the ball too long, doesn't know what the **** to do with it, tries to dribble in but gets cut off, turns around looking for a shooter to pass it to, can't because he's covered by a defender, then turns it over. Quality playmaking.
So you seriously are saying everytime AB is in the game, he dribbles out the entire 24 second shot clock and ends up taking a bad shot/making a turnover. How did he get 5 assists last night then?
