Aaron Brooks: NBA starter, or just another Moochie Norris?

AB'll be a decent backup very soon. He will eventually earning some starting PG minutes in his career. TJ Ford can start, so can AB. Why not?

 

Because T.J. is a far superior passer than him. Aaron is trying to learn how to play the point.

 

baron davis? no way will aaron brooks ever be close to baron davis. totally different players. only similarity is that they are both point guards. nothing else.

 

I don't think I would go with the "far superior passer" description.....Ford right now is a better passer, but it's not like he's Chris Paul or anything.

Brooks' per was not too far off of what Ford did last season....and Brooks was a rookie. I honestly could easily see Brooks becoming atleast a T.J. Ford type player with just a little more experience and playing time.

 

I'm not implying that he is a Chris Paul by any means.
I feel the gap between him and Brooks when it comes to passing ability is pretty big. Aaron needs to improve his shooting but he is a better 3 point shooter than T.J.When it comes to penetrating and getting to the basket the gap between the 2 isn't that big either.

 

packup or starter is overrated

A good and imoactful bacup is better than a starter on a bad team
With brooks, he'll always be deficient in areas uch as defense, so he'll never be a good all round player, which is usually whats demanded to be a starter

But be can be a very good chase of pace guard with good shooting. That's where he can be a good player in the league. Think earl boykins ppl

 

I think he will be a career backup but a pretty decent one. Not good enough to start on a decent team.

 

He will be better than Rafer

 

Hes got all the potential to become an nba starter. He can shoot, hes lightning quick, he can penetrate and hes shown glimpses of his passing potential. Hes got all these tools at his disposal so its really just up to how hard he works at it.

 

Is bringing back Luther even the plan? One can only hope not...

Anyway, to answer the question he will never be a starter. Nothing against him but I just can't see it which is quite the problem whenever we still have Rafer, another guy that everybody respects but also realizes isn't good enough as a starter. What do you do?

 

Many of you on this board have been very critical of Brooks and rightfully so. Too me he is a high risk player in terms of being able to predict his true potential. Small players have it very hard in this league.

AB defenitely can penetrate with his speed and will have a higher shooting percentage with more shot atempts. I mean he beat Novak and Bullard last year in the pre season camp shooting contest. He does not have excellent passing abilities, but he is still an above average passer with potential to be better. As someone else stated in another thread, he passed really well with both hands during summer league and averaged over 7 assists a game. Not bad. But the biggest problem for small players is to run an offense consistently in slower half court sets, thats where being small is a huge disadvantage.

Just look at Steve Nash. The guy was just learning the NBA game his first few years. His first 4 years, he was not a legitimate starter and his numbers were not great.

96-97 PHO 65 2 10.5 0.423 0.418 0.824 0.2 0.7 1.0 2.1 0.3 0.0 0.97 1.40 3.3
97-98 PHO 76 9 21.9 0.459 0.415 0.860 0.4 1.7 2.1 3.4 0.8 0.1 1.29 1.90 9.1
98-99 DAL 40 40 31.7 0.363 0.374 0.826 0.8 2.1 2.9 5.5 0.9 0.1 2.08 2.50 7.9
99-00 DAL 56 27 27.4 0.477 0.403 0.882 0.6 1.6 2.2 4.9 0.7 0.1 1.82 2.20 8.6

Then he started playing to his strengths while being a terrible deffender. Until he left Dallas he wasn't even regarded as a top 3 point gaurd even though he was an all- star. Then he became a two-time MVP and supposedly one of the best point gaurds of all-time. And when it comes to running a team like Phoenix that likes to run and is very athletic with great shooters- Steve Nash can be considered one of the greatest point gaurds of all time.

But here is my point. How effective would Steve Nash be running a team like Utah? Could he be as effective as John Stockton or even D. Williams? The answer is no. So the main point is, AB although not Nash might be looking alot more like a starter, if he was backing up Nash and playing for the Suns. In the Suns system and playing under Nash, his numbers would have been alot more efficient. (pre Shaq of course) Nash will be having a down year in 08-09 if has to play with Shaq.

So there is really two main things to consider. Can AB ever be a starter in the NBA for a particular team that plays to his strengths? And could AB ever be the starter for a team similar to the Rockets that is more defensive minded and plays to the strengths of their big man? It is very hard to determine and you really have to give the young man some time. But guys like Steve Nash and even Mugsy Bouges who was a solid starter for over 5 years give these small guys hope.

 

i believe aaron will become a starter oneday if the rockets are in a rebuilding state (becoming a bad team) but as of right now no, if he can carve out his game like terrel brandon i bet he has a future starting job.

 

Just because AB is small and quick, doesn't mean he can run the fast paced offense well. That style of play requires you to make fast and smart decisions on the move. AB doesn't have the PG skills to be efficient with that offense. I see AB more as a combo guard, more of a scorer than a playmaker. I see his future as a 6th man that can add energy and scoring off the bench.

 

Why so negative?

I think he'll be one of the best backup PG's in the league throughout his career. Think Speedy Claxton, Earl Boykins, Mo Williams, etc...

He'll definitely be in the top 30 PG's in the league, and probably in the top 20 PG's...

 

You would have said the same after Steve Nash's rookie year too. The guy had a huge problem with decision making and leaving his feet to make passes that lead to turnovers. And at Santa Clara he was a more efficient scorer than passer.

 

aron has the quallty to be a superstar,what he doesn't has is enough time on court.Tony parker had been criticized time after time during his first one or two years in nba.However, parker is an international player while aron is a local roster,so it's reasonable that aron will get adapted to the league quicker and better than tony.Besides time ,he also needs trust from fans and coaches and teammates.He does' t need any more confidence because he is confident enough so that we can see his brilliant 3pts attempts.Even missing the target he will never lose heart ,which is the most precious for a rookie.

 

I think he should start now. Its not that Rafer is that bad, but we've seen the best of Rafer already. He's always going to be a low percentage, streaky guy that can start the offense, but never really put fear into it. When I see Brooks, I kinda see Parker or Terrell Brandon. I see a guy with amazing speed and quickness who can get to the hoop off the dribble against anyone. Anyone that has followed Adelman and has watched his pg play, you see scoring pg's. Other than a couple of season with 8 asst, Porter was a scorer. In Sacramento , Bibby avg like 5 asst because his strength in that offense was letting the offense be the ball distributor. Adelman doesn't have a primary,ball dominate, distributor type pg. With Tracy playing point forward type, they need brooks to put pressure on the interior of the defense, which would free up Yao, tracy and others. I don't see people complaining when Parker gets his 5 asst or less. Plus in this era, his size at that position isn't as big of a issue as when Derek Harper and guys like that could hand check players. There are 5 big post up pg in the entire league and if you don't have one of those, then everyone else pg gets posted. Deron posted up Rafer and just like in one of those games, he blew by rafer and Jacksn and got to the hole.

If Adelman said he has watched the kid a lot when he was out of basketball ad love his skill set, then there is a skill that he really likes that can benefit the Rox. At the end of the season when rafer was out, he played well. I just wish they would stop wasting our time with Rafer and play the young guy.

 

i'll be happy with earl boykins

 

Im not sure how good Brooks will be, at least not until after this season coming up. As of right now, I still got high hopes for him. In alot of ways, he reminds me of a rookie Yao, meaning he gots the tools to really be something, and it even shows thru streches but he needs to figure out how to turn it on and keep it on.

I still got my fingers crossed and hoping that somehow he can turn into the next Kevin Johnson. I think the Rockets need to get him a personal coach (like Yao had) to teach him what a PG is all about, someone like KJ (even tho hes not a true PG) or Mark Jackson.

One thing that is frustrating tho, he hasnt shown that he is a "knockdown shooter" like he was described coming in as a rookie. Maybe he needs some time w/ Calvin too Dang, I just made him sound like a total project.

 

Earl Boykins' skills + Aaron Brooks' frame = Allen Iverson