I needed to double check. Over the last 27 games, Aaron's eFG% is 41.5%, and his FG% is 35%. Rafer's worst 27 game stretch in eFG%, within a season, ended on 4/19/06 (his first season with us) where over that span he had a 41.7% effective FG%. He did however have a couple overlapping 27 game stretches, ending on 1/12/07 and 1/16/07, where he shot 34.7% and 34.8% on field goals respectively.
I was a Rockets fan long before Brooks and will be one long after. An [initial]OF follows a player above a team. The only reason I created this ID is that I found this site around the time Brooks was in his first Summer League and was hoping we finally found someone to take over for Alston. Rafer is on a hot streak right now. I would love for it to last but if 10 years of evidence have more weight than 7 games, Rafer will return to his norm, which is bad.
So just using straight FG%, Rafer has had worse stretches. Brooks' worst stretch as far as eFG% is .2 worse than Alston's worst as a Rocket. And a lot of young players have stretches like this. Brooks' mpg more than doubled since last season and he's playing with a variety of different players and has little consistency in his role. Alston is a 10-year vet who is used to the NBA grind and he's playing in a consistent role as a starter. Also, what was Alston's worst 27-game stretch of shooting during his first two years in the league? That would be a better comparison. And where did you pull those stats? I'd like to take a look.
So how did you quickly determine Rafer's worst 27-game stretch just looking at game logs? Isn't that hard to do in 5 minutes? Did you just eye it?
I copied them into an Excel spreadsheet and calculated it quickly that way. I calculate averages from game logs a lot, so I guess I'm used to the procedure.
Your arguments are basically the reason that so many people here didnt want Brooks taking over the starting spot yet. You say Brooks is struggling because he is young and playing more mpg then he is used to. Yet, if you and many others had their way, he would have become the starter a month ago and played even more minutes then he has. Now dont say, but if he had been given full starter minutes he would have gotten used to the grind and never would have slumped. You cant have the argument both ways. Only DD gets to do that. No one here thinks Rafer is a great shooter. I dont think anyone here thinks he is an elite PG. All we say is at this point, he is more valuable to the team then Brooks, hot shooting streak or not. Everyone wants Brooks to snap out of the slump. But even when he does, I dont think you just make him the starter cuz if this much playing time has him hitting the wall, how can you expect him to play well if he starts playing big minutes during the last 20 games and into a deep playoff run which is what we all want.
It looks like Brooks is releasing the ball to quickly and isn't rolling his shooting hand, that and he's not really squaring his body on his shots where he is a lil more open. at least that's in his shot process, his other offensive/devensive deficiencies, I can't really speak of, or haven't picked up on anything. just my .02
Brooks is better when he starts... He'll be able to fill in this year if Rafer goes down. He's a volume player - the more he plays, the better he plays.
If Rafer is down (please don't), TMac can be the PG. With so much firepower in our team, TMac can focus on delivery as well. Let AB takes time to be out of the slump.
Got it. I trust your work. I thought maybe there was a site where you could find that easily. Either way, there will be a point when I give up on Brooks and I haven't reached that point yet. I will give him at least through part of next season, assuming he doesn't get traded. If he hasn't proven himself by around the midpoint of next season, I will say he was a bust. I still see potential. He's a great ballhandler and a very good shooter that can also penetrate effectively. I also think he can be a serviceable playmaker in time. If he can't become a legit starter, he could very well become a good backup once he adjusts to this level of play. I never said he was clearly a starting-caliber player in this league in any post I've ever made about him. When Alston was playing like his norm and Brooks was playing well, I just argued it was time for him to take over for Alston, who is perenially one of the least efficient PGs in the league. It was more of a knock on Alston than credit to Brooks. I gave up on Alston years ago. I just think he is what he is and that no 7-game stretch will change that fact. Brooks continually improved during his high school and college careers and it's entirely possible he does the same as a pro. Adelman had a say in drafting him so I'm sure he sees someting in him, too.
Brooks is better with the starting lineup; we know he can play much better than he is playing now. He looked great when Alston was out. He stinks right now. He has to improve, and likely will.
I agree with that. I didn't foresee him going into this kind of slump. At the time, he had played well for several weeks. Right now, he's obviously barely playing like a serviceable backup. Unlike a lot of other people though, I still have confidence that he will break out of this. He is quick, has good handles and a pure release. That may not mean he can be a great PG if he can't develop good playmaking skills, but he is clearly a better scorer than what we've seen recently. He's also shown glimpses of decent to very good playmaking. He'll never have the vision of a good PG but he has the potential, in my eyes, to develop that skill enough to where his scoring abilities make him effective in at least a backup role.
I don't know if its just me, but I feel like the offense is completely out of sync when Brooks came into the game today. I think it was the start of the second quarter and he was making some awkward passes to Scola as an example. Anyways, i think he needs to go back to his instincts, drive and kick out.
I was quite high on Brooks, but he's basically fallen back down to earth big time. If he cannot put pressure on the defense, then he's useless.
Brooks has low Basketball IQ. He is not a point guard material. Rox should remove him when there is a good deal!
He looks like he's lost a little confidence so it's mostly mental in my opinion. I think a couple of good performances in a row will get him back on track. He should go out there and not worry about making mistakes and just play the game.
