Brooks reminds me a lot of Cassell. I hate to say this, but if you were going to trade Brooks, it might be now. Next year might be tough for him to get as many points with the return of Yao. The game will slow down, Brooks will get less shot attempts, and that might negatively affect both his assist and shooting percentage numbers. Of course, if Yao is back to drawing double teams and kicking out to Brook - that might work out for him. Hard to tell. But Brook's value is peaking. I would think Morey should be quietly listening to offers on what he might command. With Lowry as a capable starter it might be worth listening carefully.
Brooks was part of a lot of trade rumors in the past two offseasons, and I expect him to be part of quite a few this summer as well. My feeling is that Brooks is a player Morey thinks can be packaged to bring back a (super)star, and I don't think the MIP award is going to change Morey's long-term plan.
Unless a pt guard with equal or superior talent comes back in, brooks goes nowhere. He wouldn't go even if the rockets was getting wade.
Brooks, 25, is the first Rockets performance award winner since Steve Francis was co-Rookie of the Year in 2000 and their first Most Improved Award winner. bad news for AB haters: AB won't be traded ....
Brooks will be just fine with Yao. His ppg will be closer to 15ppg but his assists could really go up. Which is why I am warming up to keeping him long term over Lowry. Lets face it, one of them must go eventually. I think Lowry has made that clear that he wants to be a starter, and he does deserve that. The team that I am most worried giving him an offer this summer is actually the Lakers. They obviously need a good PG to take over and have the money to throw at him. Morey will be willing to match a high price to keep him, but he is not a fool. If Morey pays a high price to keep him then that should be a red flag to Brooks that his days are numbered as a Rocket.
Correct on so many levels. I think Morey will end up keeping Brooks in the long run. There are many players like lowry. Plus we can bring over sergio llull in 2011. Wouldn't surprise me if Lowry leaves or gets traded next offseason
It depends entirely on what offers he gets and what value he can get back It's not a Brooks versus Lowry issue. There's are a couple dozen other guards out there not just AB versus Lowry for Morey. I'm sure the valuation isn't 1 versus 1 and they decide to ship one. Brooks had a very strong year, helped partially by the arrival of Martin, but he's not a pure point. I'm not sure what team would be desperate to get him. To get better than equal value (no Equal Value trades for Morey!) you'd have to look at a borderline all star level player at another position like PF or a point with a skillset very specific to what Morey is looking for that he cant get from either AB or Lowry on the current roster
I agree that Brooks might turn out to be the point guard we need regardless. But if comes down on improving the team in areas we are weak. If you can up grade the frontline significantly with only a small decline at pg - then Morey will consider it. I don't think we do a whole lot better than Brooks. Sure we can dream about Wade or CP3 but those are long shots and not without their own risks. To me, a guy like Bosh could sure up our front line which will still be weak with a recovering Yao. Scola is undersized, and as good as he is, it hurts us on the defensive end. He's a great player though. But I'd trade him for Bosh in a heart beat.
I'm pretty sure Morey would trade Brooks to get Wade. Ditto for Bosh. In previous summers, Morey (reportedly) did package Brooks in deals to try to get Rubio and Nash. Could Nash be available if the Suns don't make it past the Blazers?
After watching the 1st round, there is no doubt that AB isn't all-star caliber this year and would be even harder to get there without being voted in as Yao's teammate. Too many great guards in west already and if John Wall or Even Turner etc gets picked by western teams it will be even more stacked.
You can win championships without all star point guards. I mean look at the last 2 champions. Rondo & Fisher. Neither was an all star the year that their team's won the championships. If anything Rondo was probably the worst of the starters on the Celtics team & the same could be argued (I don't necessarily agree with it) about fisher on the first 6 on the lakers in 09. Even if we extend to the Cavs this year, Mo Williams is very good, but not an all star. I'd argue that Brooks is every bit as good as Mo Williams if not better, so if we can get an elite wing or forward to lead us.
