He was probably the best player in the Pac 10 and certainly the most explosive offensive player. Oregon has a very respectable team, won the Pac 10 turney, and had a solid NCAA run last year and he was the key cog. IMO the chief limit of his draft status was size and that he was more of a shooting guard in college. But the reason he was more of a shooting guard in college had less to do with his skill set and more to do with the uptempo and outgun your opponent style of Oregon as well as his even tinier backcourt mate Tajuan Porter. He and Singletary of Virigina (who I think later withdrew form the draft) were majorly of interest to me for the Rockets draft prior to the James trade, but I was surprised we drafted him with our PF need and backcourt seemingly covered. That said I think we knew what we were doing and thought high of Brooks as a potential NBA bench fireplug role player.
Sizewise Brooks is not all that different from Ford and Paul. May not be much different in natural speed/quickness/athleticism either. But those guys have that rare eyes behind your head type exceptional court vision and sense for where the other 9 guys are going, I don't think Brooks has that. Brooks has a better chance to be a poor mans Tony Parker or rich mans Earl Boykins or Chucky Atkins than he does being like those other two.
Thats where your wrong, Brooks has that eye behind his head.. He's going to be a beast. Adelman has watched him while living in Oregon. Brooks is easily overlooked.. So was Redd/Boozer/Mobley and Arenas in MUCH MUCH weaker drafts for the most part
Very astute. The Summer Leagues are designed to workout not only prospects but refs as well. That's why there's a 10 foul limit. Also why Brooks gets so many FT's to bump his average...nice that he hits them too. Unfortunately, PPG usually nets you the MVP but the difference between JL3 and AB is that Brooks has the highest assist mark at 7.5. That is astonishing considering he's playing with scrubs and not staple NBA players. Tells me the guy is far more balanced than Lucas. I understand some posters' need to calm everybody down but some cautionary optimism might do the trick.
Lucas averaged 7.6 assists in the summer league last year. He actually broke down defenses and passed better than Brooks has so far. Brooks is a better shooter and has shown flashes of being a better floor leader.
From NBADRAFT.net today: Better than Conley?????? It's not just us. Scouts are starting to acknowledge that Brooks is a steal.
I agree, he is MUCH better at running a team and passing than JL3....he is a true scoring PG..... That is exactly what I thought....Mighty Might 2........ DD
It's only summer league, but Brooks has demonstrated enough court vision to get me excited. I don't expect that to be a problem. Yesterday's game was eye opening and shows he can be effective without scoring, which is crucial. The main question marks now are his tendency to get out of control at times, will his shot fall against true NBA competition and his defense. At least as a rookie, Brooks is going to have problems slowing down other PGs. Average players like Atkins and Jamal Tinsley will eat him up.
Oh please, stop comparing Brooks to JLIII. JLIII can't finish as well going to the basket nor is he a pesky defender. The biggest difference though, is that Brooks is known to be able to handle pressure. JLIII along with guys like Dan Langhi freezes up in top tier competition, their problems are not skills or physicalilty. It seems their CPUs operate at a slower clock than NBA players. They make slow decisions at this level.
I don't know how you can say this?? JL3's stats and record are both better. 9 freakin turnovers?? This is just delusional homerism wanting to believe that we got a steal. The facts are the facts JL3 was a better summerleague player than Brooks has been so far. I hope he is the next AI but like you said earlier in the thread "this is summer league"
I think that Brooks's out of control issues will calm down as the regular season starts. In the summer league he is pretty much leading the team, but I doubt he will be doing that with the likes of tmac and yao out there with him. He will not be looking to score and drive AS much, and a lot of his control issues involve him basically taking over the offense by himself.
Anyone catch the Poll today on the summer league for NBA.com: http://www.nba.com/summerleague2007/ Who was the most impressive player from the seventh day of summer league action? A. Aaron Brooks, Rockets B. Nate Robinson, Knicks C. Rudy Gay, Grizzlies D. Von Wafer, Nuggets E. Paul Davis, Clippers Here is the result: http://www.nba.com/jsp/TrivialPollR...ague2007&showResult=true&title=&useFrag=false
I had to share, cause this is running through my head since yesterday... now yall can hum along with me. <embed src="http://web.splashcast.net/go/p/UIZR8035DU" wmode="transparent" width="400" height="300" allowFullScreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" />
Rick Adleman. Watched most of his games at Oregon this year. Does anyone still believe coaches don't have influence on who's being drafted?
Definitely an Adelman pick. That said, Houston's draft board looked like this: 1. Sean Williams 2. Rudy Fernandez 3. Morris Almond 4. Aaron Brooks Since the first 3 were taken we simply went for the next guy available.
I dont think he'll be starting, mostly cuz I dont think he needs to start (or maybe I'm remembering the "V-Span will start by midseason" quotes from last year Maybe its cuz I prefer Brooks in a Luther Head type of role, or as the 1st guard off the bench for definite change of pace. Mike James is an adequate starting point guard in somewhat the same mold. Feel much safer with him holding his position than Rafer Alston. Though James did lose time to a rookie last year too in Randy Foye
How bout a fast lineup with Brooks and James in the backcourt, Snyder at the 3, McGrady 4, and sign Bo Outlaw and let him run at the 5 and runs the Suns out the gym?
