they can't "need" his experience if he's not on the team... only miss... but I see your point. However have faith in Brooks, he's been picked for a reason. He performs under pressure.
I know this is a joke but I had to look it up myself. Orlando was 39-14 when Rafer started playing for them. They went 20-9 with him, but if they had gone 1-28 they still would have made the playoffs. That's how crappy the East is.
With a healthy Tmac on the court, you can afford and you need a guy like Rafer on the team. Tmac can do a lot of playmaking for himself and for others, but he is not a true point guard who can bring it up the court everytime and run an offense. He needs that steady, smart point guard to take care of the ball, control the tempo, and set up the offense. Rafer was that guy. The problem with Rafer was that he was asked to score and shoot more, due to injuries to Yao and Tmac through the years. He is not great at penetrating, he can't finish, and he can't shoot. Once Tmac was done for the year, the Rockets needed more firepower in the starting lineup, or atleast the potential of it. Aaron Brooks is pretty good at breaking down a defense with his quickness, has a better touch off the glass when he lays the ball in, and he is a better shooter. He is nowhere near the passer Rafer was, he isn't a true point guard, and he is prone to making bad decisions, he doesn't know how to control the tempo or a game very well, and he over-dribbles at times and of course he is severely undersized. Good thing we got Lowery. He is more like Rafer, because he is a true point guard, he is a better decision maker, he can control a game and the tempo a little bit, but the difference with Lowery is his upper-body strength to be able to finish at the basket. He isn't a great outside shooter, and he knows it, so he doesn't take many 3 point shots, but he is not shy about taking it inside and at the very least he will draw fouls. I think with more experience, Lowery will become a better, more physical version of Rafer Alston. Maybe when/if Tmac comes back or we get another star wing player, then Lowery will start and Brooks can go back to his more favorable role as a spark off the bench, but right now with Yao not having a playmaker, Brooks is our best option. Artest is not that type of player (even though he thinks he is) and Lowery's lack of outside shooting would make it too easy for teams to double Yao. Also, we needed to make the trade, because Rafer was 32 yrs old, and we may not have had another chance to upgrade at the point until Rafer's contract is done, when he's 34. At the very worst, we replace Rafer with a younger, and more physical true point guard in Lowery. Rafer was good in his time here, and we needed him with a lineup that featured a healthy Tmac and Yao, to run the show, but once one or the other becomes injured, he became somewhat of a liability and became expendable due to Brooks's growth as a player and the availability of Lowery.
Who ever said he could single handedly put a lottery team into the playoffs?? No one in this thread is arguing that. Why is it always so black or white on these forums? No one is calling him Chris Paul. But he's a good player.
see? like I said back on page 2: we have a big hole in the stat sheet for a consistent mid-low 30's volume shooter. Who is going to fill that role? you? you? YOU?
Rafer was a better option before Brooks stepped it up. Once Brooks stepped it up he should have been the starter. I am fine with the trade because our PG position just got younger, with a higher upside and cheaper. Makes way more dumb moves (outside of he doesn't shoot 3's) than Rafer does.
Actually, brooks fit better with tracy better than lowry or rafer. Essentially, tracy is the pg, so the other guy needs to be a scorer. Like ben gordon or even iverson, the guy needs to be free to score. Brooks is that guy and played well when tracy was in. he could still push the tempo and make people run, but he wasnt asked to set everyone up. Like i've also said, in the adelman offense, the pg is more scorer than setup guy. Bibby asst went down when he played under adelman, but was a better player and williams assist went up and was a better player when he played under brown in memphis.
i bet that's what orlando is saying today seriously though, aspects of rafer's game will be missed but i think that ab and lowry can fill that void.. ab needs to be a little bit more agressive from here on out..
o no you didn't now it's on like mother-s- donkey kong, a-ng r-hole. yes, i saw a Magic team that would not have been in the same gym* as the 76'rs without him. (*because he actually has keys to the gym and lets everybody on the team in by unlocking the door) Actually I'm kidding about that part - it's clear that, with all the weapons in Orlando, somebody has to be the gunmaster who controls the arsenal. Rafer is that man, he picks up a gun and BAMBAMBAM FIRE!
Put that coffee down, Coffee is for closers. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PnWGc3qljwY&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PnWGc3qljwY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> DD
