Forever. Brooks is perfect off the bench and is not a good fit with our slow of foot first team. I think a rotation that saw Brooks, Artest, Battier, Yao, and Barry would be explosive. They could run when the opportunity presented themselves and the offensive spacing with that many 3-point shooters and slashers in the game would be amazing. The first team will grind it out with great defense and isolation plays with Yao and McGrady which suits their style. Having the ability to change the pace based on circumstance is a good thing.
If Brooks was to start, then so should Barry. If that was to be the starting backcourt for the Rockets, then you would put T-Mac at SF (his natural position) while you continue to start Yao and Scola. Early this morning, I know that Brooksball grilled me on that starting lineup because it would be all offense, no defense. Well, if opposing PFs are abusing Scola, then don't waste time, just put in either Chuck Hayes or Ron Artest for him. Or you could just bring both Chuck and Ron in for both T-Mac and Scola. You would only keep tinkering around until you find what ends up working for the team. I think that you would want Rafer in the game only with T-Mac on the floor.
Tmac won't be happy about that! Nobady wants to be doubled all the time. I feel, right now, both Tmac and Yao want to play with the 2nd unit.
I thought T-Mac preferred playing alongside with Rafer than with anyone else at PG since he's more familiar with him, and with what he does. It sure would be good if he can play along with Aaron Brooks, though. I feel that if he can't, but want to keep Brooks in the game, then you have to take him out. We might recall how the lineup (Brooks, Barry, Artest, Yao, Hayes) we saw last week Thursday worked so well against the Mavs in the 4th quarter.
Rafer is fine as our starting PG, provided he doesn't shoot. Aaron is a good backup.....provided he's not trying to get a ton of assists.
It has been changed after the Boston game. You might recall how Tmac and 2nd unit worked so well in the 2nd quarter!
At this point there is no reason to start Brooks. As bad as Alston is on offense, Brooks is just as bad defensively. If you can force Brooks to rotate onto any other player, he's ****ed. Virtually any/every PG in the league can shoot over him with ease. Its not like Brooks is as savy as Battier or Artest are at getting their hand right in the shooters face to make the shot difficult. Brooks is fast, but he hasn't shown the ability to be able to use that quickness to react to his opponents moves. Not that Alston is a master defender, but Alston can keep an average PG under control without much help.
Alston is shooting horrible, but he's taking like 6-7 shots a game in his current role. Brooks would probably make about 2.5-3 out of the 6-7 shots while Alston currently is making like 1.5 out of the 6-7 shots. We're talking about a difference of 1-2 made baskets if that, because you have to remember, based on Alston's career averages he SHOULD bounce back to just under 40%, which would mean instead of a 1-2 made basket difference, you have maybe a half a made basket difference. The point I'm trying to make is. If we start Brooks, he'll get that many shots because he's playing with Artest, Yao and Tmac. So is it worth starting him and losing the defense, court vision and veteran leadership that Alston brings to the table? Bring Brooks off the bench when you have to bench 1 or 2 of the big 3, Brooks will get more shots that way.
