I do not disagree with your premise, the flaw of your argument is in assuming that their committment to Lowry is more than a 1 year committment. It is not, they can easily trade him to clear way for Brooks. I don't think the salary they are paying Kyle is anymore indicative of their belief in him than the contract that Ariza signed last year. Morey will keep his assets, and make whatever decision is best for the team regardless of loyalties. I think that Brooks will get a large raise, and it will be in Houston....and also believe that Kyle will be the one shipped out. DD
Durvasa, As usual you post a very interesting view, and something I had not thought about in that way. I am not sure about what their value is to the team versus their contract, so this will be a first blush pass at it, based upon my opinion only. Code: [B]DD's actual[/B] Yao 16 17.7 Martin 10 10.6 Scola 9 7.8 Brooks 8 2.0 Lowry 3 5.8 Battier 5 7.4 Lee 1 1.4 Budinger 2 0.8 Miller 3 4.4 Hayes 1 1.9 Hill 1 2.7 Jeffries 1 6.9 60 69.4 Yep, well said. DD
They also play alongside Kobe (arguably the best player in the NBA right now) and an elite PF in Gasol. We have Yao, an injury prone and easily neutralized center, and Martin, who is somewhat injury prone due to his slight frame and affection for contact. Put Kobe on our team and replace Yao's bones with admantium alloy and sure, we will win a few rings with AB as our PG. Hell, we will even with it with Rafer probably. Are you seriously considering AB to AI? AI gets to the foul line and finishes through contacts. AB usually settles for 3pt and jump shots. Before AI got old, he use to get to the line at least 400 times, a number almost doubled that of AB. If AB could actually finish through contact when he gets to the basket, we can actually have this discussion.
I think Adelman might like Brooks more than Lowry, because he's a more dynamic offensive player and in half court sets it helps to have a guy like him who can create his own shot. As a coach, it must have been a struggle to figure out how to generate half-court offense without a post up option. So his affinity to Brooks is completely understandable. But if I had to guess, I think the Rockets front-office people -- Morey, Hinkie, Rosas, their scouts -- just might prefer Lowry over Brooks.
The commitment is 4 years and not a day shorter. The commitment to Brooks is 0. This is so far what we KNOW. Not what we speculate. They can even easilyer trade Brooks to clear way for Lowry. I think it is exactly indicative of their belief in Lowry, as it was their belief in Ariza. Something better simply came up this summer(for the price) and they gave up Ariza for it. This I agree. We will not know his final decision until he makes his final decision. However I am going by what has already happened and what is so. You are going by what you THINK will happen and simply speculating. Which may or may not be correct.
I am going by Morey's history, he signed Ariza and traded him a year later, he signed Landry and traded him a year and a half later. He signed David Andersen and traded him a year later..... Regarding free agents....Morey has ALWAYS resigned them all, he just doesn't always keep them. Sure he signed Lowry, but that means nothing beyond this year.....and based upon history he will sign Brooks too. Think of it this way, if you are aquiring Brooks, you would have to be willing to pay him a lot of money as he is due a large raise..... It would be easier to acquire him in a S&T deal, or to aquire Kyle for the salary that he already has in a trade. I don't think there is an ounce of significance in him signing Lowry other than keeping him as an asset. Guess? Look, what we know is that Adelman starts Brooks, and plays him starters minutes. I don't care to hazard a guess about what the front office thinks when the coaching staff is clear by whom they start. DD
So explain this, if Lowry is the better "fit" why is he not the starting PG? And why exactly is Lowry the better fit? since when did Rick Adelman's system ever require a pass first pg? Answer: Never. His system thrives on a PG with the ability to score. A guy that can shoot from the outside, hit down big shots, and drive inside. Brooks can do all those things. Lowry, while he is a great backup PG, cannot do most of those things. As for a "traditional" PG being need, lets look at the past decade or so. hmmmm, I guess those NBA finals MVPS Chauncy Billups and Tony Parker might disagree with you.
If you are so confident that the Rockets will trade Lowry this season to allow them to pay Brooks a big contract, then I think you are in effect hazarding a guess on how the front office views each of them. You seem to be convinced that the Rockets wouldn't trade Brooks and promote Lowry to a starting position. But I don't think the Rockets consider that scenario quite as disastrous as you. I don't pretend to have any insider knowledge on it; but its my impression based on interviews and various reporting from people close to the team. Some of the "advanced stats" that I know the Rockets pay attention to also are in Lowry's favor. I can't ignore that either.
I'm not trying to discredit you, just trying to understand your fascination with Brooks, but carry on. DsD
Who are you calling a DoucheBag in your sig? Either you or a moderator should remove that. Personal insults are only allowed in D&D.
I am not confident they will trade Lowry at all, they might be willing to keep them both, they might trade AB, they might trade Lowry.....I have no idea what Morey will do other than I have confidence that he will keep his assets until they are needed. Yes, the advanced stats that you look at, as well as I do show Kyle to be a very nice player. However, you also know that who you play with and play against skew those statistics, and if you and I know that, you can be danged sure that Morey and the Rockets do too. Compiling great stats against the 2nd team or tired starters does not necessarily translate to doing the same against front line starting players from the opening tip. I hate that I am forced to point out the flaws in Kyle, as he is one of my favorite players, but people overate him big time here. Maybe I am guilty of that with Brooks and we all have our favorites. At the end of the day, we can all agree the team is better with both of them.......and the question of whether they can keep them both will be decided next year........ I, along with you and many others find it hard to believe they would keep them both at good sized contracts, but they might if they are covered by less expensive contracts elsewhere...like SF for instance... We shall see...we shall see. Welcome to my world where I get them no matter where I post, and in a lot of threads I am not even a part of...it is bizzare. DD
Tony Parker can not only get to the rim like Brooks, but finish in contact and get to the line as well. Even last year with Brooks logging heavy minutes and shot attempts, he still got to the line significantly less than Parker's usual average. The same also applies to Chauncey Billups. Above all else however, both are better passers than Brooks. The main issue with Brooks is he is too eager to dribble the ball before jacking up a long range shot.
Interesting, I thought you believed Brooks was our best player or at least a close second to Yao. Why would you think he should have only the fourth highest salary on the team? Aaron Brooks is a better player but it's not like Lowry can't start in the NBA. Many felt he outplayed Conley while in Memphis but the team wanted to develop the guy they felt had more potential. The main reason for trading Aaron Brooks wouldn't be to get rid of him. He's a good player, you'd like to keep that around. But, he's one of the few players on the team that has value (as a trading piece) at or exceeding his production. Lowry is generally undervalued because many put a disproportionate amount of value in individual scoring ability.
What Durvasa is asking is what their value is to this coming season versus their true contract. I think Brooks is about at the slot I have him pegged...I do think he is the best or 2nd best player on the team. But it is not all that clear cut...Martin is good, Scola is good....there are a lot of 2nd best candidates... Until Lowry wins a starting job somewhere, then he is a career backup, he might have to move on to get that chance.... Agreed, but to me, you try to trade your backup players and keep your starters if possible....unless you are getting a much better starter....like AB for CP3 for instance. DD
Except realistically Brooks is new and has been improving his passing all along. He isn't a bad passer. In fact he's well above average at the Penetrate and dish side of the game. Despite his short stature he's one of the better guys at feeding Yao Ming. I'll grant you his defense isn't top notch. Unlike Battier or Scola, Brooks is younger and has a greater upside. He has a great presence of mind on the court most of the time. I understand some of the talk about trading him or something, but some of the trades are for players who are scarcely better, some worse, or some better at only certain parts of the game. I think at a certain point there should be some loyalty to the players. When Hakeem and Jordan came into the league it could have been that we would have won more championships with Jordan. But I would never advocate trading Hakeem for him. He was loyal(even with the bumps in the road along the way), and as a fan I'm loyal to him. I would happily have it the way it was. Lowry can do some things slightly better than Brooks, but shoots 3's way worse than AB does. I'm not slighting Lowry at all, because I love the guy, but even still, I see more value in Brooks than just to use as trade bait. Brooks is an unsung hero. That's the kind of thing that's great for Houston sports teams.
I'm not slighting Brooks, but I don't think we should show him the loyalty that we showed Hakeem. That loyalty is reserved for guys like Yao. I wouldn't rate Brook's penetrate and dish as above average. I would say Kyle Lowry is above average. However Brooks is well above average in pentetrating and FINISHING. Brooks has a really nice tough, if he could draw more fouls, he could average over 20 ppg with very nice efficieny.
Flip that, could Lowry average 20ppg with nice efficiency? I believe if Lowry was a starter that teams would be able to play to his weaknesses and flood the lane with defense forcing him to shoot from the outside. DD
