What I'm saying is that 1.78 seems way too high, even if Brooks/Lowry is a better combo. Together they're shooting .429 from the field, .380 from 3, and .868 from the FT line. That's not bad at all really, but definitely not 1.78 PPS. Again, as a team Phoenix shoots .502 FG, .390 3FG, and .757 FT. Their PPS is still only 1.34.
I liked Rafer...was sad to see him go. BUT, I'm just kiddy as all get out over the prospects of Aaron and Kyle running the point for the near future. Can you imagine Aaron & Kyle with another year under thier belt with this team? woohoo! I'm happy.
I think the play speeks for itself. The game is much faster paced, shooting % is up, defense is up, chemistry is better. It was a great trade.
Here's the effective per-36 minute stats for the Rafer/Aaron combo (prior to the trade) and the Aaron/Kyle combo (post-trade). By my calculation: Code: combo pts/36 ast/36 reb/36 stl/36 to/36 fg% 3fg% ts% Rafer/Aaron 14.2 5.5 3.4 1.2 2.1 38% 35.3% 49.6% Aaron/Kyle 16.0 6.2 4.3 1.3 2.5 41.8% 38.0% 52.2%
Now you can say he failed in that first Utah series but Rafer is one of the main reasons we weren't swept in the last series. The two games he was out the Rockets could get it done, but as soon as he was back, things started to swing the team's way. I personally think that if he didn't get injured right before the second half or the last game (right when we were storming back) the Rockets could have easily won that game. But right at the beginning of the third quarter, the only two players to come with anything close to effort were Scola and McGrady and by the end the third, everyone saw the writing on the wall given the play of the other players. Personally, I say given Alston's improvements over the last two seasons, we could have won with him. He wasn't often a scoring threat, but he could make plays and lead the offense better then anyone on the team.
Defense is up? I wasn't aware AB played D. Feel a lot better now. Initially I wasn't thrilled with the trade, but I've warmed to it. I know Rafer's faults, I just wasn't sure we improved with the move. Lowry is looking pretty good and I hope he can develop into a legit starter. Some of the passes he's made have been sharp and he already seems the best at getting Yao the ball where he wants it. I like AB, but would like to see him turnover less and make better decisions on fast breaks. I'm already noticing a trend with myself where I expect a wasted break with AB. On the other hand I already count the bucket when Kyle runs it. It is encouraging. My only issue is how many times has a "scoring" pg turned into a prototypical pg? It really doesn't happen that often. How long did most of wait for Steve to do it? Either way, I would agree with the assessment of the OP for the most part. I hope these guys can do it in the post season and don't pull a head.
Lowry is better defensively and on passing. AB can score like no other. All of your condescending mother****ers.. we finally have what you have always wanted-- a point guard who CAN score. I am so glad skip to my douche is out of here. We are a much better team because of it. We have more discipline, more scoring ability, and more team spirit. **** all who say we need anybody besides AB/KL.
It's really just showing you how much of an upgrade Lowry is over Rafer. AB has probably improved as well, because he's playing with the starters and because he's playing more minutes.
Yes, typo. 1.18 PPS. And this is with Brooks having a couple miserable shooting nights. I look for that number to jump up to about 1.25 PPS for our point guard combo after a few more games of Lowry piling up free throws and Brooks shooting more consistently. Rocket Jones?!?! Dude!?!?! Come playoff time we are going to miss Rafer?!?!?!?!! Look at Rafer's shooting stats in playoff action! I ain't gonna miss clank clank one bit!
I think the uptick in assist numbers also has to do with not having Tracy play in any games. T-mac used to get a lot of assists per game, and without him the distribution of assists has swung more in the direction of the PG's. And don't forget that we blew out New Jersey in the only game we had with Rafer and after T-Mac had declared himself AWOL for the season. So most of it I don't believe is Rafer's doing--more like the absence of T-Mac. For this year personally, I think it's a wash. For next year and beyond I think Lowry and Brooks will be significantly better. The main difference this year is that now we have a go-to scorer in the crunch in Brooks, as well as a physical defender that can guard Deron Williams in Lowry. But even the crunch time improvement can be attributed 90% to the absence of T-Mac. So there ya go. It's just how you split the hairs.
Agreed with main idea and pretty much everything i've seen in this thread. You can chalk me up as one of the guys that loved this trade from Day 1. I'll take the "Who is better: Brooks or Lowry?" debate and good problem to have over the silly "Will we ever find a decent upgrade over Rafer?" debate any day of the week.
I agree with Kooshie and Spacemoth - Rafer/Brooks numbers are worse because the team as a whole was worse and much more inconsistent earlier in the season. Is the team's improvement a result of the trade? No, it's the fact that McGrady's gone and the trade deadline has passed. However I agree with jopatmc as well, we have a better point guard rotation now than we had and the Rockets are definitely better going forward than they were.
this team so badly need someone who has the skill and gut to attack the rim, that is why I am rooting for Lowry
I disagree nostradamus. I don't understand how some rox fans can be so certain that these young pg's will fail. I for one think they will prove the haters wrong.
um actually its more like this: Brooks (bench) < Brooks (starter) Rafer < Lowry And to the OP, we aren't a better three point duo, Brooks was in a slump and he has picked up now but Lowry does in fact hurt the in and out system. Lowry has a sucky T/O rate and same with Brooks but hopefully that will decrease with chemistry at new positions. Hopefully...
Lowry helps the In/Out system, because he is not settling for the 3 ball, but attacks the rim consistently and violently.
lowry>brooks>alston lowry+brooks> brooks+alston those who think we need alston's experience in the playoffs are smoking the good stuff. haven't you seen him choke in the playoffs, dribbling off his feet late in the fourth? failing to get the ball to yao, all he did was dribble pass half court, give it to tmac and hangout at the 3 point line and shoot his 32-35% on the 3 depending on the day. who wants that!
