Earth to wakkoman, earth to wakkoman.... Damp is not coming to Houston, please read the Chronicle Sunday's sports news/
Amen....if no excuses are accepted, no quarter is given. I like Ish Smith a lot, I love the way he plays the game with the passes, but his lack of shooting will be seriously exploited when teams scout him. And it will allow them to shut down the paint completely forcing the Rockets to win over the top. They won't even guard him on the perimeter...that day is coming, and the GARM will be ugly when it does. DD
Are you kidding me? Ish was the faciliator of that run we made in the 3rd and 4th quarters. Though he missed a lot of shots he still brought back this team from down 13 by getting OTHERS INVOLVED. Something Brooks cannot seem to do with this team because it looks like he is too worried about getting paid (ala Duanta Robinson). We should have won that game against the Spurs. Was it Ish Smiths fault for Courtney Lee missing two free throws? I think a simple solution should be Brooks coming off the bench for to act something like a "Jason Terry" spark. Last year in the 4th quarter Lowry played most of the minutes but you would have to judge on a game to game basis who finishes the game depending on the situation. Once Lowry is healthy there is no way Ish will start over him. I honestly think Brooks injury is a blessing in disguise because judging from the second half of the Spurs game and the Timberwolves I think we have solved half of our problems. You cannot have two horrible defenders in your back court. So Adleman needs to adjust and start either Lowry(or Ish)/Martin or Brooks/Lee.
I like this thread. Everyone has his/her opinion on this. I think we got a least a option with Smith. We can see what will happen for the coming month. After then, we can have a conclusion. So happy to see a hope!
LOL- so typically all one sided..... So, if Brooks was in the game, people would be counting AGAINST him. I am literally just standing up for a player that is one of the team's best that gets hammered needlessly by people who have NO clue about the role he provides on this team. It is staggering how ignorant some of the posts are about Aaron Brooks, he is not CP3 or Nash, and he is not a pass first PG, but there are NUMEROUS teams that win without a pass first PG. Just look down I-10 to Tony Parker...that is EXACTLY the model upon which our team is built.... There is more than ONE STYLE OF PG...that can win in this league. AB is a 19-6 type of scoring point, that is pretty damned good.... I would love to have Nash, or CP3, (which have never won anything either BTW), they are clearly better.......even Rondo, but in a different way. But we don't and AB gives this team the best chance to win the game, night in and night out as the starter, and to hear people whining about him, or celebrating his injury as some sort of opportunity for others, is sickening. It makes you wonder what type of fan they really are, because Houston ROCKETS fans would want what is best for the team, not what is best to win an interenet argument. Some of you have lost the plot.....the Rockets are better with all healthy players and the coach playing the best ones.... Unbelievably sad. DD
all im syaing is that AB is not the same way as he was last year. I'm not saying that he's terrible or bad this year. it's just something is missing. and I really hope he was given contract extension offer because of the things he did last year.
I dont think anyone is taking away the fact that Brooks is a good player, but people are starting to question if he is the right fit for this team assembled. And I do not think any of us want Brooks to be hurt or wish bad upon him, but without him in the line-up you can see if he is the problem or not. He has a shoot first mentality and is a horrid defender. If we start winning games without Brooks people are going to definitely question whether he is a good fit or not.
And the former game against the Spurs? wasn't Rockets game instatnly improved after the forced leave of AB? And hey, I consider AB a pretty useful player, for a non- contending team or great for being a sparkplug from the bench.... But, you can't have your STARTING PG with so lousy D and so lousy Basketball IQ..... I'm not saying Ish is tha man....what I'm suggesting that if there's still trade value on Brooks, he should be traded ASAP....MIP award is still in memory... IF Morey collected a ton of assets....what good are the assets for if you can;t reallistically have a 12 men rotation or your future draft picks can't help right now? TRADE ASAP, what is the FO waiting for?
Yeah, because people in general are not taking into account the competition, and are myopic in nature. Brooks stats are close to last years And that is with him missing the 2nd half of the San Antonio game in which he had 18 points in the first half. It takes a while for a scoring PG to figure out the new role with Yao on the floor and with him off. If you are a set up guy like Ish Smith it is not as important because you are always looking to pass the ball. This again, will haunt us as teams figure that out, and it is also why Lowry is not that good in the playoffs etc either, because teams scout you and force you to account for your weaknesses. Both Ish and Lowry are effective in spurts but their lack of shooting will be exposed over a long period of time. At the end of the day, you have to be able to make a wide open 20 footer to clear the space for Yao and Luis on the low block, if you can't teams will pack the paint and take away the pasing lanes and you are now playing 4 on 5.... Brooks is not a great passer, but he is a good one, he made some very nice passes this year and was asssiting at a higher rate, and his turnover ratio was down... He gives this team the best chance at winning every single night, and ESPECIALLY in the playoffs. I get that people don't like that he shoots a bit, but he is hardly Tmac or Steve Francis, so it is annoying to me to hear what I consider a very uneducated look at the situation. So, I stand up for the guy..... At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what any of us think...it matters what Morey and Rick Adelman think, and clearly they think Brooks gives us the best chance to win. I believe them. And this is coming from an old PG like myself who played more like Ish and Kyle than AB. DD
Yeah but I think having a PG that can shoot the ball is kind of overrated. Look at Boston for example. Lowry = a poor mans Rondo with the same shooting ability Martin= Ray Allen SF position= nothing compared to Piece but we could acquire maybe Iggy or Melo at the trade deadline Scola = better than KG at this point in their careers Yao/Hill/Miller = better than Shaq or Perkins If AB came off the bench he would be a better version of Nate Robinson. But I guess it comes down to systems and which players fit and understand the system. But nonetheless I think we are overrating the need for AB to START. But he is definitely better for the TEAM, i agree.l
I'll take a General over a rifleman any day of the week. Brooks is not a very good decision maker and it's sometimes painful to watch. Who wouldn't want Rondo or (a young) Jason Kidd as their PG instead of Brooks? These guys eventually developed a respectable shot by way... Agreed, it's only been one game, but that excuse has a short shelf life. Ish has a couple of weeks to prove his mettle. I think he's up for the task.
To marginalize everything that KG brings to that team with this simplistic and ignorant statement is staggering.
Brooks is AWESOME! Top 5 PGs in the league! Gotta keep his trade value up at least until the trade deadline.
cant really compare the two teams at all...all of Boston's players are significantly better defensively compared to the Rockets players the only one that could be considered close is Pierce and Battier where maybe Shane gets the edge everywhere else Boston has far far FAR better defenders. So trying to say the Rockets are similar is really off base just because offensively they have similar skill sets at each position. As for the topic at hand...I've let it be known plenty in the past I like Brooks but I dont like him as the starting PG for this team. Its been 1.5 games and there is no denying that the team has looked a lot better offensively with Smith out there playing instead of brooks, buts its been 1.5 games. If the early diagnosis of Brooks being out for at least a month are true then there will be more than enough games to see if maybe Brooks is not the guy that should be starting for this team...Heck it may even prove that maybe Smith or Lowry shouldnt be the guys either. There are some "loseable" games coming up with Washington and Indiana...I say "loseable" because they are games that the Rockets should win but since they are on the road and against young teams that no opponent should take lightly the Rockets can easily lose them if they aren't focused and play as a unit. If they are able to do that maybe its something the coach has to look into even when Brooks is back healthy. I hope Aaron is healthy enough to travel with the team the last thing he needs to do is be away from this team on longer road trips and have the team build chemistry on and then also off the court without him.
I am really surprised that there is no widespread discussion on Yao's 24 minutes after this convincing win. All of a sudden there seems to be no problem at all with Yao coming in and out of a game. Is there still a significant problem or has Yao suddenly "fit" the offense and there is suddenly no need to make major adjustments to make him fit. How about Battier's significant scoring and involvement in the offense in the last one and a half game? Coincidence, miracle or something else? I think the answer to these profound quetions lie with the op's opening thread. Judging too from the desperate posts from the Brooks defenders something is up. Most of the Brooks defenders have nothing left in their library of excuses for Brooks so they resort to name calling and their tired old arguments just like it was with McGrady.
