Starting the game isnt the most important out of minute distribution. The number of minutes played and the player who is in the game at the end is way more important. Do you think Manu really cared when he came off the bench for the Spurs last year? No, because he was still getting quality minutes and finishing the game.
Battier doesnt fit with Yao DD. Battier is a bench player on a good team just like rafer and scola. 15-20 minute type of players.
Now you know I ain't gonna agree with you on either of them..... Brooks however, we are on common ground. DD
I really think the coaching staff needs to explore this, especially with a fickle McGrady in the lineup.
<br> Scola is a very legitimate starter in the league. He has a strong offensive game, and I think his downside is his Defense, and rebounding. Which, are attributed to his lack of athleticism. He overcomes those to a certain extent though. <br> Battier, despite his offensive woes is a good enough starter for us. Definitely not better than Artest, but he is competent. He basically plays the "Bruce Bowen" role for us, by playing good D and hitting the corner 3.
I agree with DD Battier tends to clean up Yao's messy rebounds well. And Rafer should start I like Brooks bouncing off the bench with automated scoring.
Guy on the left patting Rafer's back: "Nice try, Rafer. Now, go have a seat next to Luther and that pile of bricks you left."
after watching both for enough games now I believe Brooks should start. His height and size are huge negatives but he should start. we already have a semi non-scoring threat in battier in the lineup we cant have two with rafer as well. Brooks solves that as teams are less likely to double team off of him down to Yao and if Battier is forced to be an open man he will take it and I trust him shooting the ball he is a good shooter (though reluctant). rafer was more than happy to miss all those wide open shots for him and teams were more than happy to double off of rafer than shane I bet. second his defense against the elite PGs of the west isnt as bad as I had originally though. his speed helps him stay in front of a lot of guards and the rockets team defense will help him greatly. rafer coming off the bench helps because he can help set up the offense when the two main play makers (yao, tmac) aren't in the game and there are other scorers (landry, barry, artest) out there. Granted he wont be getting as many shots but rafer shooting less is a good thing. If anything it may force him to work on his shot selection and his ability to drive. but i dont see Coach switching the two anytime in the near future.
I'm starting to change my mind on this ... Brooks seems to have handled the starting position pretty well thus far. I'm not worried about that so much. The question is how will Rafer respond coming off the bench? Does he become a distraction? Does his shooting fall even further south, when he's not getting consistent minutes? Maybe Brooks makes our starting lineup more potent. Maybe. But I wonder how this will impact the team as a whole if we switch. What I'd like to see is something similar to what we did with Kenny Smith and Sam Cassell. Keep Rafer as a starter, but if Brooks is playing well don't hesitate to let him finish games. Adelman still seems to trust his starters more in crunch time. Maybe he has a good reason for it, I don't know as much about his team as he does. But I'd like him to be a bit more open about using other players (e.g. Brooks, Landry, *maybe* Hayes) down the stretch.
Same here -- I am actually now much more open to the idea of starting Brooks, but I think it would not be the best idea if it will negatively impact Rafer's production. I definitely would like to see more of Brooks in the 4th quarter, and in the last minutes of games. It used to be that the team would tend to fall apart in the 4th without Rafer on the floor to set things in order. That seems to be changing as Brooks matures and the team continues to get more comfortable running Adelman's system.
Well between alston and brooks? I think we should start with brooks, then midway in the 2nd quarter keep brooks in, but when brooks gets tired in the 4th quarter, THEN take a timeout and keep brooks in!
hahahah I tried hitting play for a minute before I realized that it was a pic.. <br> Funny stuff though lol
Houston yet to hit the century mark on regulation with Rafer back in. With Brook,our offense looked so smooth. Opponent have to respect his speed and shooting. With Rafer they don't even care, everything looked crowded with no spacing.
