(CHRONIC) Point guard wishes Rockets would extend contract to match his growing value

I hope you really don't think Lowry will earn more money than Brooks once Brooks gets a new contract.

 

This is what people don't understand at all. How many assist and how effecient can you be with hayes,battier and to some extent ariza starting at the same time? People look at when they watched brooks play. Everything went up after they got martin. He is still the rockets best option off the dribble and late game/shot clock situation. Just because lowry draws fouls coming off the bench, doesn't mean brooks is the same kind of player. Brooks is a shot maker and shot creator. Bibby never drew fouls either, but he made shots.

 

Steve Blake is not as good a player as Hinrich, yet he will be the likely starter this season for the World Champion Los Angeles Lakers.

If Kirk Hinrich made, say, $4M per season, teams would be fighting each other trying to trade for him. The ONLY reason Hinrich has not been more sought after the past couple of seasons has been his inflated salary.

Dude can play. Lay off him.

 

If you honestly think the Rockets will beat the Lakers with Kirk Hinrich starting, then you obviously don't watch basketball that often

 

He's average at best. Good defense, nice shot, poor playmaker. No way he's replacing Aaron Brooks _

 

Blake isnt a starter either and he's starting by default. Hinrich was paid on his upward swing and never got better . He's an ok player and I know you really like the guy, but he's just ok. I still have the image of his terrible play in the ncaa finals as the favorite. Not to mention, he can't stay healthy. I'm pretty sure if ak-47 was making 8m, teams would be trying to get him also, but he makes double that.

 

I don't mind looking at his strengths and weaknesses for the team. But I think a lot of Brooks strengths are being overlook and under appreciated.

Some of the posts did speak of him as if he were a horrible PG. That just isn't the case. He may not set up and run full team plays in the half court, or execute full team fast breaks like Steve Nash, but his ability to penetrate and dish has improved, and there is no reason to think that it won't continue to do so. He's one of the best at feeding Yao in the post despite his size. As Bullard(I think it was ) said one night the bounce pass from Aaron isn't as bad, because he can use misdirection to disguise it a bit, and with his short stature defenders are looking to come over the top on him to get the ball.

Aaron can also shoot well when Yao kicks it out, and those are things our team needs. He's fast so he can beat defenders down the court on the break, or take people off the dribble. I think he has a ton of great strengths our team needs. Last year our team us best on offense when playing up tempo. Brooks is suited to that style of play, and is an asset in that offense.

At the same time I'm fine with criticism of Brooks, and even a desire to trade him if it's truly an upgrade. But some of the posts were acting like he's terrible, rather than a success story. Definitely there were plenty of posts that were critical of Brooks and weren't over the top, and had some reasoning behind them. I didn't mean to lump all critical posts into one category, just some of them.

He's shown he has a good work ethic, and a commitment to defense will probably pay off for him. Showing him appreciation is probably going to help him to play better and work harder than ignoring his hard work, and skills.

 

You mentioned almost all offensive moves...... and 1 line about defense.

Many fans are simply saying this, AB is one dimensional who lacks the court vision or the passing skills to really really be good. Hey we are happy he is our Starting PG, but if we have a chance to trade him to bring an A player, than you do it.

IF AB magically develops the court vision....etc. Than yes sign him to a larger contract but as of right now he is a scoring PG who's value was magnified by 5X due to being the only option to score (surrounded by Hayes, Shane and Ariza poor shooting)

AB real value will come out this year.

 

Check the roster proposed after veyr possible trades....Do you think the current roster has better chances? Brooks+Martin+Battier is a better frontcourt than Hinrich+Martin+Iggy? Why you insist in focusing only on Hinrich? how many times it must be said that it's not hinrich vs Brooks?

BTW, Hinrich is under-rated, he had to play Sg and backup due to Rose taking the Pg spot often...but he's a pretty serviceable PG (good court vision, at least far better than Brooks, good D and 3pt shooting...), at least he's better than the latest Derek Fisher, for instance...

Again, it's NOT Hinrich vs brooks, is about the final roster gotten, how many times it must be written for you to understand?

PG: Hinrich, Lowry
SG: Martin, Lee
SF: Igoudala, Budinger
PF: Scola, Patterson
C: Yao, Miller, 3rd C (Dampier)

 

No one is overlook or underestimating AB's strength as well as exaggerating his weaknesses. The split between Rockets fans about AB has to do with the perception that we have of the overall team, how it is suppose to perform, and how much AB will actually contribute. No one denies that AB can score as easily as the best of them when he is hot. What the arguments are how much will he be worth and does his weaknesses outweigh his strengths and this is what divides us. Posters like DD, leebigez, and lav see Brooks as a rising star who can score at will from as far out as 32-33ft and can break down defenses. Others and I see Brooks as an undersized shooting guard who will better serve the team as the 6th man and provide a spark off the bench and due to his perceived inflated value, we should move him while he is hot to upgrade the team.

IMHO, Brooks weaknesses far outweigh his strengths, especially considering that this season we are in no longer in dire need of scoring. Scola has shown last season and in the FIFA tournament that he is able to score and put up 20/10 on any given night. Yao has always been an efficient scorer so he should be able to produce offensively in his 24 minutes of play. Martin is just as efficient and should look to continue to do better now that he has supposedly regained his perimeter shooting touch. Lee and Budinger are also capable of scoring in transition, spotting up, or curling around screens as well. To top it off, we also have JT and Patterson who look to also contribute. So with a diminished scoring role, what can AB do to continue to help contribute? AB supporters believe he will continue to score and break down the defense while his detractors believe that he will hurt us due to his lack of playmaking abilities, poor defense, and inability to finish strong at the rim.

Don't get me wrong, I am very happy that Brooks has developed into the scorer that he is. However, I am not so blinded by the glitter of him putting up a 20/5 stat line to also not recognize the cost it comes with and believe that he will hurt the team more than he will help it in his guaranteed diminishing role this upcoming season.

 

What, you wanta set a precedent? :grin:

 

Dude, I've had it. The series was 3 years ago. BTW, did we win that series?

Are we working on a team that wins 3 games out of a best of 7? Is that the goal?

"oh, no AB is the reason we got to a game 7 and got raped in La la land. We need to keep him"

 

After reading this, specifically about what you perceive the opposition believes regarding Brooks starting, I don't think you understand our position, or atleast mine.

 

That's besides the point.

Kirk Hinrich is overpaid. We can agree on that.

But your argument is that Kirk Hinrich is not an NBA starter quality PG. With THAT point, I disagree.

There is a distinction between being a "star" PG, a "very good" PG, a "good" PG, and a "starting PG". There are only a small handful of "star" PGs (e.g., Paul, D.Williams, Nash). That group can be expanded a little to get to the "very good" PGs (e.g., Tony Parker, Derrick Rose - for now, Russell Westbrook) and even more to get to the "good" PGs (e.g., Aaron Brooks, Devin Harris).

But there are 30 starting PG spots in the NBA. BY DEFINITION, a player is worthy of being a "starting NBA PG" if he is at least one of the top 30 PGs in the NBA.

Seriously, I defy you to name 30 PGs playing in the NBA right now who are clearly better than Kirk Hinrich.

You may have your opinion, and that opinion may involve you being able to name 30 players who you like more than Kirk Hinrich; but you cannot seriously say that another person would be unreasonable to annoint Kirk Hinrich as one of the top 30 PGs in the NBA.

 

It was 3 years ago but take a look at the Lakers and us, they STILL have nobody that can guard Aaron brooks. From a strategy standpoint, it makes zero sense to trade him. You basketball IQ doesn't seem to high.

BTW, he's the reason we had a damn game 7!!!

 

Hinrich can probably start for maybe 4 teams. I actually think he would be pretty good on a team like the lakers, but his price tag is hefty. I think he's better than conley, although he's shown to get better,blake,maybe bibby, and I'm running out of names after that. He's a very underrated defender, but he seems to shrink in the moment. He competes and thats good, but he is what he is. The cavs took mo williams and his same contract and he was made the starter. I'm pretty sure if the heat couldve gotten him, they probably would have using beasley as a trade chip. I'm not saying he can't play, but i would take lawson or george hill before kirk even if the salaries were the same.

 

I'm going to let this go because it keeps going round and round. What you don't understand is how a guy with his ability can effect every play, even simple ones. His range,quickness,and explosion has to be accounted for every time he's involved in a play and no other rocket has that right now. What you really don't understand is when the game is type and the offense has broken down, you need a guy of his abilities to get a shot or create something. No one on the rockets can do that. The offense you run in the first 5 mins of the game isn't the same one used late in the game when its tight. Not only that, teams have to tilt toward brooks which opens other avenues. Since brooks range is basically anywhere on the court, teams players have to honor that. Becuase he can get by any player, they have to honor that as well. Thats why the teams tilt or basically play man and a half. His role will not change because he is the rockets best player right now. He will be the closer or the guy at the end of quarters to get a shot off or create one because he is a triple threat offensively. He may not be 20ppg like last year, but he will still be around 17 because thats what he was developing into even when yao was healthy going into the playoffs. Now, I know its hard for all the detractors who complain about him throwing the ball to yao to come to grips, but it is what it is. If they trade him and upgrade the position or another position, so be it, but lowry isn't the upgrade or even equal player. Lowry is a bench player who needs play finisher all the time. Thats why he played with wafer,landry,chase,hill and guys like that.

 

Fair enough regarding your assessment, although you know I think he could start on more teams than that. But again, the "price tag" argument has nothing to do with Hinrich's ABILITY. We are talking about HOW GOOD he is, in a vacuum, regardless of player salaries. (Also, if we're just talking about needing a PG for THIS season, I'd take him over Hill and Lawson. Now, if we're talking long-term, you may be right.)

As for "shrinking in the moment", what playoff games have YOU been watching??? Hinrich came up HUGE on defense against Paul Pierce (who had about 4-5" on him) throughout that epic, 7-game series in 2009. I don't know where you're getting that he doesn't come up big on defense. That's simply false.

 

Those bloodsucking agents are poisoning our boy's mind.

Anyway, I think it is very likely that Brooks will be traded before the deadline. He is overvalued right now. And you know what Morey does with overvalued players.

 

More non-insider info from ESPN Insider:

Morey Silent on Brooks Meeting