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

I believe he is underrated some here, but mainly on the basis that what some feel the Rockets need in a starting point isnt AB's strength.

True, last year he did do what was asked of him. He was asked to score on a team that was starving for scoring. This years team is different. This team has more scorers.

Now, if the argument is: Can AB be more of an assists oriented point if he's asked to be? Then, thats pure guess work. We havent seen him try, and he hasnt needed to be to this point.

So again, I dont see the logic in assuming AB will be a clone of last years AB. Or that trading him is the way to improve the team. By February we should know this, perhaps sooner. But not now.

Im with you on not trading him, at least for now. Lets see if he can adjust to this new team. Lets see if the rest of them can as well.

But I do think an exception to this thinking should include the scenario whereby someone unexpected appears on the trading block and he does something we need better than the person presently doing it.

 

Everyone knows how trade fillers work, especially DD.

No one is talking about your trade because this about Brooks and his contract. There is a thread specifically dedicated to random trades, which this is.

Furthermore, neither side makes that trade.

 

The point is that putting Lowry in place of Brooks in the starting lineup weakens it.

Lowry can not shoot the ball, and opponents would be leaving him wide open and doubling up on Martin, and Yao, and Luis.....they would simply pack the paint and dare Kyle to shoot.

Brooks can take advantage of that, and there is no one to double without getting burned.

Brooks' role will change this year, but he is still the best option to create a shot late in the clock, and the best as the starting PG.

And he will get a new contract that reflects that, after this season.

DD

 

While you might be right, every player has their weaknesses. A lesser ability to play "D" and distribute the ball are also weaknesses than can be exploited by your opponent. By pointing this out, im not overlooking AB's strengths. Im saying your point ( a valid one) is only a part of the picture.

 

I would not be surprised if Morey signs him to one or makes him wait.

And I am not surprised by others thinking he should be traded, I just wish they understood that most good teams keep their better players and pay them what they are worth, and simply trading players to avoid paying them is a recipe for mediocrity.

I am sure they will come around....well...some of them.

DD

 

up tempo is more than just fastbreak. Brooks also pushes the tempo well, and is an actual offensive threat in that up tempo game.

 

I dont disagree with you entirely, but do object to a few points.

I'll grant you that there are those who undervalue Brooks as a PG. He has improved each season and is, in my opinion, a serviceable/above-average PG.

And as for trading him, were a team to come around for a trade that could significantly improve our current roster with Brooks being the centerpiece that we'd have to give up, I wouldnt mind parting with him, but otherwise dont think that we should let him go, especially if the trade requires us to give up a lot of our core pieces without enough value in return.

That said, I think there are also many people who overvalue Brooks. He has improved each season, but he's only played 3 seasons. Steve Francis improved during his first 3 seasons with the Rockets too, but that didnt make him a good fit at the PG position, nor did it say much about how his playing style gelled with the supporting cast. Brooks' stats have improved commensurate with increased playing time and freedom to roam with the ball and take chances.

Brooks main value is at the offensive end of the court, and even then he can be somewhat pedestrian. His shooting percentage is very low for a PG- 43.2% which is 36th amongst gaurds and 101st overall (link). His 3-point shot improved tremendously last year and he took over 6 a game, and since its his strong suite I cant fault him too much for that.

In the past, I would agree that his offense was sorely needed, especially when Chuck, Battier, and Ariza were starting. But now, we have KMart for a full season (and C-Lee as a backup), Budinger with increased minutes, and Yao back, which means there will be less of a dependency on Brooks' offensive production.

You also have to take into account that Lowry is a far superior defender- according to Synergy Sports, Brooks ranked 334th in spot up defense as opponents shot 47% against him in spot-up situations and 40% against him from 3-point range. He struggles against bigger PG's, and we play in a conference where he has to face a number of them regularly.

To be fair, we've seen stretches where Lowry is playing excellent, and then other stretches where he struggles, but I believe it is worth exploring how the offense produces with him on the court with the starting lineup versus Brooks and is probably why many posters here question whether or not Brooks is the ultimate answer at PG, especially if this team wants to contend for a championship...

 

By that logic, it's a miracle Lowry gets on the court at all. He's constantly being left open and allowing opponents to double team all 4 of the other guys with complete freedom. When Lowry comes off the bench, and plays 20+mpg, somehow we are not worried at all about people leaving him open during these minutes?

And where's this "our PG must shoot 3s" argument when Spanoulis was around and you were constantly b****ing for him to get minutes?

 

keep in mind Brooks has to go against Derrick Rose, Deron Williams, and Chauncey Billups, while Lowry gets to go against Jason Williams and Luke Ridnour.

 

We have two big expiring contracts in Jeffies and Battier. I don't see why Brooks can't be packaged with one or these guys for a 10M player in return without increasing our payroll, if you really believe that Brooks is a 10M kind of player.

It doesn't matter how he is rated in this forum. What's important is that he is likely OVERrated by a some GMs. Morey can take advantage of that, I'm sure.

Like I said in the Lee thread, with Lee and Smith (not to mention the future of Llull), Brooks is very expendable. I really don't think Morey would want to keep two expensive PGs on the team. My guess is, Brooks will either be traded before the deadline with one of th expiring, or will be SnT'ed when his contract expires.

 

Quite the opposite. RA usually brings in Lowry to help defend and matchup against bigger PG's. RA knows Brooks is a defensive liability and moves him to the 2 with Lowry at 1.

 

If so, why did he write this? READ
"You can't trade Brooks, his play far exceeds his contract, he is just going to have to wait for his new deal just like Kyle and Luis.

And if you did try to trade him you would not be able to get value for him as he is playing at about a $10 million player, and his contract is less than 1/5th that.

So folks saying trade him are not making much sense, because you could only get back a player making what he makes and that is way undervalued.

AB is here and improving, and is our best option at starting PG, I suspect Lowry will go before Brooks.....

Either way, we are lucky to have them both, and he will just have to wait to get paid. DD"

In his post, he was not writing about why such trade was unliklely to happen, he writes about being possible only to bring players with similar salary READ...if he's so seasoned at posting, how come he will write like that?

 

If Lowry develops a decent three point shot, I think Brooks will be a goner.

Lowry does virtually everything better than Brooks minus the three point shot.

 

Are you serious? Lowry can get away with a jumpshot because he's playing with a 2nd unit. Replacing Brooks with Lowry in the starting lineup would be idiotic. Guards would sag off Lowry and smother Yao every game. No way

 

And while on the other end of the floor, Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo, Russel Westbrook, Chris Paul and Deron Williams will score 30 points effortlessly on him.

Lowry impacts the game in more ways than Brooks.

 

Correction. Lowry impacts the game off the bench. He's in no way capable of running a team with Yao starting.

If Deron Williams, Chris Paul, or Westbrook go off for 30, atleast we know Brooks can give them 30 back. Can't say that for Lowry

 

You know this how exactly?

Back it up with claims.

 

Yes, there are a lot of players that don't improve very well once they hit the league...hell, he won MIP last year...doesn't that tell you something?
Brooks has shown that he can GREATLY improve...how many players do that? Not many...

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here...so he's not a perfect passing point guard? You don't think other PGs miss open players? The whole point is that he's worth a hell of a lot more than he's getting paid...someone asked him and he replied. I don't know where you're getting all this 'past seasons' stuff from...he's only played with MArtin for half a season, if that...he's played with Yao for about half a season to 1 season total...same with scola...
And passing to Chuck? LOL, WTF...you kind of lost me there

Hmm, I don't think my post said anything about not trading him no matter what...
I saw what you posted about your proposed trade...not sure why you are putting hinrich in there seeing how he can't be traded for quite sometime since he just went to washington...besides your trade is not realistic...it would take a huge effort by mulitiple teams. You might as well hope Lebron gets tired of the nice weather in miami and decides the hot, humid swamp lands of Houston suits him better...yeah, that's going to happen....
Just because you want some silly out of the world trade to happen, and it 'works' on realgm or whatever, doesn't mean it's fix in stone and morey just has to wave a magic wand for it to happen.

 

I lol'd.

 

Why would the Rockets or any other team lock themselves into a contract before they know what the next CBA will look like? Especially when Brooks is a restricted FA? If a hard cap, shorter contracts, lower max salaries or any of the other things that are being predicted end up in the new agreement, then the Rockets will end up much better off by simply waiting. If Morey is really looking to trade for a star then Brooks is a much more attractive trade piece as a restricted FA than he is signed to an extension. What seems like a fair deal in today's world may not be considered a great contract under the next CBA. If you are going to potentially trade Brooks then you let his new team determine what his fair value is.

If you had a true franchise player then you'd extend him right away. Guys like Kobe, Lebron, Wade, Durant and such will still be worth more than the max regardless of what changes are made to the CBA. Maybe if you had an unrestricted FA that you thought that you might lose then you go ahead and extend him to guarentee that you keep him, but certainly not for a restricted FA.

I do find the idea that Kyle Lowry couldn't start to be amusing. Lowry isn't a good shooter but he's terrific at going to the hoop. If teams simply back off Lowry and allows him to get a head of steam going to the hoop he'll consistently score, draw fouls or dish to open big men.

If all it took to stop a guy like Lowry was to back off of him then Barron Davis, Russell Westbrook, Rajon Rondo, Derrick Rose and Devin Harris wouldn't be successful. Lowry shot .272 from 3pt range last year and that's not great but Rondo shot .213 from behind the arc and Garnett, Perkins and Davis still managed to get inside shots. Do we really believe that Boozer and Noah won't get inside looks this year because Rose is an even worse shooter than Lowry? Simply backing off won't stop a guy like Westbrook from getting to the rim.

Lowry's shooting would render Yao ineffective yet people are clamoring to bring in Carmelo's who's firing up shots at a higher rate than anyone in the league and only shooting .316 from behind arc? How about Iguadola and his .310 3FG%? Would defenses simply back off either of those guys and shut down our inside game?

Brooks isn't a bad PG, he has some definite strong points but he also has weaknesses. You don't give Brooks away just like you don't overpay for him either. The NBA is an offensive league so many times teams tend to value offense over defense. Even if you ended up determining that Brooks and Lowry both contributed equally to the teams success there's a good chance that you'd still get a bigger return in exchange for Brooks. If that opportunity arose then I'd expect Morey to jump on it since selling overvalued assets for inflated prices and acquiriing undervalued assets for lower prices is the basis of Moneyball/Sabermetrics.

Basiclly it's not different than any other trade/roster move. Does it make your team better? If so then you do the deal, otherwise you don't. I consider Brook's offense and Lowry's defense to be similar. Both are good but not great in those areas. To me, the difference comes down to their weaknesses. Lowry isn't a liability on offense but Brooks is a liability on defense.