if someone told me in July that Aaron Brooks would turn out to be better than Mike Conley Jr, or even start in the NBA for that matter. I would have thought that person was certifiably a crack user. Now the tables have turned, I think I am the one smoking the crack. This dude is good.....and this team is starting to fulfill some of the potential it was supposed to. The team is starting to understand Adelman's offense, it works well when people aren't ball hogging and rotating.
I worried about this as well. The backcourt needs more height. Bulls and Lakers in their champaignship years have enought tall guys perimeter defense. If you don't, when facing guys like Stackhouse, it can kill you.
Because you know Scola favors off rebs, well, Randolph is reb-machine and he grabbed all the def rebs except leaving a bit for Yao' off rebs. To sum it up, none was left for Scola, thats the story.
They have similar body types and similar quickness. They also have similar ballhandling and passing skills. Iverson is a better finisher around the basket. Brooks is a better shooter. If Brooks becomes an effective finisher around the basket that can take poundings and get to the free throw line, he can certainly become a great player in the mold of Allen Iverson.
Earlier on this season Morey was fairly dismissive of the Warriors trading away J-Rich who paraphrasing he called GS's best player. Unless the Rockets get a superstar player in return I doubt he has any interest in trading McGrady.
Randolph is a good rebounder not a great rebounder. He had a career-high rebounding performance tonight. Scola has shown to be a decent rebounder at this point. If he can become even an above average rebounder for his position, that will really increase his ability to be an effective starting PF in this league.
My biggest concerns about T-Mac: 1. His health. This is like a time bomb, can blow off at any time. Can you imagine this happen in a playoff series? That would be toooooo costly. With his health condition, I can't stop worrying about it. 2. When he is hot, he can do a lot of things. But he can be "cold" and take a lot of contested jumpers. Is he a consistent "Mr. Cluth" in 4th quarter? No, I don't think so. He is far from that now. This will hurt you when in the fourth quarter, when teams are down quite some, team or himself try to rely on him to come back through his offense. And his poor free shooting percentage is also a very negative factor. 3. His heart. I still remember the game 7 vs. Dallas. He quited very earlier since Rockets were down big in early of the game. Yao was playing hard through the whole game. I hate T-Mac's attitude very much. The whole team (including him) had worked so hard that year, and it was just 10-20 minutes away from the end of the season if they lose. No matter what is happening, you should fight extremely hard to get back. If you fight hard, there is always a chance. If you don't, your chance is 0. He just gave up way toooooooo easily. This year, he also showed that his will is toooooo weak. Problem is probably we can't really get much from trading him. It is not because there are no solid players out there for trade. We don't even need a $20M level player. I just don't think other teams will be willing to trade their solid $10M+ players for T-Mac, because he is too fragile (both physically and mentally).
Nope, it's mostly because we have a guard who can really shoot or penetrate for a change, when they collapse on Big Yao.
you look like a huge brooks fan. and he is starting to win me over. but this a.i. comparison is way to early. one went #1 draft choice, one #26. that is a big gap.
If you're trying to base T-Mac's heart on game 7 vs Dallas, you FAIL with flying colors. Let me school you a little, the Rox scored 76. Only Yao and T-Mac scored points. No supporting cast at ALL! You can have all the desire in the world but, you have to have more than 2 scorers ESPECIALLY in a playoff game. So, though I wonder about T-Mac's heart and desire to STILL be a champion, your example is NOT valid. Despite that, T-Mac STILL top 10 in scoring, STILL good for 5-7 rebounds and assists and his FG% is at its highest since ... EVER? He needs to be a better FT shooter. Well will just have to see how this all pans out when he's back on the court. Something tells me that with Brooks, we have a catalyst that can be a playmaker to the playmakers. We have a long ways to go in this season but, we can STILL salvage this thing with a few ridiculous winning streaks but, no more slacking off. It's time to take care of business, Rockets!
I found some bloggers that appear to be Oregon fans. This is what they had to say after the Ducks lost to Arizona State on Jan. 3rd: "It is true that without Brooks Oregon is a different team, but... Oregon still has some mighty nice talent and Ernie just can't figure out how to win! It is clear to me now more than before that it was Aaron Brooks who willed that team forward and carried that team while saving Ernie's job...." "They have some very nice returning players (4 starters from last season) and have fallen flat on their collective faces. I was expecting some period of difficulty in adjusting to the loss of Brooks, but I can't see why they should have struggled this much...." "The Ducks have very little to rely on, and no one seems like they want to lead this team. AB was a real talent, and there is no one to replace him on that team this year, period. Maybe Kamyron Brown down the road-like, two, three years down the road."
I dont really think draft positioning has anything to do with how good a player is or isnt...it really doesnt matter most of the time today...i think that aaron brooks has a little bit of A.I. in him and hopefully he can be beter then him in the future
Somebody else made the comparison. I just commented on what I see as the similarities and differences between the two players. I concluded that Brooks has the potential to be a great player in the mold of Allen Iverson. That doesn't mean I think he will be as good as Iverson. Just that he possesses some similar attributes. As far as being a Brooks fan, I watched some of his games last season at Oregon. After we drafted him, I watched every game he played in the Summer League. To say I was impressed with how he played in the Summer League is an understatement. That performance prompted me to create the BrooksBall username.
Sure I remember that other teammates were not scoring much. What I am saying is: He quit with a lot of time left. I don't remember if he played the 4th quarter or not, but he didn't play most part of the 4th quarter. It is quiter's mentality!!! Do whatever you can in that 10-20 minutes to save your whole season!
I should add: I remember seeing sign of quitting from him even in the 3rd quarter in that game. That is not excusable in my eye.
McGrady had 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assits in 36 minutes. Considering that the Rockets entered the 4th quarter down by 28 points, I imagine that Tracy's leaving the game early was more JVG's decision than McGrady's. I'm not going to assume anything since I wasn't in the huddle at the time.
so basically you are saying we should cut him? I don't understand...you say that he's too weak, bad health, bad heart and that he's really streaky and not that good, he can't shoot ft's well, and no body wants him because of all of this. what's your point? i just don't understand why people constantly are smashing t-mac.....it's so odd.
Should trade him for something solid and reliable, even if it is slight less value overral. Do you want your super star to walk off the court in the middle of a playoff game after he takes a jumper and won't be able to come back for the rest of the series? I do agree with him on court and buying into current offensive system and playing hard on both ends, the team can only be better. But do you think the above injury scenario is only a remote possibility? I don't want to take the chance. Do you think Rockets will be a champaignship contender this year? No way. With role players playing like this, they can develop into a champaignship contender in several years. How do you like the chance that in another 3-5 years, you have a healthy T-Mac all season long (or for majority part of the season), and healthy enough to take all the beat for all the playoff series? I don't feel good about it.
