Brooks' height really isn't an issue except on defense. With his speed he should be able to get any shot off he wants. Tony Parker used to lead the league in points in the paint. CP3 is only an inch taller and is one of the best playmakers in the league. Mighty mouse was only 5'10". Brooks' turnovers mainly come from picking up his dribble when trapped and simply bad passes. He can easily improve on both.
Since that is already happening, care to explain your comment about it being a bad thing the ball be taken out of Brooks hands? Since we have just established that Brooks can still be just as effective without the ball in his hands, that reasoning against getting Tracy back is I guess...NULL AND ****ING VOID!
TMac averages 2.59 turnovers per game Which is less than Brooks, who is at 3.33 turnovers this year, however, Tmac has averaged 3 turnovers one year, and Brooks is still learning so it is statistically not that different. I really think people are missing the boat on a budding all star in Aaron Brooks. DD
No, it is that Brooks will not have the same number of shots, or opportunities to grow, and he will be here next year. And it is almost certain that Tmac will not, so it is more prudent for the organization to go with whom they know is improving over those they know are declining and are no longer part of the team's future. And no amount of ALL CAPS or CURSING will change that fact. DD
That is right. You are on the youth kick. Trade Battier and Scola for picks then. Since they are taking opportunities to grow from Landry, Anderson, Budinger and Taylor. Get a unit of 20-25 year old and let them grow together. Get rid of Yao while we are at. Nearing 30 and injury prone. Untill he is traded or Morey comes out and says Tracy is gone at the end of the season, I won't deal in the HYPOTHETICAL situation of Tracy not being here next season. Forget about what the reporters say. I've addressed the drama off the court before. Your point was Tracy is bad because he takes the ball out of Brooks hands. Well we established it won't be an issue, since Brooks has other ways he can be effective. There are other area's he cna grow as a player. With or without the ball in his hands.
17pts and nearly 6 assists per game while shooting 45% overall and 39% from 3pt range? I think he honestly should be averaging more than 20ppg, all he lacks is a little more "Me first" attitude, and he would be perfect. Brooks is almost too selfless out there, he is our best scoring threat our best setup guy and this year arguably, our best player..... DD
Please review my retort: Best scoring threat is Carl Landry Best setup guy is Kyle Lowry Best player is Luis Scola
Now, Brooks needs to be Brooks. What he needs to do is simply run the offense. Whether is directly responsible for the bucket, or he just calls the right play. Forget about the basic statistics. There is more to Basketball than how many points and assists per game someone gets.
Interesting, but I think TJ was a better passer, and set up guy and AB a better shooter, all over the floor..... I like em both, but because AB can score the ball, I think his career will be more noteworthy. DD
Maybe Brooks will have less shots, but this should make the Rockets a better team. The Rockets will have more options to throw at the opposing defenses. A lot of times Brooks has had the advantage of being quicker than his defenders, but there has been some teams that did a good job of stopping his penetration. Brooks may also benefit from more quality shots, should get a few more open looks. As far as taking minutes from a younger player, that's on each player themselves. Budinger didn't get a lot of minutes vs Cleveland because he wasn't hitting his shots. Adelman will go with what's working, so a younger player will have to earn his time. We have a good team, so let's try to win now. I could see if we were a bad team, then I would definitely go with the younger players. We can't assume T-Mac's future, but his success can benefit the Rockets now and in the future.
TJ was a better passer but AB is a better shooter than TJ. The other thing folks never put into consideration is AB gets fouled soo much but yet doesn't get nearly as many calls as TP, CP3, D. Will, and others. When the refs allow other players to be rough on AB, he tends to fade. If he would get the same calls as TP, CP3, and others, you would see how great he is. Does he have flaws? Sure... Not all players are perfect. I rather have the ball in AB's hands than T-Mac. I'm not Miss Cleo but I would say T-Mac will not be playing here next year. Unless he has a change of heart and style of play, it's not gonna happen. Sure T-Mac probably is a better play maker. But there's more to the game than playing making. The team wants the ball to flow. With Tracy.... That's not gonna happen. BTW... Please stop with the "22 game winning streak".... Yeah Tracy was part of that but we had a different team back then. I hate when people try to bring that argument up when we were a half court team. During that streak, we played some of the best defense you could of seen with Deke. We do not have a center on this team like that.
there is a gigantic difference between low-to-mid usage veterans like shane, chuck, luis, etc and high usage ball-dominating players like tracy. going just off of usage rate, for example: tracy has averaged a usage rate of 32.9% in his time in Houston. If you sum the average usage rates of Luis, Chuck, and Shane, you get 42.5%. That's inclusive of the fact that they have used significantly more possessions in the last two years that Tracy has been hurt. the point of this is that a veteran who has always been a high usage guy takes the ball out of the younger players' hands significantly more than veterans that don't. having low usage veterans that play defense helps your team stay cohesive and organized, both offensively and defensively, and helps balance out the mercurial and inconsistent nature of talented young players. it's just not as simple as saying "go full youth movement then". unless you like losing, and don't want your young guys to learn anything from the vets you have. imo the mix is pretty ideal now. smart, intelligent vets who have high BBIQ to teach the young guys the ropes and steady the course in-game, while the young guys get to be higher-usage and learn from it.
So in other words it is okay to carry older guys if they are not stars, but older stars are bad? The fact is, Tracy on the team will not hurt Aaron Brooks in the short of long term. There is more to being a point guard than scoring and being the last person to make a pass on a basket. Aaron needs to be able to do it with the ball, as the first option, but also learn to defect to other players. Finally the use of the older guys who described is correct. I'm just making the point that if DD wants to go with youth and to develop youth, you may as well go the whole nine yards and not pick and choose. Let's not act like Tracy is a bad player. He is a smart player...offensively.
I think Brooks really needs to work on his consistency before anything else and I do agree with you that he could easily average 20pts a night. I'll still take Scola as the rockets best player, but thats why we rocket fans are in this forum debating back and forth. We are true fans.
not really. the point is that it depends what the older guys do. having older stars like deke, shane, chuck is a very good thing. that's why low usage but high effort/productivity guys who play d, rebound, block shots, etc are always in the league for awhile. i disagree. brooks has always been a scoring guard, and he is very much a rhythm player. i think he'd be the player most impacted by tracy's return. when he's involved in the game, he's a better player, and having the ball in his hands makes him feel involved. you're right that there might be more to being a pg than that, but are you trying to make AB into something he's not? or are you trying to develop and use his strengths and minimize his weaknesses? i think the latter is better, and that involves letting AB do what he does best, dribble, handle the ball, penetrate, shoot, and score. ideally yes, and sometimes he's good at deferring and playing off the ball. i just don't think its something that's good for his development long-term, if you plan to have him play to his strengths in the future. sure, i understandthat. my point was simply that its not about simply young versus veteran, the specifics of what each player does, as a part of the system, is critical. chemistry and clarity of roles is critical, and tracy, just because of how much of the game he impacts, affects those things dramatically just by his presence. in the past that was a great thing. on this team, i'm not sure you want to rebalance everything around him. it's not about good or bad, its about fit. Even if adding Tracy generates a lot of positives, it wont help you if the ramifications of the addition involve a host of other players taking even a little step back, whether thats as a result of the new chemistry or changing roles, or whatever the case may be.
I never said I wanted to develop youth, what I said was I want the guys that are going to be here NEXT year when Yao gets back to develop THIS year. Tmac is not one of those guys, no matter how badly his fan club wants to believe he is....it is just not gonna happen. DD
Can't really assume who will be a Rocket next year. Some players are free agents, two players are recovering from a major injury and there's always the possibility of a trade.
