Actually I almost brought this up as a point of contrast last night. Even though Steve basically put it in his mind to shoot and ignored other players a lot of the time - that was vastly preferable to the type of paralytic indecision that Brooks displays at times (not to mention Steve had a knack for drawing fouls and/or finishing underneath that Brooks sorely lacks)
Excellent thesaurus usage Fisher on paralytic. I had to look that up and now I am enlightened once more because of ClutchFans. Normally clyde, bullard, and bill like to amp up the players more than they are to the fans or sugarcoat shortcomings sometimes but there's one thing they all said last night that I agree with (and hope, lol) is that Brooks will get better over time. Heck. This is Brooks first time in the playoffs as a player that's playing any kind of significant minutes, much less actually running the team. That being said, last night was painful to watch Brooks play. Dribble, dribble, dribble and then nothing. The problem that I remain the most concerned about (and that won't be fixed even if he wants to go to the rack and draw fouls) is him driving to the basket with any authority. The guy's barely 6'0 and 160 pounds and it was frustrating watching him getting swatted every time because he was releasing the ball from 2 inches above the ground every time, lol. I doubt he ever gets consistently better at driving to the rack/drawing contact, he's just too small. He can, however, succeed in sort of a platoon role with lowry. Let brooks be the offense and the passer (assuming he gets better at passing) and then let lowry be the "hold down the fort" point guard with his strength and ability to drive to the rack. If not though, then a new starting pg is in order somewhere down the line.
The role you have for Brooks is basically what we need in a sixth man. We dont have to have our PG be the scorer with the first team. More important to have someone who can make smart decisions and get our players more involved.
I have seen enough to believe Brooks is a AI type player without the ability drawing fouls or finishing underneath. We need to find our own Billups, I do not mind to overpay it to get some1 like Billups.
If we could not get a decent point guard next year, we are doomed. Seriously, this franchise failed to get a decent point guard in the last decade! With all the other pieces coming together, they still could not find one! How Pathetic! It is painful to see the youngsters like, Rondo, Rose, Roy,Paul, DW, etc. growing so fast while all we have is an obviously undersized guard. It is not the coach's fault, it is not Aaron's fault!
When Alston was traded, it was a clear sign that the Rockets was giving up this season, and looking to the future with Brooks and Lowry. Now people caught up with the playoff action, expect Brooks to be a maturing PG now? Brooks is a 2nd year player who just got regular playing time in the middle of the season, the only way for him to improve is through playing, making those mistakes. Yes, it's painful, and frustrating to see him making those mistakes, but let's not forget that this was expected when the Alston trade was made, let's give the guy time to grow & improve. Does anyone still remember how Yao was fared in his first couple years? He was really painful to watch most of the nights, still are from time to time now, but he becomes a better player because the team let him play, allowed him to make those mistakes, despite many called him a bust. Let's also give Brooks time to grow.
But at least you have to show flashes of the greatness. Have you ever seen Brooks made a great pass make you believe he will be such a good PG we want to sacrifice the whole season to make him grow?
2nd year player, started a grand total of about 30 games, 1st time starter in playoffs. Has the team up 3-2 as the underdog. Panic...the GARM is calling...again ! DD
Yes, I have. As bad as people made him look like, he did make some good passes, and attacked the defense with his dribble penetration. The Rockets wouldn't blow out the Blazers in the 1st game if there was no aggressive attacks from Brooks. Why do you expect Brooks to be a great PG? He was a late first round draft, you don't get great players that late in the draft. People just need to have their expectation adjusted, face the reality. Plus the PG position is the hardest to play, like the QB in football, it requires a great deal of patience.
Tony Parker was drafted 26th... AB is going to be fine, we just need all the panicked people to wake up, have a cup of coffee and notice that the team is up 3-2 with a home game coming up. You hated Steve, hated Rafer, hate AB.....lol....at least you are consistent. DD
Let's look at the series STATS. Here are the Post season stats for the team AB's stats: 15.8ppg .446 FG% .440 3pt% 4.8 Apg 1.4 TO per game 3.43 Assist to turnover ratio (OUTSTANDING) AB had a bad game, but he is NOT the problem with this team....now, let's take a look at Mr. (Thinks he is an Older Lebron). Mo-Ron's stats 13.4 ppg .377 FG% .280 3pt% 4.8 APG 2.6 TO per game (worst on team) 1.85 Assist to turnover ratio Do you guys get the picture yet? Do you actually SEE the problem? So, sure AB could get better at getting Yao the ball, but so many guards have struggled with it...and some of that is because Yao is just hard to toss it to, he is not good at catching, sealing his man, or moving to the ball, he is a good player but he is limited by his size and lack of speed...it just is what it is.... AB needs to work on his passing, great...in the mean time, maybe you guys will wake up and smell the roses, we are up 3-2 with a pretty good team. BTW, for those of you calling for Lowry. 4.8ppg .353 FG% .333 3pt% 1.4 Apg 1.6 TOpg .880 Assist to turnover ratio (PUTRID for a PG) Please people stop panicking and get your facts straight. Carry on ! DD
I've been enjoying reading your posts. But for now, I think you are in denial. Fans got disappointed with Brooks because they have too high expectations of him. Well it's not his fault that he is our starting PG, and it's not his fault that he is undersized and doesn't have the skills and fire like other elite guards. Again, fans are not panicked. They are very disappointed. I don't blame AB for being what he is. But I don't see any hope for us advancing further with his capability if this club decides to go with him for the future.
Because fans are being impatient, he is a 2nd year player who has started about 30 games, and this is his first playoff series. Coincidently he has upped his game SIGNIFICANTLY from the regular season, could he be better, sure.....but he is not the problem, or not the biggest problem. But keep ignoring the facts and stats I posted above, and I will be back here in game 6.......laughing at all the uneccessary panicking going on..... DD
Well, cannot help reply to this post. You have one big deep dark hole in your analysis, DD. Had AB been a decent guard, with Yao drawing that much attention, he could have doubled his stats in terms of every aspect except TOs. Again it is not AB's fault. Management might have quit this season too early.
This is very transparent - you are aggregating the stats because he had 3 bad games in a row, one awesome game, and one game that was somewhat exaggerated due to late 3's....so it makes him seem much more innocuous than he has been recently. It would be like if Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a game, then went 0-456 for 0 points in his next four games, and you said - "Hey guys, he's still averaging 20 ppg - that's all star caliber!" Please post Aaron's last 3 box scores - you do know that this series isn't UEFA Champions league, and that it's the winner of each game, not the winner of the series total score on aggregate that goes on, right? Dude no - I'm jsut acknowledging the obvous, that he's been a real weak link for the Rockets for the past 3 games. PS the Ron comparison is completely artificial and you're just using it to distract. Ron is a different player with a different role who does different things.
AB is fast and can beat his man, but he is not as good a penetrator to the basket as he SHOULD be, for 3 reasons: 1) AB avoids contact when driving, thus he doesn't draw many fouls. Contrast this with Lowry who gets to the line on a consistent basis. 2) AB is not a great finisher in traffic. He does make some occasionally great shots, but usually he cannot finish over a big man like, say, Tony Parker can. 3) He is not great at passing after penetrating and drawing defenses. No need to go into detail here, we all know he has a slight case of "tunnel vision." So AB is quick with the ball, but what is the point of being a great penetrator if you can't finish or get an assist out of it? That said, I think he is still a useful part of the team. He can provide instant offense and speed. I just think that he will be providing it from the bench in the future. Is Lowry the answer? That's a whole other thread.
Below are his box scores for each game. He has struggled, but one good thing I noticed is that he doesn't turn the ball over much. Comparisons to Steve Francis are unfair. Game 1- 27 PTS on 10 of 17 shooting, 5 of 8 from 3PT land, 7 ASSTS, 2 TOs, 4 REBS Game 2- 23 PTS on 9 or 12 shooting, 4 of 5 from 3PT land, 5 ASSTS, 3 TOs, 2 REBS Game 3- 11 PTS on 3 of 11 shooting, 0 of 2 from 3PT land, 5 ASSTS, 0 TOs, 4 REBS Game 4- 5 PTS on 1 of 5 shooting, 1 of 2 from 3PT land, 2 ASSTS, 0 TOS, 1 REB Game 5- 13 PTS on 6 of 20 shooting, 1 of 8 from 4PT land, 5 ASSTS, 2 TOs, 1 REB
