Your comps are totally off. Most significantly, Iverson, Francis, and Marbury were chosen first, second, and third, respectively, in the draft. Brooks was picked 26th. Top picks in the draft are held to a much higher standard than 26th picks. There was no question at all whether your three comps could make it in the NBA—that's why they were top picks—they were all expected to be stars. Their standard was, "Can this guy carry a franchise?" With Brooks, the question was, "would he get off the bench?" Also, it's no small thing—as far as expectations—that two of those players had great size for their positions. Brooks on the other hand, I sat a few seats from him at a Harvard/Rice game last year. He was smaller than either starting PG. And AI is small too, but he's still not as small as Brooks (and he's got those crazily long arms). More importantly, Iverson thoroughly dominated the Big East, frequently on national TV. In his sophomore (final) year he scored 25 points in 33 minutes at 48%. In Brooks' senior year he scored 18 in 38 minutes at 46%. Also, your assessment of Marbury is off by a few years. He was a true PG when he came into the league. Then he pushed his way out of Minn and became the #1 scoring option (his choice) in NJ. That's another thing, each of those three comps had...strong personalities. Francis had an awful rep coming into the League after that Vancouver thing. And I'll always love Stevie, but sure, at times he could be petulant and sensitive. And when you already have a bad rap, people look to complain. AI also took (and continues to take) more flak from his (perceived) attitude than his game. And Marbury was and is a straight up @ssh@le. Finally, all three of those guys made/make a ton more than AB does. Fact is, Aaron Brooks gets points for being the Little Engine That Could, and he should, because he was the 26th pick and he's a low cost contributor. You really want to give him crap?
Let me try to go through some of this. Creases and flexing with Yao, did you not watch the Portland series. Yao tried many times to seal his man if ever so briefly only to have AB miss the opportunity. Yao would swing through the lane only to have AB not follow through. AB more often then not would simply give up on the play instead of making the correct pass or being patient and let a play develope. As already posted by one, I am not calling AB a scrub or worthless. I did though give statistical evidence that we score more and give up less point with AB out of the game. I did show that outside of scoring AB gets outplayed in every other statistical category. I did show that he is a giant defensive liability. I wasn't calling Francis, marbury, AI tools, just that.people on this board bemoan these players for those PG deficiencies but give the poor man's version of them (AB) all praise. Most of the guys here defending AB, at one point b****ed about those other 3 players non PG skills. AB needs to work on his game management, and to be very honest with you his overall BB IQ. If you can't see this them you are blind or a homer. I will call this right now. If Yao comes back 100 percent he will struggle alongside of AB. Brooks does not breakdown his defender with the intent of fishing mostly. It's to score. guess we will see who is right next year.
Those 3 PGs you named are not pure point guards. chauncey Billups was shipped around the league until Detroit because he was a combo/scoring PG. His rep as a true PG didnt materialize until Detroit. Tony Parker still is not a true PG. He has been the Spurs leading scorer for the last 2-3 years and his assists are never more than 5-6. Tony Parker is a shoot first scoring point who has led the Spurs in shot attempts along with scoring. And Isiah Thomas was the leading scorer for Detroit every year. he definitely was not a pass first PG. Nash, Kidd, Paul are pure PGs. The 3 you named are not on that level and are more scoring type PGs.
imo it is because they were ball hogs even when there were other options to defer to and most importantly they chose themselves over their teammates the majority of the time. AB has proven to be a good PG next to Yao he is passive at times when Yao/Ron was on the court. AB has very little options atm so there is no reason not to let AB play point. I don't know about you but that statement sounds a little backwards to me as a basketball statement. When you look to score more options open up. Also if Yao is back 100% you must be missing something because kicking out a pass to an open AB is fun to watch.
You have to admit it is pretty hard to get him the ball. He is almost cutting 4/5ths of the team from passing to him if we cannot get him an entry pass.
Hak34- How come every player player struggles to get yao the ball against the front? I mean this has been the same song and dance and the only constant is yao. Is this merely by accident? Personally, i dont care if yao struggles to score when he comes back. There are many ways to impact the game without scoring. Had the rockets stood around and waited on yao to get position, they wouldve lost to portland. Now maybe in your small,blind world its easy to get yao the ball, but its not.
If Yao wants the ball, tell him to go get it himself off the rim, he is 7'6" tall for crying out loud. Get that ball Yao, take it off the glass and throw it down big fella. DD
this. and with a scoring threat like AB on the floor it makes for an easier shot for anyone on the floor. if they double Yao or AB someone else is gonna get a good look.
How come every player player struggles to get Landry the ball against the front as well? I agree with you. This is not merely by accident. I can think of two possible reasons for this: 1. The current rockets lack a good passer. In fact, when Tmac played with Yao. 'Front' was not a problem. 2. This is a limtation of Adelman as hear coach. He couldn't figure out a way to beat 'front' for both Yao and Landry. btw, is this the reason why the rockets traded Landry away?!
Why the hell do you need post player then? Yao is a career 2.5 offensive rebounder, Hakeem was a career 3.3 offensive rebounder. Yearh, don't pass to Hakeem, let him get offensive rebounds and score 6.6 points per game. You are getting ridiculous just trying to blindly defend AB, DD.
Every player? Other teams started fronting last year, and if I recall correctly, Brooks was the primary pg. Yet all of a sudden, "every player" struggles to get Yao the ball against the front?
How come folks struggle against the front?? Because its a GAMBLING defense. You are gambling that by denying the ball from the front, you will make it more difficult on the offense. If the gamble fails, a lob pass usually results in an easy dunk. You can reduce the gamble by having other players sag closer to protect the rim. This is a brilliant strategy when you have players like Hayes and Battier on the floor who arent much of a threat to put the ball on the floor and blow by a defender reacting from the sag. Sure it happens, but disrupting the flow of the Rockets offense on 30% or more of the attempts to go into the post is worth the 4-8 points a game you will give up from Battier or Hayes getting by a closeout man. Also, are you comparing Landry's ability to beat a fronting defense to Yao's? One man's been a dominant post presence for years, the other just started dealing with that kind of defense 2 months ago. Beating a fronting defense takes 2, and really it takes all 5. How did the Rockets beat the Blazer front? That guy wearing number 4 tore them up. Remember Von Wafer's monster reverse jam? That was a gamble that failed by the Blazers when Wafer used Yao as a screen for two men(his man and Yao's man) and blew by for the jam. When a team fronts and doubles from behind they are basically telling you that you are going to have to go elsewhere to beat them. Trying to lob it in to a guy, even though he is seven and a half feet tall isn't that good a strategy when guys who aren't even 7 feet can disrupt the play from anywhere in the paint. Also, like I said when T-Mac was playing with Yao, they didn't try to front. Because he was such a threat to go by his man that it left Yao's man away from the basket. The Rockets did not have this last year before Brooks came in. I think the Warriors were the only team that tried fronting the Rockets while T-Mac was relatively healthy. But they had a very quick 4 playing on him in Biedrins or Harrington.
abc, when teams front the post, they're telling you to: Throw a alley Dribble penetrate Reverse the ball Run pick and roll Since we have seen yao have trouble sealing his man and we know with battier being backside and cant beat my mama off the dribble, there are a couple of option left. Replacing shane with martin, scola being aggressive and knocking down 17ft jimmys,and yao moving up the lane turning the play into a pick and pop. All those options will lead to effecient scoring despite yao not dominating the post. Once the rockets show the defense and continue to kill them, they will go back to playing behind yao. Now he can go to work and work in the post. If they dont, then yao is going to have to get offensive rebounds. Since he's already on the inside, he should be able to clean the glass and gets some putbacks.
Rightttttttttttttttttttttt!!!!! I will say this and move on... If this team had a young... Heck even a middle aged Dikembe they would be very very very dangerous.... Hint... Going back to DD's post...
