This topic might heat up even more next season. Staring Lowry/Martin or starting AB/Martin. Who is going to provide offense off the bench if AB/Martin/Ariza/Scola/Yao are staring? How will the defense hold up with AB/Martin/Scola in the starting line up? This year offense is the bigger problem for starting 5, next year it could very well be the other way around.
All I'm saying is that increased numbers will be a result of increased usage. It does not necessarily translate into improvement. You're right. I wasn't aware that his turnovers have decreased as much as they have. However, he's still among the league leaders (for guards) in turnovers. And amongst all the guards that average more TO's than Brooks, Brooks is tied for the 3rd worst Ast/TO ratio (tied with Evans and the inferior ones are Kobe and Ellis). The reason I chose the Laker series (aside from Yao's absence) is b/c Brooks was playing at a high level. People claim that this year is a developmental year for Brooks (it is) and that he's improving with every game (he's not). IMO, his limited improvement tells me that he has almost reached his ceiling, and when Yao returns, Brooks' should be coming off the bench. Whether or not he scores in double figures has nothing to do with consistency. Our offense is so limited that even if Brooks has a terrible game, he'll get at least 10 points. Scoring 34 pts (on 44% shooting (Feb 6)) one game and 10 pts (on 19% shooting (Feb 9)) the next is the very definition of growing and getting more consistent? Actually, it's quite similar. This year, he's averaging 19 ppg. So if you make 9 ppg (47.3% of his average) the standard deviation, then he has exceeded or fallen short of the his average (w/in 1 standard deviation) 15 times. And since he's played 55 games, that means that he has well over or well under his average 27.2% of the time. If you do the same thing to his playoff performance against the Lakers, he exceeded/fell short of 1 standard deviation of his average 28.6% of the time (2 of the 7 games). Granted, its a much smaller sample size, but there's no better benchmark. And the comparison indicates that Brooks' improvement in consistency is very underwhelming. As I stated earlier, his numbers will go up simply because he is now the focal point of our offense. While I do believe the increase does represent an improvement in his game, I believe that this improvement is minor and that his increased stats are primarily the result of his increased usage.
These are all good arguments for Lowry starting but really we need scoring from Brooks. If we truly had enough scoring outlets I can see that argument outweighing a start from Brooks. But the current situation and maybe when Yao gets back we may need Aaron Brooks at close top scoring option if KevMart doesn't show up. Face it Brooks is starter scoring material. If you rank in top scoring at any position you are doing a good job.
Why is it that someone is said to have a "beef" with someone or something when they have an issue that they do not like with that person or thing? I think beef is delicious. It should not be used in this derogatory manner. In other words, I guess I have a beef with having a beef.
Its nice how you like to use increased usage to basically dismiss any points that would show Brooks improving. No, he isnt night and day on alot of things, but he is better in almost every area. I also like how you use the series where he played out of his mind(to that point) to show he hasnt gotten any better this year. Talk about your sample size. I mean, yeah I get that the Laker series was played without Yao for much of it, but isnt that what this is really all about? How this Brooks will play when Yao comes back?? I am not certain, but I think if you told folks after that series that we would pretty much see Aaron Brooks playing that well or better this year they would have taken it. How is this: Last year, including play-offs Brooks as the starting PG had one game with double digit assists. That was just a few less than he has played this year. This year he has 5 games of double digit assists. Thats not improvement? Oh, and to give you a small sample size stat: Brooks is shooting 48% from the floor, 40% from 3, and averaging 7.5 assists since the trade. And the Rockets still lost. His A/T is 2.5/1.
Well, increased usage does explain the increased assist numbers, doesn't it? And like I said before, his shooting percentages are actually down compared to the Lakers' series. Like I said before, the Lakers series should be the benchmark b/c he had a great series without Yao. If this is his year for improvement, we should measure that improvement against relevant data. I'm curious as to what you think we should be comparing him to. Agreed. Keep in mind, I don't think he's playing poorly by any means. I just don't think he's shown much improvement since the Lakers' series. And like I said before, I think he's almost reached his ceiling. Increased usage and increased tempo. Not to mention that he was a backup for a significant portion of the season last year. And Yao and Artest were offensive options ahead of him. And both of those guys create their own shots. Would you like me to give you the statistics for his counterparts (Ford, Collison)? This year, Brooks is our primary offensive option. If he's getting outplayed by his counterparts, then we will likely lose.
My favorite NBA player is Kyle Lowry so the Rockets have sorta been my surrogate team the past two years. But mainly I'm a Nets fan and from my experience individual scoring is indeed the most overrated or at least most misleading statistic. When the Nets traded Marbury for Kidd, we all thought it was horrible because Marbury was our best scorer and Kidd couldn't shoot a lick. We, however, overlooked the fact that Kidd would make everybody else 10X better in the process and foster a team mentality. Not to mention, make little differences in the game that lead to scoring even though he didn't score or get the assist. Of course, when we traded Kidd for Devin Harris, we were all excited that we got a scoring pg but that feeling disappeared once we learned Harris was one-dimensional and made nobody else better. I would say Brooks should start the rest of the season for various reasons, but if Yao comes back healthy next season and with Martin at SG, it would make sense to start Lowry. It also seems stupid that some people think that AB is going to develop court vision and basketball smarts but that Lowry can't possibly develop his shot.
What I find most ironic about Lowry is that as good as a FT shooter he is, how can he be such a crappy shooter everywhere else?
This is in reference to Knetk30 just above: Your post is an eye-openner for many Brooks fans here, including yours truly. As Lowry's absence becomes more glaring by the game, I would not be opposed to getting a playmaker or a true center or an oustanding PF for Brooks and picks. I am not sure I would have said that at the beginning of the season. I would say Brooks should start the rest of the season for various reasons, but if Yao comes back healthy next season and with Martin at SG, it would make sense to start Lowry. It also seems stupid that some people think that AB is going to develop court vision and basketball smarts but that Lowry can't possibly develop his shot.[/QUOTE]
Good question. I don't know the answer to that, but I know it is easier to make a less beautiful woman attractive than to transform a woman with bad personality. No much of an analogy there, but I would think the jump shot???
IBM... I agree if Magic and Kidd can learn to shoot anyone can... But here's my question... 1) How do you judge b-ball smarts from a pg who has played the position for actually 1 year??? It usually takes a pg 3 years to learn the position and we are really judging Brooks on one year. 2) In the beginning of the year the board was pissed that Trevor was taking so many shots and then come to find out Morey and Adleman were both requesting that he take all of those shots... So who's to say that Rick is not doing the same to Brooks... So again that makes it hard to judge Brooks. 3) Getting the ball to the post... I have seen past down to the post constantly this year withour many issues, the one major problem I hear is passing to Yao last year. Well passing is a 2 way deal, the person receiving the pass has to seal his defender off (this was discuss in great depth last year) and I don't see many probs with Brooks passing to Scola, Landry, Hayes or Anderson this year. 4) The other statement I have seen is about the Lakers game last year numbers wise compared to this year... In that game with the Lakers you have no Yao or Dikembe and your biggest advantage is a 5'10 lighting fast pg against a Strong, slow veteran. You go with your advantage and hope things go in your favor. My deal is this, it's very hard judge what Brooks can or can't do as a typical pg; right now it looks as if he's being asked to be a non-typical pg and as DD pointed out in this thread (about 8 pages earlier) if his teammates had actually hit some of those shots he would have had more assist then he did. This thread on who should start is the same as Kenny and Sam years ago, when people felt that Sam was a better pg than Kenny. When in fact Hakeem did not like Sam as the pg as much because he shot everything in sight. I have seen games where Lowry has played like he's the only one on the court and makes as many bone headed plays as Brooks. With that said I think they compliment each other and we should leave it at that. There will be games when one out shines the other, when they both like all-stars and when they both can stink up the place. T_Man
