Haha, you can tell this guy is a Lowry fan and not so much a Brooks fan. I also concur mostly, and think Lowry should start.
I get tired of hearing that Scola is below average defender. He may not be the quickest 4 in the league but he is always in the right position at the right time. How many other fours consistently strip pg's above the three point line? How consistently hedges screens very well and is always near the ball to make a play. Luis makes up for his lack of athleticism will a world class IQ and amazing amounts of passion. He is not a good shot blocker but i would take him over the Stromiles of the world day in and day out. Don't give me that BS that he is a below average defender.
I think the confusion lies in two distinctions.. Scola is a good perimeter defender, but he is not a great help/team defender or post defender. Overall he has improved leaps and bounds from where he was at the beginning of last season... where probably most of it was getting used to the speed of the game. He picks and chooses when to help and when not to, which may be by design depending on the game plan... but I have no idea how many times I have hollered at the tv "Scola rotate back!"
Good job, One thing I am curious though, Do they have scout report for the coaches? Sometimes coach's decision means a lot. Let's hope Rick can make a breakthrough of his past.
Fair assessment of the Brooks/Lowry situation from a Brooks fan. Sometimes, I don't think you should have Brooks and Artest in the game at the same time. When one starts chucking the other one normally follows suit.
...and i get tired of hearing how he isn't quick. Athletically, he might not have the leaping ability but he seems to be above average in terms of speed and quickness to me. Not only does he strip guards (which takes quickness) he beats them down the floor for the fast break. He is very mobile, which gives bigs like Okur trouble on the perimeter but he gets abused in the paint, as Hayesfan alluded to.
He's getting better. There were a couple of times he did a really good job in the last month. There we a couple of really good post defense possessions against David West just last night that Scola can be commended for... he's just not very consistent with it and gets backed in farther than he should allow.
Yes, chuck is very good at team offense. he just didn't have outside jumper and didn't dunk because of his weight.
Away from the basket/on the perimeter, Scola is an above average defender for a big man. Around the basket/in the low post, Scola is a below average defender, even if you consider that to be BS. He gets taken to the woodshed on a regular basis in the low post.
I was excited about Brooks when I saw him in his first summer league but this was mostly because I had been desperate for an Alston replacement for years. In other words, my support for Brooks stemmed from my dissatisfaction with Alston. Because I "got on the Brooks bandwagon" early on, I started pulling for him to succeed. Now that we have Lowry, a far superior PG than both Brooks and Alston, I am hoping Brooks becomes a a good scoring spark off the bench next year or that we trade him to fill other needs. Lowry is by far our best PG at this point and Morey fooled a lot of people, including us fans, at the trade deadline. This was one of his best moves to date.
Funny report on Lowry. He got the offensvie game of Wade and defensive game of Billups according to this scouting report. Lowry is a good player but not yet climbing to elite level.
In my opinion, the assessment of Lowry was pretty spot on. He undersold Brooks a little but most everything he said about Lowry is true. If Lowry gets about 35 mpg, you will see a lot of near triple doubles, statistically, along with top notch defense on the opposing PG. If he develops a consistent 3pt shot (he already seems to be a solid mid-range shooter), it's hard to argue that he won't be the complete package for a PG. In his case, being short is not an issue since he more than makes up for it on both ends with his skill, strength, bball IQ and aggressiveness. I feel that it's already safe to say that Morey struck gold in that trade, even if it doesn't fully pay off until next season.
Thanks for the correction on Brooks' measurements. I just hope he doesn't try to do more than he's capable of and fulfills his Sam Cassell-type role better.
