Do you even know who Yao Ming is? I'm sorry to say this, but Yao is one of the poorer pick n roll defenders in the league right with Shaq. Yao's defensive game reminds me of Patrick Ewing's though. If Yao had the mobility of The Dream or David Robinson, then I agree we probably should trap Nash, but he is not quick enough as the poster mentioned.
brooks had a great shooting night tonight..except the problem is he doesn't do this too often, and when he can't shoot it, he's worse the useless. kyle lowry is the answer to our PG problems...and we can also rest yao a bit more when we have landry and co. playing. hopefully we can trade AB for a starter in the offseason
I wouldn't be shocked at all if that is exactly what happens. They very well may be auditioning Brooks to increase his trade value. If they can bring in a top tier starting PG somehow this summer, Lowry will become the backup next year. Otherwise, Lowry will be handed the reigns and they will use Brooks or somebody else as the backup. One way or the other, Brooks AND Lowry won't be here long-term and Lowry is the more complete player with more upside.
You really think so? Lowry has more upside? This is a bit suprising coming from someone with the monicker Brooksball. I do think you bring up a good point though. Brooks is a nice bargaining chip that we could use to land a veteran player if we choose to do that this offseason. He's young, talented, productive, and cheap. Lowry gives us another young PG that we could build around if we did decide to part ways with Brooks.
Brooks is young but raw and has problems because of his height and frame. He does have some trade value, but he probably will have to be packaged along with Scola or Landry to get a veteran player with value IMO.
I can't see a single thing right now that Brooks does better than Lowry other than shoot 3s. Lowry is also over a year younger than Brooks. I'm a Rockets fan above everything else. I'd trade Yao in a heartbeat if we knew it would make the team better. I spent all of 5 seconds when creating this username. I happened to be watching Brooks during his first Summer League at the time I joined and he was playing great so I just used his name. I have been desperate for the post-Rafer era for several years. His weaknesses were killing a team centered around Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. Tracy minimized his best attributes by dominating the ball and the playmaking while you need efficient shooters around Yao. Rafer made no sense for us from day one. The argument that Tracy is gone now doesn't hold much weight with me because a) he's on the downside of a subpar career and b) Yao is still the focal point of our offense which means we need good shooters around him.
I, like you, was ready for rafer to move on. I was very happy they handed over the keys to Brooks and it was good to see the FO bring in another young PG with some athleticism and playmaking ability. I think the jury is still out on which of the two PGs is a better fit for the team long term. Lowry is more polished but Brooks has alot of things that you just can't teach. His speed and quickness in the open floor is uncanny and he is a very creative scorer with range on his jump shot. Lowry is a vastly superior defender and he has a higher basketball IQ. I like both of them, but i like how clutch brooks is at the end of games. He always seems to find a way to make something happen in crunch time. Lowry hasnt really been given the chance to prove that he can do those things, but i just dont see that unique creativity and scoring ability in Lowry that I see in Brooks.
yeh it would definantly have to be a package involving brooks and landry or scola like you say. I like all three players, and it would take someone pretty good for me to be okay with a move involving any of them. All three of them work extremely hard on every possesion.
Brooks has some legit scoring skills and between his play at Orgeon and his time in Houston, he has shown to have some clutchness in his veins. At the same time, looking at his overall game as well as his statistics so far, all I see is a mini version of Jamal Crawford. That isn't necessarily a bad thing if he is a spark off the bench. If he is to ever be anything more, there would have to be some uncanny improvements in his game. The types of improvements he needs to make don't usually happen at this point in a PG's career. The only other thing that will increase his value is playing in the right system for his skillset. As a starter, or coming off the bench, on a team like NY or GS, he would be a lot more effective.
So what is your main concern with Brooks? Is it shot selection? defense? size? I think with our starting 5 we need someone to be aggressive and attack the basket. Aarons shot selection is much better than a Jamal Crawford IMO, and he's only going to improve upon that with time. His deficiencies on the defensive end are a bit concerning but none of that has to do with effort. Its mainly his lack of physical strength.
You say Brooks is greater than Crawford. What are you basing that on? Brooks has 3 legit NBA skills in my opinion: shooting, ballhandling and speed. People may question why I listed ballhandling but if you watch him play, not only does he simply dribble the basketball well, he also is almost equally effective with both hands. His turnover problem is more due to bad passes and getting stuck in bad situations on the court. On the other hand, I have seen no evidence at all that he is a good playmaker or a good decision maker, in general. Those are two critical components of being a PG. I think it's also yet to be seen if he has the personality of a leader, another critical component for his position. He seems like the quiet type but I may be wrong. I also think that no matter how disciplined he is or how hard he works, his physical size will be a liability on the defensive end. I am not even talking about height. He was measured at 5'10.5 which makes him a legit 6'er by NBA standards (almost all players are an inch-plus shorter than their listed heights). Chris Paul is about 5'11, for example. The real issue with Brooks is his frame. If you are short, you generally need to be thick to handle the contact at both ends. The best case I see with Brooks if he improves/develops flawlessly (unlikely to happen) is a Tony Parker-ish type player, who I think is one of the most overrated PGs in the league. Parker is not an elite playmaker and defensively, he is mostly a product of the Spurs excellent team defense and coaching. I know I will get flamed for dissing Parker by anybody that reads this but this is exactly how I feel. If Brooks learns to finish in traffic without getting stuffed so easily and also learns to take contact to get to the line more, he wouldn't be as far from Parker as some think. He would also have to be willing and committed to making the simple passes on offense like Parker does. Parker is not in the league of Paul, Williams, Nash, Kidd, etc... when it comes to creative playmaking. He's not even close.
the more we run, the worse we shoot our free throws. and its good we are running. its harder to hit a free throw after doing sprints then after a half court set where you either (a) give it to TMac, or (b) throw it in to Yao and spot up.
I am talking about with the clock running down like it was, Yao can OVERPLAY on the strongside, to basically eliminate the pick......FORCE Nash to pass it to shaq... DD
