Wrap-around passes, little alley-oops, or otherwise short dishes on his blazing drives to the rim. Not to say he needs Paul's vision, because Francis was good at this, too. Bare with me, as I don't get to see everything game anymore, so tell me: On his blazing drives to the rim, is he weak seeing the help defense and the available interior dishes? <div style="margin-left:40px;margin-right:40px"><b>Prime Example:</b> In the first Spurs game, on the last second play FTW, Adelman had an inverted post, forcing Duncan out with Yao, leaving Brooks to drive left hard to the rim. He was so fast, the weakside defenders couldn't get to him, but Duncan saw it and broke off Yao around the FT line to catch Brooks and block it. Duncan apparently respected the speed of Brooks and went balls-out for him, not caring that Yao was diving with Duncan on the play. Simple recognition of what Duncan was doing with a dish to Yao and we win.</div> Got to give Duncan credit for reacting so early, but Parker makes that play that AB missed. That play made me watch Brooks in later games to see how he reacts to interior defenders leaving their man to cover his blazing speed. Personally, I haven't seen it much or at all. Parker was like this at young age, too. Brooks' speed, floaters and tear drops cause interior defenders to react early to him. Seems to me, if he can find the dishes, he can keep the defenders more honest, and take himself to the next level. Or maybe I'm looking at too small a sample size of games.
brooks usually has his mind made up to shoot, I agree, if he added this to his arsenal, it would greatly improve the offense. aside from the backhanded compliment, it is how francis acquired a lot of assists. the more apt comparison given speed and quickness is iverson.
He is as good as anyone on the team other than McGrady when it comes to penetration and setting up a team mate. His assist to turnover ratio as a starter look very good. He doesn't make spectacular passes but he is making the correct pass with greater frequency.
One thing I've noticed from Brooks has been better recognition of his own defender and how to finish. I've seen a few "new" finishes from him, like a stop and pop from the baseline, and better use of his body and the rim to shield the defender. Does that mean anything? I don't know. I think it shows he can react to the defenders, but he needs to take it to the next level. He's reminding me a lot of those peak years of Earl Boykins, except with a great perimeter shot.
He needs to learn how to pass.... That's the only reason why he is not a starter outside of his size for defense.
That's something i think he needs to learn to recognize....and once he learned it...it will turn him into a premier PG like Parker and Nash i think. When he drive to the basket...he usually don't look who's opened and just want to do layup if possible and even committed charging. SO i think he need to learn to recognize the big man down low and pass it to him. THere is one game where he was the one with the ball and clock running down and he chose to drive and put up a shot and was challenge but when i watch the replay...i think Yao was open inside and he failed to even pay attention to him. If it's Nash, Nash would have passed to Yao for the dunk and win the game already.
<br> On the contrary, unlike Yao, he is a very adept passer. He usually makes the correct pass <br> He needs time and opportunities to hone his skill though. Plus, its not like passing is a hard skill to learn. In fact, out of all the flaws you could have, this would be up there with one of the easiest to correct
Actually on that last second play Tmac gave him the ball on a baseline cut, Duncan did close it down, but he did it in such a way that there was no avenue to pass, Brooks should have tossed his body or led with his knee. Still that was the kids first start, and I agree with the OP he could improve, just needs time on the court to do it. DD
If Brooks had kept starting after Alston got back, we would be in the midst of an 8 game win streak... what a shame
I was going to say Brooks went baseline, but I thought that would confuse it like he was parked in the corner. I remember it being more from the wing. Once with the ball, he went left baseline. This is all from memory though. I don't recall him doing the Luther Head drive from the corner. One thing for sure, he released the ball early (floater) and Duncan caught it really high. There was little chance for body contact or leading with the knee, that I recall. Duncan was committed. And even if he could make contact, that's positioning for a wrap-around pass, as well. Main question is, was Yao trailing Duncan and ready for the dish and dunk. I thought he was.
IIRC Adelman once commented that Brooks had to stop trying to come up with passing decisions after he drove and was already in the air, which more often than not led to turnovers. What I see is Adelman trying to get Brooks to play a steadier, more consistent kind of offense, which IMO means to limit possibilities. At this point in his development, it may sometimes result in an overcommitment to certain offensive decisions and a more conservative, less "free flowing" style of offense. On the other hand, Brooks has already made tremendous progress. And as Brooks gains more experience, he'll learn to become more flexible and better recognize situations like the Spurs game.
yeap, one of brooks need for improvement is to keep his dribble. His been forcing too many passes or shots as he tend to end his dribble abit too early. I remember RA saying about it, and hopefully the coaches will help him on it.
Wasn't there about 1 second left on the clock when Brooks was forced to take that shot against SA? Wasn't that one of many games where McGrady was borderline useless? And you haven't been watching enough if you haven't seen some of the passes Brooks is making. He made some solid passes even in last night's pathetic game. Right off the top, I remember a nice bounce pass from the top of the key to Scola, who pump faked his defender and got to the line. I also remember a nice bounce bass to the inside of Landry's body at the beginning of the fourth quarter, where Landry was able to spin and finish. He isn't turning the ball over a lot, either, despite his aggressive style of play. He's feeding Yao cleanly, too. And isn't Brooks averaging almost the same APG as Alston when he starts? Brooks isn't one of the best passers in the league but neither is Alston. Alston's defense is severely overrated. What really separates these two guys is Brooks' ability to penetrate, Brooks' shooting and Brooks' scoring efficiency.
he is too small to really see over defenders...that's why he has a hard time finding open men and pass the ball.. if you have t-mac's frame, it's MUCH easier to be a terrific off-the-dribble passer. Unfortunately, brooks is like what, 5'10?
Exactly. If Brooks is a bad passer, it's not because of his height. My opinion is that Brooks is an average passer, about equal to Alston. He doesn't wow you like great playmakers but he has proven more than capable of playing simple ball (Alston style) with the occasional very good pass. I don't think Brooks is the next superstar PG of this league. At the same time, it's clear that Alston is among the worst. You just can't argue that Alston does enough well to make up for being the least efficient scorer in the entire NBA. You also can't argue that Alston doesn't need to be able to score when Tracy Lamar still hasn't shown any ability to be our go to guy 32 games into the season. I also don't think that Brooks' less than stellar passing skills should keep him from moving ahead of Alston in the depth charts until we can find someone better than both. I believe that if you let Brooks run with the starting job for a couple of months, he'll be averaging around 16 ppg with 4-5 apg and 4-5 rpg. He'll also be able to shoot over 40% from the field, something we haven't seen from a Rockets PG in about 5 years.
I was sitting center court about 100 feet away, and I remember Tmac driving in having it closed by Duncan him dishing to Brooks and Brooks elevating and Duncan closing it down on the baseline, I don't believe Yao was trailing, and I don't think there was much time to pass. Brooks should have gone floater, but he went glass, and Duncan stopped it against the glass. What I remember most about that game is blowing a 10 point lead with 4 minutes to go, Brooks was running the team fine, all the fans around me were like...who is this guy...then Tmac came in, took the ball off of Brooks and started to shoot brick after brick. If Brooks kept the ball the Rockets win that night, no doubt in my mind. DD
yep, remember I said I was jealous of your seats. I'm going to say something that many on this bbs told me for many years while I had season tickets..."but DaDakota, you didn't have to benefit of instant replay." I'm going on memory too. But memory with instant replay and no agendas to say Brooks ROCKS and TMac sucks. That said, I think Brooks rocks. I think this is simple improvement for someone so fast. This is not about all his passing opportunities or being a floor general. I'm just talking about when he is in the lane at the basket. I think he's awesome. And merely looking at what I consider an accomplishable improvement...that will stop the defenses from running at his drives. The difference between him and other PGs is he is so fast that the defenses have to react early, like Duncan did. His speed can make it easier to spot these cheating defenders. back to the play: TMac didn't drive and dish. And Duncan didn't force the pass; Brook's man did. I actually remember thinking how early he gave it to Brooks. Brooks got the pass on the wing and took off. It was a floater that Duncan jumped early to get. First thought through my mind was, that's going in, then...damn, how did Duncan get that...he must be used to blocking Parker's floaters in practice. Don't mean to say it was a tear drop...which is sorta an overhand release. By floater I mean an early underhand release...as opposed to normal layup. And Yao definitely was trailing with time for a dish and slam.
