Okay,we should credit Aaron for what he did last night,it's pretty magnificent performance by him and the team together. Well,he's decent shooting the ball and running the offense smoothly,but I do think Skip still be my first option in the starting lineup.
With barry back soon, rox need for rafer goes smaller. Come on, trade rafer for anyone, even another scoring wing could be more beneficial will be interesting for this team. Although rox need a PF that can help the weak side d and grab some rebounds.
Well said.. I'd rather have Brooks free to score off the bench than having to feed Yao and Tr acy if he started.
Not a Rafer fan, but I like Brooks coming off the bench, however, I think he should start to get majority minutes and shots.
exactly!! I like brooks 1000% more than rafer, but I bench would be worse. Since we already have tmac , yao, scola and shane can keep up with almost anybody's starting unit, and hide rafer's garbagism. Landry, artest and brooks would be great off the bench together. I would hate to see rafer off the bench with a green light! It would look like frank lucas in the 70's, nothing but bricks
When the 2nd unit arrives, you want Brooks AND Artest there. With Yao and T-Mac on the bench by that time, we need more scoring power than just Artest. That's why AB can play with Artest. You can't expect T-Mac to play that well as a playmaker every game. Rafer's passing is valuable, not only with his post entry passing, but he seems to be able to get the ball to Scola in good positions with accurate passing. Let T-Mac and Battier rest when the 2nd unit comes in. They just came off injuries. Let Hayes replace Battier and Wafer/Barry replace T-Mac. The offense revolves around Yao. We can all agree to this. Who is the better post entry passer between Rafer and Brooks? It's obviously Rafer, and that's why it's important he starts.
brooks range is freaking incredible. Seriously 30 feet is a good shot for him. He is such an awesome PG for Yao he can spread the floor so well. The problem is if you come out there to guard that shot he will run right by you.
Brooks= good bench player. Rafer = bad bench player and worst starting PG. Rockets or big 3 wont get it done without a legit PG.
I think this is a valid question. Brooks will make teams pay for doubling off on Yao or Tracy. Having Battier, Brooks and Scola in the starting lineup could provide us with better offensive starts (ie Nuggets game). I also think that having Rafer and Artest come off the bench together is a good thing if Yao and/or Tracy sit. In the end, I think Adelman will continue to start Rafer.
The job he did on Billups last night should put to rest the garbage about him not being able to defend anybody. Both Brooks and Alston are about the same height anyway. At least Brooks can stay in front of his man.
The Rockets took off last year when Scola moved into the starting lineup and teams couldn't sag off of the Chuck Wagon. Teams will still dare Alston to shoot. What happens when Brooks is on the floor?
Nice work! Too funny. As to the topic, Brooks should probably go back to the bench, just to make the bench stronger. If Rafer were out for an extended time, I think last night showed he performs very well with the starters. One big pluse he adds even with the starters, is when teams sag in on Yao and the ball doesn't move much, he is a much bigger threat to get into the lane and cause problems. Rafer can do that occasionally, but Brooks does it consistently. After watching last night's game, I'm thinking that Denver's bench is a big, big reason for their success this season, along with Billups, of course. That's why if Rafer is healthy, the combined contribution of Brooks and Rafer is the best when Brooks is playing off the bench. I just don't see Rafer energizing the bench like Brooks can.
I sai it day 1 in the offseason, brooks and landry sshoul start. They boh add speed, xplosion and atheleticism to a starting lineup that lacks it. Brooks is a true scorer who can shoot. Landry is xplosive and can finish. Both are young and can get better vs rafer an scola who has peaked as players.
As much as AB has become one of my favorite players to watch burn people or shoot from no mans land I have to say stick with Rafer for now. But I will say that PLAYING TIME should be based on how well they are doing. If Rafer is shooting with the starting line up all in I think he is wrong. If Rafer is turning over (I'd give him two TO's) sub him. If Rafer is shooting while defended sub him. Rafer to me is not a player to stay in the game until he gets hot, he isn't the player to keep feeding. This is something RAdelman needs to realize instead of keeping him in the game. Now what would change my mind about AB starting is if he can use his quickness and speed on defense. He is a far better playmaker and can create his own baskets then Rafer. But he is more foul prone and gives up too many points (although ytd in the 2nd half his def picked up). So until he gets his defense up to caliber he is better off the bench.
I read all the post. I'm sorry I missed this great point. This is what I've been sayying for yrs and where the rox have it wrong. In the plaayoffs. the rox failures has been because of a lack of players that can do what aaron can do. What teams do to the ro is chase rafer,battier, and head off the 3 pt line. When u can close out on players out off control because u don't fear the dribble drive from those 3. So now the defense reacts quicker. When teams run out to to arrtest, brooks, and a healthy tracy, the closeout are slower, thus giving the offensive player the advantage. That's why I talk about getting guys that will and can shoot the 3, but can take advantage of defenses not underr control. Low cost guys like matt barne and ricky davis vs barrry and head.
I'll start off by saying I think Brooks looked outstanding last night. I think he did a great job adjusting to defenses actually game planning for him (which think was the reason he struggled recently). I still think we use Rafer as the starter though. Brooks is a great scorer off the bench. It's not who starts, but who finishes. If Brooks is playing well, let him finish the game. If Skip is better, then let him finish. Rafer still has a much beter command of the offense and defense then Brooks. However, Brooks will contiue to grow. All this does is show us we don't have the problem at pg like a lot of people think. We need a backup center badly. TMac ran a lot of the offense last night. It was easy to shred Denver's non existant defense as well. It's a positive step though for the team in general. Definitely a game I though we needed and we got it.
when Brooks plays more than 20 minutes, his FG% is 47.6% and 3 point % is 41.8%. We might have not seen the real Brooks. All he needs is some consistent playing time.
The wisdom of king solomon says, whoever is willing to shoot in flow of the offense is worthy of starting. He who shoots for the sake of shooting, must come off the bench.
