Brooks should continue his path of development. His shooting touch isn't where he wants it to be. He knows and Oregon fans know that he is capable of making shots behind the arc more consistently. Once he develops enough confidence to knock down wide open shots with ease, he's the Rockets PG of the future. I'm not surprised at all that he could rebound. This kid has ups. He's very quietly been racking up assists in the little playing time he's been given. He's on a steady pace right now. there's more to Aaron Brooks that us Rockets fans have yet to see.
The numbers are starting to tell the tale ... Brooks 21 min ... 7 assists ... one turnover. shooting 4 of 8 Alston 29 min ... 6 assists ... 4 turnovers. shooting 4 of 13 Efficient? Smart? Good decision maker? Yes to ALL 3! Definitely continue to up AB's minutes. Give AB 30 min and Alston 20 min and perhaps Brooks will becoming a perpetual double double machine. For now, continue to bring Brooks off the bench but ... I don't think he's far away from being slotted into the starting lineup and he's earning it!
There's been any number of games this season where even though Rafer started he got less minutes than the backup PG, hint hint.
He is shooting 48% on FGs and 32% on 3FGs. Not too bad considering he is a rookie that has played very limited minutes. We know that 3FG% will increase, too. Altogether, I do agree with you that he needs to be brought in slowly. I can't help wanting to see him and Novak on the court at the same time, though, for just a few minutes. Of course, that would be a nightmare defensively. Still, it would be exciting to watch the two most recent winners of the NCAA 3-Point Contest sharing the floor.
Not yet,but he has all to be a very good player. Rafer Alston is much more into the team,so he should be a starting point guard,but Brooks should follow him easily. Mike James? Steve Francis? They dissapointed me.
I Believe he shouldnt start becasue of his lack of experience but who knows.....yeah maybe after the all star break he will start. Or....If Rafer Brickston gets injured....Aaron B will start at the point...not Steve Francis.
Such nonsense. You pulled the "worse than pathetic defense" out of your ass. I have watched the games, and his defense was pretty good. He really stays with his guy and puts pressure on him...and because he is so quick, he is always a threat for steals. His man-to-man defense is already way better than Head's, for instance. He outplayed Rafer last night on offense AND DEFENSE by a wide margin.
To me it's simple and I think a lot of people over analysis the situation. If a player is a rookie but playing better than a person that is a veteran, so what. Let the best player start. That's what starters are supposed to be. The best players on the team. Normally, the sixth man is someone that may not start on your team, but is good enough to start on other teams; that is if you are a contender. Why this city and team is always afraid of starting rookies, when there are way to many success stories of teams starting their rookies, is beyond me. Starting AB now means that he gets more game experience to help us IF WE MAKE IT TO THE PLAYOFFS! Btw, how many rookie point guards have started over the last few seasons?
Sorry, but AB doesn't stay with his guy off the ball and gets lost too easily. When his man has the ball, he does OK considering his size. He SHOULD be a threat to get steals but let me know when he gets his first one. Right now he doesn't stay close enough to his man to step in front of a pass. I'm not down on AB and he'll get better. On offense, if he proves he can finish at the basket, MJ and SF may as well lay down and take a nap on the bench.
The real question is how many rookie PGs have started on championship contending teams? It's not uncommon for rookie PGs to start. I think what matters most is who finishes.
Not this season! Let hiom get as much erxperience as he can handle by coming off the bench. That being said he should be established as our back up Point Guard after Rafer. By the time we get to the post season if we are in the Playoffs then consider him as a starter. 2008/2009 he should be ready to be the starter.
Can we wait for AB to have a starter's quality against a top 29 defensive team before we call for him to start? He had a great game, but Memphis is the worst team in the league.
I understand the skepticism in this thread, but the claims of Brooks being "horrid" on defense is really overblown. And I for one have not been judging him on his play only last night, from what I've seen when he's been on the floor (with Luther strangely enough) our offense runs up and down the court more often, passes the ball more often, and usually ends up putting together a nice run. As I said before, he is already showing some of his offensive game (one step on a defender and you better believe he's taking it to the rack) and his defense will improve once he learns to use his quickness as an advantage.
in all fairness, Head usually is matched up with a 2, who is routinely bigger then him. But yeah Head uses the ole' defense too much.
Brooks has been foul prone, but that has improved some the last few games. He might end up being the starter eventually, but I see Brooks playing the rookie Sam Cassel role as a more likely senario, at least this year. I wouldn't rule starting out as an eventuality, but as for right this minute, no he should not be the starter yet.
A pitiful defender by who's standards? Certainly he isn't going to earn defensive player of the year, but it's not like other teams ISO Steve Nash on a nightly basis. Besides comparing a rookie who hasn't really done anything yet to a two time MVP is a huge stretch to put it mildly.
It wasn't an overall comparison between Nash and Brooks by any means. Read between the lines, buddy. The point is that not every PG excels on both ends of the court. And, yes, Steve Nash is a pitiful defender and nothing less. I guarantee you that Brooks is a better defensive player than Nash.
Agreed. They're things which are fixable, but he gets caught in no man's land away from the ball a lot -- it led to a handful of Memphis open jumpshots. He also had an off the ball foul at the beginning of the 4th quarter which was unnecessary. Both of Lowry's tip ins came when Brooks was on him -- point guards getting tip ins is never a good thing. Brooks looks every bit like a rookie out there on defense, and he's not as good as Rafer on defense right now. The positive thing to me is it doesn't look like they're size related problems. He's not getting abused in the post or anything (though we may not have a big enough sample size). I think as his minutes increase, he'll continue to pick up the little things on defense.
