I'd rather have Brooks' 2 for 5 than Rafer's 2 for 10. We have to understand something here. The dude starting next to McGrady and playing major minutes has to be able to score efficiently.......that's all there is to it. Because if McGrady is not hitting his shots, when you line up anybody next to him that isn't hitting them either, we have virtually NOCHANCE of winning. Rafer being out there DOES NOT make a difference if he ain't hitting his shots.
He started playing normally at the tail end of the 22 winning streak. Rafer's improvement was a flash in the pan.
LOL! Box score analysis. Jazz outscored Rockets fast exactly when Brooks and the 2nd unit is on the floor.
I'm just not faithful enough to believe Rafer will continue to play at his 2008 level. I really like the guy. He's been sadly and unfairly underrated on this board. But right now he's almost certainly overrated by some other GMs. Let's find them and cut a deal. If we wait one more season, he could easily turn into a pumpkin, as Mike James did in Minnesota.
You're only telling a fraction of the story. Brooks got burned by Iverson because Iverson was just in an absolute unconscious groove. No one was stopping Iverson that night. Not Alston, not BJax, not Brooks, not the best defensive PG in the NBA. Lots of NBA defenders get beat. Contrary to popular belief, Battier gets beat frequently. The difference is, Battier is a bit smarter than Brooks in knowing the defensive rotations and which way to "steer" the offensive player. Brooks looked a lot worse than he really was because the majority of his Jazz defensive minutes were played with the basket defended by Hayes, Harris, Head and Scola in the first half. During the 2nd half, Brooks played with Harris, Hayes, Jackson and McGrady. He was +3 with this unit. Brooks did not play one minute of the Jazz game with either Mutombo or Battier. He has enough foot speed...he'll be fine once he gets the rotations down and gets a little stronger.
Sorry, I dont love Rafer, I love D-Will, AI. But Rafer is the PG on the Rockets that gives the Rockets the best chance to win, for now. I also dont think we need to whine about a player when he is actually giving his normal career average. I also didnt lie about Brooks and 2nd unit being outscored in Jazz game. Review your tape of the Jazz game. If rookies can easily win games for a team, I think the Hawks should be one of the best team in the league. Guess what, the fact is the opposite.
brooks didnt do bad, i dont know what you guys are talking about he had a couple of TO s but he had some nice passes and shots too...BJAX was 10 x better than rafer would have been last night...rafer has a bad B-BAll IQ he takes the shots at the worst time, notice vs denver we are down by 10 first thing he does is shoot a 3, crowd gets into it denver goes on a 17-2 run after that
That is just the Truth. Plain and as simple as it can be stated. It is a miracle that Rafer showed anything enough to make him valuable. We tried to trade him at the start of the season and no one wanted him. I feel sorry for the abuse he takes but he is a good backup PG. If he is put in that role the critics will stop.
Rafer would make a great backup to Nash in Phoenix IMO. How can we get that done? Nash is getting old, Rafer has a decent contract, experience playing with a big post player, and is good for 20 minutes in Phoenix. He won't be asked to score and he'll have lots of people to pass the ball to, which is his strong suit really. The guy's a smart passer. But Adelman's system didn't need great passers at PG IIRC. Bibby and Bobby's asst/to ratios were average at best. At this point, I won't be mad if we lose. It will just be good to give Scola, Landry and Brooks the experience of being in the postseason, and a headstart on hating the Jazz till we're at full strength.
We are 2-1 without him. I don't know how he is been missing so much other that more PG deep. BTW last game at home vs Utah we lost with Rafer playing. I love Rafer and I don't expect superstar stats from him, just a solid contribution, but is not like we are missing him bad, we actually missed more Battier and Jackson in the Nuggets game than the Jazz because is just hard to win a their place. Thats why we got Aaron this season and BJ in a trade to backup any health situation we have with Rafer, last year he was the only PG we got now we got two that can show big in games.
yea haha and his BBALL IQ is 38904230482309 times better...he understands the game and like one person said "hes a war tested playoff verteran" he hit some really nice shots that rafer can only hit during the streak, who saw that BROOKS dunk...i want to see him do that ALOT more it does wonders for his and the teams confidence, rmbr Landry's dunks?
