Who is the better player, Aaron Brooks or Steve Francis?

All starters?
Who?

 

The revisionist history going on in this thread is out of control; this is just the most ridiculous example. It's a losing battle going up against both the YOFs who don't like Brooks and the Francis fans at the same time.

 

I love both of them and I still say Francis WAS more talented and a better overall player IN HIS PRIME.

Till I see AB do better (which I hope) he's still not as good.

 

U dont really appreciete something until its gone ..
After Ab leaves he'll get much more love than now ..

 

Imagine a Brooks-Francis lineup. Ariza, Scola, and Yao would never touch the ball. :grin:

 

My thought exactly...after watching years of garbageness from Rafer......and I dont wish AB would get hurt, but I would like everybody to see what would happen to the rockets if AB dont play....complete blowout

 

BTW if we are comparing 3rd seasons Francis had 3.9 a year. You really don't want to compare career.

AB has no clock management issues... none. Francis had tons of clock management issues.

No one is ignoring Lowry... he is great and definitely does some things better than AB. Last I checked this was a debate between the 3rd year of Steve and AB so why the diversion tactic of throwing Lowry in the argument? I love Lowry and the Rockets are lucky to have him... no debate.

 

You think Durant and Johnson are big slow footed players with no lateral quickness? I find that laughable.

Not impressed with AB's cross over? Then your just disagreeing for the sake of the argument.

 

It's a debate so don't be surprised or get insulted when someone uses facts to back up there arguments. And if you think that probably every poster on this board has not played ball most of their life then you are probably living in a dream world. Hello McFly... this is a Houston Rockets BASKETBALL forum.

If you think all you have to do is get physical with a Brooks to throw him off his game then maybe you should call a few teams around the league because they don't seem to get it. The funny thing about getting in the face of a player like Brooks even if you are Steve Francis (who was famous for being a poor defender) he would just go around you like you were a statue. He has been doing it to players for the last 3 seasons so you might want to rethink that strategy.

but I don't expect you to understand that.

 

It is not even close. I didnt even read the entire thread. It is the Franchise. I loved that dude.

 

Kevin Martin's field goal percentage jumped from .389 in SAC to .437 as a Rocket since joining AB's back court.

Luis Scola is shooting at .516 which makes this his second best year field goal percentage. Of course it's not as good as last year when Yao Ming was the primary post option.

Ariza is having a career low in FG% but this is by far the biggest role in terms of minutes played, handling the ball, initiating the offense and scoring that he has ever been asked to do.

I guess I'm not sure what you are seeing.

 

Francis was an amazing athlete, gym rat, and an all-star. Brooks is fast, very coachable, but doesn't have the dominant athleticism of Francis.

The problem that Francis had was due to moving from team to team, and never getting educated on how to be a good PG. He went to 3 different colleges, at San Jacinto, Allegany College of MD, and the to the University of Maryland. He learned a playground version of basketball, and used his athleticism to be a star wherever he was, and Rudy used what his strength was. But, I always wished he could somehow have been taken under the wing of a great PG, like Oscar Robertson or John Lucas, and learn the game from the PG position, getting everyone else involved, before doing the star stuff. He know how to do AND1 ISO great, but never understood the intelligent aspects of the game. Actually, I think Steve was quite smart, but just not basketball educated, so appeared boneheaded, and the result was a low basketball IQ.

Certainly, once he lost a step due to injuries, he couldn't fall back on his knowledge, like a Jason Kidd or John Stockton, but I think the bigger problem was when NY gave him all that money, and he didn't have the discipline to do the work to come back from injury.

I never understood why the Rockets didn't invest more into coaching, counseling, tutoring, and training of their players, yet spend millions on contracts. Now they do more development of our players, but back then, we had all sorts of issues with players like Griffin, Taylor, Cato, Francis, and even others like Lucas, Wiggins and Loyd, and others who could have developed so much more, with some guidance.

If we could have Francis in his 3rd year now, and he bought into the TEAM approach, I'd hire Robertson or Lucas to take him under their wing, and teach him the game, and then it would be no contest ... Francis hands down. But, on this team, without that education, with the new rule changes, under Adelman, with a team approach, Brooks fits better ... and is way cheaper.

 

Laugh all you want, but if you're going to compare Durant/Joe Johnson to small guards, then yes, they are slow footed players with no lateral quickness.

 

Sherlock,

Some players are not very coachable.....I think Steve was like that...he would take SOME coaching but was not a student of the game.

A great individual player, but not a great team oriented one.

IMO.

DD

 

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For all those people that think Aaron Brooks does not have any hops.

 

As I recall John Lucas worked with him almost every summer for years. Didn't help.

 

I would have to say Aaron all the way. Yes Steve was a #2 pick, however, he never accomplished anything as a Rocket. Steve was a better athlete and he was stronger, however, Brooks is quicker and shoots the ball extremely better. On the defensive end they are both decent, Steve had a slight advantage becasue of strength.

But Brooks already in his 3rd season has led us to the western conference semi finals and also has set a franchise record for the Rockets. What did Steve do again???????

 

Brooks led us to the WCF? That's quite a presumptuous and incorrect assertion.

And you know a franchise record isn't significant when the previous holder was Luther Head.

By his 3rd year, Francis was an all-star. I would rather take an all-star guard than a guard who can hit a 3 pointer in 35+ consecutive games.

 

Please read my post I said Western Conference "semi" finals. and that my friend is a FACT

 

at this point I still think Steve is way better.