BaYBaller wrote:I don't know even know what you're arguing. Brooks has already closed out multiple games and nobody is arguing that he should when we need his offense (i.e. when T-Mac is out). The only concern I have is Brooks defensively vs starting PGs. There is a reason we are struggling so much defensively and that is the lack of perimeter defense. It's not always a lack of effort that's the problem, people need to realize this. There are 2 ends of the court. Teams are feasting off our backcourt of Brooks - Barry - Head - Wafer, who are all terrible defensively. I mean I haven't really looked into it but that is possibly the worst backcourt defensively in the league. I sure can't think of any team that's worse.
If we had everybody healthy I still say start Alston, with the person closing out determined by our needs during crunch time. With T-Mac/Artest/Battier in and out of the lineup it is hard to say because we need Brooks' penetration to open up the offense. But a starting lineup change is not something coaches do all willy-nilly in the NBA. I am still of the opinion Alston should start but Brooks needs heavy minutes like tonight at least until we get more players back from injury.
Brooks did not close out multiple games when Rafer starts.
Defensively its a wash, becuase its not perimeter defense that is killing us, its the issue of not staying in front of your defenders. Ric has commented on this and clear in the last few games, alot of teams are scoring alot of points in the paint.
Defense is about the team, its not just 1 individual, its about committing to defense and from what I seen AB is trying his hardest on defense. Its landry and Wafer who are looking lost on defense. # 1 reason is because they still do not know how to guard the pick and roll or at least pick how they want to guard it.
Put it this way, If Rafer is a 7 on defense, AB is a 5 (I give it a 5 because of his height and experience) but its not like Rafer is a 7 and AB is a 1 on defense. However offensively if AB is a 7, Rafer is a 2. Thats a huge difference because we all know Rafer sucks offensively.
As for health issue, please we had Rafer starting for us the last 3 years, I am tired of seeing teams cheat off him and double T-mac and Yao. But if you notice, when RAfer has a good scoring game, guess what we win games. I wish somebody had stats if Rafer was able to shoot above 40%, how many more games we would won.
Another thing is, in the past we could of lived with Rafer's poor offense becuase of 1 reason. We played JVG ball. Every game was a low scoring game.
So i do agree, if everybody was healthy and we played JVG ball, Rafer is a good fit. Guess what, JVG ain't here and we are not healthy.
Lastly the whole "I don't care if AB starts, he just needs to play more minutes" thats odd because according to Ric and his rotations, if you are a starter you are pretty much going to get the most minutes. See how many mins AB has played every since Rafer has came back from his injury. You will see its 60% Rafer and 40% AB. You are suggesting AB get 60% and Rafer get 40%, not going to happen when you do not start.
