Nearly two weeks into being in a Suns uniform, Aaron Brooks is still making adjustments to his role with his new team. His game has been up and down and some fans are starting to grow impatient.
If you take the Boston game out of the equation, a game in which Brooks went off for 17 points and seven assists, the point guard has mostly struggled. Minus the Celtics game, Brooks has scored only 27 points and dished out 12 assists in five games in purple and orange. He was held scoreless and grabbed only two boards and had one assist last night against his old team.
What exactly is behind Brooks struggles? One of the main reasons why his numbers are down across the board is that he isn’t getting the playing time that he was receiving while he was in Houston. That was to be expected with Steve Nash has had a lot to do with that. It is hard to get significant minutes when you are backing up a two-time MVP. Brooks was backing up Kyle Lowry when he was with the Rockets. He is a nice player, but he certainly is no Nash.
Along with less minutes, Brooks has had to deal with playing with new teammates. That is always a big adjustment and it takes time to get used to playing with new guys. You don’t know where they like the ball on the court and both their strengths and their weaknesses. Brooks jobs doesn’t get any easier with Channing Frye out for the next couple of weeks. Frye’s injury means that Hakim Warrick moves into the starting lineup while hardly used Josh Childress becomes Alvin Gentry’s 10th guy. Yet another adjustment that the Suns backup point will have to make.
Some fans may be concerned with Brooks play so far. Some may even be ready to call the Brooks/Goran Dragic deal a complete failure. It is a bit soon to say either is true. Brooks will become more comfortable with the Suns offense and his teammates as more and more games go by. He has already shown in stretches what he can do, but just hasn’t done it on a night-by-night basis quite yet.
Give Brooks some time. Before long, he will provide this team with a scoring punch off the bench and give Nash some needed rest for the stretch run of the playoff push. Suns fans just needed to have some patience. As a fanbase, that is something that they have always been short on.
Original Story:
http://www.sunszoo.com/2011/03/aaron-...
