Stevie Franchise vs. A.B... don't forgot about Mike James too, ha ha.

It was announced today that Steve Francis (click here for full story), who's contract was just bought by the Blazers, has been picked up by the Rockets. I'm not sure what this means for Aaron Brooks, probably less playing time though Francis isn't strictly a point guard and neither is Brooks for that matter. Houston just has a ton of guards right now but it seems to me they'll either cut or trade some of them before the season starts and Brooks is their first round pick, there's always pressure to play your first round pick. You'd also have to assume the Rockets aren't really satisfied with the point guards they already had prior to the draft and the Francis acquisition. Rafer Alston, John Lucas III, and the recently acquired Mike James are all in contention for the point guard spot, though Lucas has said he wants to be traded or released if he's not going to see more minutes than last year, so probably he's out. I just watched the Rockets press conference from last month introducing Mike James to the team (further evidence of my summer sports withdrawl) and Adelman and GM Daryl Morey get asked what adding Mike James means for the other guards, specifically Rafer Alston. Adelman's response is that Alston's "a solid player for this team but...". He added, "You can do a lot less on a really, really good team and get more credit." But then he follows that by saying, "People earn their minutes." Morey then went on to say that they were looking to add scoring punch and improve the one spot, but they need to improve at the bigs and they have some tradeable assets. James did average 20 ppg in the 2005-2006 season for the Raptors, but he's 32 years old now. So bare in mind all this happened before the draft.

Okay so what does all the have to do with anything? except prove I'm beyond ready for some kind of meaningful sport to start back up, I'm honestly getting pumped for the U.S. Open, (tennis not golf, I'm not that desperate). Well I guess it gives some context to the kinds of personnel decisions that are made in the NBA every year that ultimately decide the fate of former Ducks basketball players, which is supposedly the point of this blog., though be warned I'm going to report on the current team too because I have to.

Brooks finishes off the Las Vegas Summer League

The Rockets beat New Orleans 98-93 to finish the summer league off with a record of 4-1. A.B. was named the T-Mobile Rookie of the Month for his performance in summer league after the game. He averaged 21.4 points, 5.2 assists and 3.2 rebounds in 31.8 minutes of play over five games. I can't wait for the start of the season. It's going to be very interesting to see what Brooks can do (if he's given the playing time).

Aaron Brooks Summer League vs Wizards 7/13/2007

Here's some of the highlights from Friday's game against the Wizards. And if you're so inclined you can watch the entire freaking replay of the game here.

Aaron Brooks in a Phoenix Suns Pre-Draft Workout 06.12.2007

Here's some really nice behind the scenes footage of what a NBA pre-draft workout is like. And it just so happens to be our man Aaron Brooks as the star of the show.

Summer League: Houston Rockets Aaron Brooks scores 28 - 07.12.2007

Summer League doesn't mean much but who cares? A.B. is ripping it up nonetheless. Here's the highlights from the July 12, 2007 game against the Dallas Mavericks' summer league squad.

Aaron Brooks Post-Draft Interview

A.B. comes off pretty well in this interview. Definitely worth watching. The video is courtesy of rocket.com.

Video Highlights from Aaron Brooks' summer league debut 07.10.2007

The video quality is terrible and there's no audio but the highlights are still beautiful. Brooks starts off with a nice assist for a dunk and the foul. He follows that up with 2 threes and at the end you'll see A.B. throw a nice lob.

Brooks Off to a Wonderful Start

In his NBA debut(summer league sort of counts) on Tuesday 07.21.07 Aaron Brooks went 6 of 14 for 21 points and had 8 assists. The Rockets beat the Clippers 90-76. No pictures or video yet but I'll work on it.

The Rockets games Thursday, Friday, and Saturday will all be broadcast on nbatv, so there should be some video from one of the games for me to post. We'll see.

Brooks' Debut and Summer League Schedule

Aaron Brooks will make his professional debut Tuesday July 10th against the L.A. Clippers. Summer league rarely garners much attention but this year with Greg Oden and Kevin Durant there definitely seems to be more interest, so maybe A.B. will get a little sportscenter time as a result. I'd love to see a runner in the lane right over the outstretched arm of Oden.

To see the rest of the Houston Rockets summer league schedule and the roster click here.

A.B. the Rocket

Aaron Brooks shows off his fancy new shirt.