brooks really is a true "intangibles" guy, in that no stats ever really like him: but his teams always win, and it's undeniable he's a culture shifter. no way i'd trade reaves for him. like, zero chance. but he's a weird player.
Horry's a dumba** too, has been beating that drum all season to trade AR, even as his salary is at not much above non tax mid level.
yeah, given his and our contractual situations, the only sensible reaves trade is probably for someone who's really good and still on a rookie contract. no one's doing that, so i don't see us moving him for anything. which is great. he's a cornerstone-level piece. someone mentioned over the summer amen thompson. houston's not doing that, but it's the only kind of trade i'd consider for reaves right now. someone who projects as a perennial allstar and is still on a rookie contract so that we can use flexibility to flesh out the roster this year and next.
Brooks is thriving in a Phoenix situation that needed a big culture reset, but also had a big scoring/creation vacuum with KD and Beal leaving. The issue with Brooks in Memphis was his trying to do too much offensively and being over the top with his defensive enforcer persona. If we brought him in and slotted him in as a pure 3&D guy with Austin, Luka and LeBron, I think you'd see some of the similar Memphis problems again.
One thought it's interesting his teams tend under perform in the playoffs - the getting in people's faces etc may help teams during the regular season when the opponents are going the doldrums of a long season. Get to the playoffs and different story. This year: Phoenix games were irritating as hell in one part is as soon as they put Lebron on Brooks the faucet ran dry but JJ ain't going to pull that trigger in the regular season with Lebron - playoffs different story. Could be a way reconcile his advanced metrics, team records, etc
yeah, i agree that just "upping the intensity at all times" is a regular season success strategy. my explanation is that having that psycho out there just makes other guys kind of shamed into trying. we have it with smart a bit, but even smart's not crazy enough to like, get in lebron's face about not boxing out. brooks will do that. and then not box out. and not even realize what he's said and done. anyway, if we were still the lebron/AD team, i'd be clamoring for brooks. now? nope. and for reaves? lol hell no. reaves actually IS a statistical positive AND he has the intangibles, imo. you can question his lateral quickness, but he goes out there and battles and plays whatever role he's asked to play. and that's infectious, too.
Perk with one of the worst takes of the season. Brooks has had a great year with the Suns so far and has really helped them. That said, I hate him to the degree that I wouldn't trade Dalton for him straight up (ignore the salaries for a moment). I look forward to the day he and Pat Bev are headlining the backcourt of a team overseas. Updated: Boogie *
Freudian slip made while responding to this thread and simultaneously listening to Perk say JJ lost the locker room...while we have the 4th best record in the league.