Brooks makes his point.Byline: Bob Clark For the 19th century baseball player, see Bob Clark (baseball) Benjamin "Bob" Clark (August 5 1939[] – April 4 2007) was an American actor, director, screenwriter and producer best known for directing and writing the script with Jean Shepherd to the The Register-Guard Aaron Brooks Aaron Brooks can refer to:
`It went pretty well,' Brooks said. `I thought I played pretty well. I had a good week.' Good enough that he was named the top rookie in the event, which included such first-year players as Kevin Durant Kevin Wayne Durant (born September 29, 1988 in Washington, D.C.[6][7]) is a 6'9" basketball player for the Seattle SuperSonics, picked second in the 2007 NBA Draft from the University of Texas. , Jeff Green Jeff Green may refer to:
In also being named to the 14-player all-star team from the squads in Las Vegas, Brooks averaged 21.4 points as the Rockets went 4-1. He shot .461 from the field and averaged 5.2 assists. That seemed to quiet some of the critics who questioned why the Rockets would use the 26th selection in the draft to pick the recent Oregon graduate. Brooks was aware of the skeptics about his higher-than-expected berth in the draft, and figured this was a chance to answer any questions. `In a way, yeah,' Brooks said. `That's just one chapter, though. Now it becomes the real thing.' Brooks said he expects to move to Houston next month and begin training with the other Rockets. The training camp for the team begins Oct. 1 in Austin, Texas, with Rick Adelman beginning his first season as head coach. Adelman turned over coaching the summer league team to an assistant, but the former Portland and Sacramento coach was on hand for games. `I was getting good feedback from the coaches,' Brooks said. `I talked to coach (Adelman) and he said it went well.' On the current Houston roster, veterans Mike James and Rafer Alston appear to be the leading candidates for playing time at point guard, and the Rockets also have second-year player John Lucas III John Harding Lucas III, often referred to as just John Lucas (born November 21 1982 in Washington, D.C.), is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the NBA's Houston Rockets. at the position. Lucas, however, declined a request to play in Las Vegas, and said he'd rather be traded - or released - than spend another season with scant minutes. Brooks, meanwhile, took full advantage of the extra playing time in the summer league games. `They said go in there and play my game,' Brooks said. `They wanted me to be aggressive, and that's what I do.' Brooks was appreciative that the Houston squad was made up of `a great group of guys, so it was a great team atmosphere.' The event wasn't without its individual challenges, however. `There are a lot of people there trying to impress their coaches,' Brooks said. `That makes the competition level high.' Brooks went to Las Vegas with one important matter already resolved: his contract. With salaries for the first-round selections slotted by the NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= , it was only a matter of waiting for the Rockets to offer the usual 120 percent of that amount that is allowed under the collective bargaining agreement The contractual agreement between an employer and a Labor Union that governs wages, hours, and working conditions for employees and which can be enforced against both the employer and the union for failure to comply with its terms. . `I wanted to get it signed before I started playing, just to get rid of the paperwork and concentrate on basketball,' Brooks said. The final number: Brooks is guaranteed $2.02 million over the next two seasons. Not that he's feeling rich yet. `I'm still broke,' Brooks joked. `I haven't seen a dime.' Brooks said most of the Seattle-area players are back in town for the summer, so `it will be fun' to work out with some of those former college foes like Nate Robinson and Brandon Roy. He's also been trading calls and text messages with former Oregon teammates, in particular trying to keep up with Maarty Leunen and Bryce Taylor as they tried out for the national team that will play in the Pan American Games Pan American (Sports) Games Quadrennial sports festival. The games, conceived in 1940 as an event for the nations of the Western Hemisphere, were first held in 1951. . Mostly, Brooks wants to catch his breath for a few days. He spent May training for the pre-draft camp in Orlando and the subsequent workouts with NBA teams, then jet-hopped around the country in June for those sessions. Then came the anxiety of waiting to hear his name called in the draft on June 28, followed by a trip to Houston and the week of games in Las Vegas. `Everything has been real hectic,' Brooks said. `Now it's starting to calm down a little bit, so I'm trying to relax from a long grind.' BROOKS' SUMMER LEAGUE STATISTICS Points: 21.4 ppg Assists: 5.2 apg FG shooting percent: 46.1 Record: 4-1 |
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