I really wish all these Jeremy Lin fans hadn't found this site. Then we could just talk about basketball without all this obsessive over-analysis and faux-victimization.
Serious question: So the GARM is infested with irrational Lin-defenders or LOFs (if that term is used)? If so, just another reason to stay away?
Rafer got more hate than any other rocket I can remember. I threw stuff at my TV a couple of times which is how pissed of he made me. He wasn't that bad looking back though.
Hell No! Rafer alston's shot was cringe-worthy. He was basically a poor man's andre miller when he played here. Plus with rafer you kinda knew what he was gonna give you every night, not much. Jermey on the other hand is a mixed bad, but by golly he has better decision making that rafer! Oh and anyone remember the David Andersen hate? Now that was bad LOL
I wouldn't really say he played better under Rick, just that his best season happened to be under Rick and Rick had a lot to do with it.
Especially the last game of "THE STREAK." Man, what could have been with a healthy team. Rafer did bring it every night. JVG I think made him a lot more mature. I think it was one of the first times Rafer felt wanted; was when he was traded to HOU. that summer after the Dallas series to replace Sura. He really changed into a player that adjusted to the system & did fairly well although he was not a good shooter, but a every 5 games or so a streaky type of guy. He played hard though, and kept the TO's pretty low from what I remember. The hate was a LOT back then. We felt we needed a PG, and back then everyone wanted Bob Sura to "faint" & come back in a Rockets uni. We had briefly saw a PG and then it disappeared. Everyone was clamoring for Rafer to be traded for the Luke Ridnours (spelling on his name) of the L etc. They wanted rookies to take his place. I'll give people cred though back then they wanted Andre Miller, and he never got here. They were probably right, we needed him. That was the ultimate "PG type" the Rockets needed at that point in time. A calming force so to speak. Instead we went with AB. Rafer was what he was. He had to utilize his skills to transfer to the NBA & he did well I'd have to say. He just wasn't the greatest basketball player, but he did what he needed to do. He never led a team, but he was a piece of the pie that worked at times for the Rockets.
Rafer got WAY MORE hate than Lin. The person that got the most hate was STEVE FRANCIS. Every Rocket player, unless you're outplaying your contract (Landry, Parson) got hate. That went for Yao, T-Mac, Battier, Mo Taylor and Stromile Swift (both of whom took less money to sign with the Rockets). Aaron Brooks got hated upon even after a pretty good playoff series and MIP season. It's when you have a large following defending certain players that this site really gets dramatic.
Yeah it's hard to get a true reading cause of the zombie invasion. Rafer was better than Matt Maloney and Brent Price.
I think the expectations are entirely different for both players. Rafer was only really needed for defense, distributing the ball effectively and shooting the 3 well. He only really did 2 of those things consistently. Lin is more of an offensive threat because he can drive and dish the ball effectively. His 3point shot may be streaky but he can definitely put some points up and does rebound the ball at an efficient rate. Kind of hard to play well when you have two players that need the ball to be effective.
Man I contributed a lot to the Rafer hate back then. And remember this? Spoiler But I do appreciate Rafer for schooling The Masheen. Don't want to embed it here.
Rafer got all the hate that Lin gets, but he got none of the love Lin gets. Rafer didn't have a legion of fans that were going to love him regardless of what he did, but there were plenty of the haters.
Tracy's hate is more despised because he literally quit on us. Totally different categories, but yes TMAC got a LOT of HATE!! He got a LOT of LOVE too. TOF and LOF are prob. about the same number in CF these days.
Everyone Hated Rafer until Morey traded him for an injury prone backup PG named Lowry. I remember alot of fans hated that decision at first.
I appreciated one thing about Rafer: he got the ball up the court and started the offense in about half the time that Steve Francis did before him. Other than that, the guy made me pull my hair out. I didn't read CF constantly in those days, but yeah, there wasn't as much REACTION to Rafer but his ratio of haters to defenders was far higher.
