[Hoopshype] Rafer Alston - "Streetball kept the city alive"

Skip, y u no luv JVG...?

 

As frustrating as it was to watch him play sometimes, I always respected how hard he played for us and that "backdown from no one" attitude he brought.

 

I loved Skip's game. I remember the debate on here between him and Mike James, and I always felt Skip was the better passer, defender and playmaker. It wasn't even close, in my eyes. He was a low-turnover guy, and everyone harked on his shooting, but he was around 36% from 3 during his time as a Rocket and that's not shabby.

I'll always be a fan of Skip's. Played every game like it was his last.

 

Respect to Rafer. He really OWNED the tear drop.

 

I always thought Bev was cut from the same cloth. He had major cajones to show up in OKC and perform how he did...I miss rafer always enjoyed watching him compete

 

Rafer frustrated me as a fan more than any Rocket player ever, and I have been frustrated by several: Moochie, Frances, all the ole Knicks, Pippen, Thabeet, etc. etc. I used to cringe every time he took a shot.

 

Fun player to watch. Never knew when he'd go Mr Hyde and drop an And1 move on someone.

 

There is no way Trevor Ariza and Ron Artest do not go on that list

 

That season when Rafer was the PG for Orlando that went to the finals, I felt Nelson coming back from injury and being the starting point PG and moving RA to the bench was what killed them.

 

Interesting he mentioned matt barnes when they got in a fight

 

AHHH i miss rafer, he really did make this team fun to watch

 

I was at this game...only 4-5 rows behind the Laker's bench. One of those white shirts was me. I was never a huge Rafer fan, and not a big fan of hotdogging, but this was a fun moment watching him go Skip on Sasha Vucawhatever....putting the exclamation point on win#22, against the hated Lakers. Great game to see.

 

Not having Rafer in the 08' playoffs hurt for sure but he was frustrating to watch sometimes.

 

He did give us 100% though... despite that 100% was cringe worthy. Still he was a good ball handler.

 

Great interview, it shows the type of team we had with tmac n yao n rafer, how tight they were and special it was. Its just unfortunate we never really had a full playoff stretch where everyone was at their full playing capability what with the odd injuries here and there. A lot of those players deserve a chance to be in the finals.

I'm surprised how well rafer spoke of all his coaches, especially sam Mitchell. I was studying in canada then and sam had a tendency to be very vocal in criticizing his players to the media, and he loved to complain about rafer being lazy or insubordinate to the point where rafer even broke down in front of the cameras. Sam really knew how to work the hard working coach frustrated with his lazy players angle with the hockey crazy tsn media.

 

Ive Met Rafer twice, great guy. I have his Jersey but will replace the letters in the back with DWIGHT

 

...you mean the Near drop.

 

Rafer Alston: Gives 100%, shoots less than 40%.