Agreed but to complain (and not just you BTW) that Rafer played 40+ minutes last night but not recognize that his rest was shortened by Brooks subpar play doesnt really seem fair. If I remember correctly, Brooks had a short leash in the first half too. Well, getting 3 fouls in 6 minutes certainly helped that.
Fellow clutchfans please help me to find out which of the followings are "preconceived opinions" and which are "reality": Rafer facilitates the offense well BUT Rafer does not exactly make plays like T-mac Rafer likes to pull up fast break jumpers Rafer likes to try his floater Teams dare Rafer to shoot, the more the better Those are not "reality"? *sigh* X 100000000000
Rafer averages 5-6 assists. Rafer hits his fair share of 15-20 foot midrange J's (20 for 56 provided he isnt baseline) Rafer has been finishing in the lane 60% of the time lately, as opposed to 50% of the time last year, including said floater.(granted he has missed some gimmes lately) Rafer hits 33% on 3 pointers. About 1 in 3 is solid for a point guard. So the stats are not as bad as your assessment makes him out to be.
1. He's not supposed to make plays like T-Mac. This should be the most obvious thing to a knowledgeable basketball fan. They play different positions, get paid different salaries, are different kinds of players; thus, they are NOT EXPECTED to do the same things...are you kidding me w/ this?? 2. His fast break jumper pull-ups have significantly decreased. There's no real statistic that can point to this, but others that have watched recent games will be able to vouch for me on this one. 3. Similarly to the above point, these are not every other shot he takes either. Watch the games. Take note. There was actually one instance last night where he seemed to take an ill-advised floater. I noticed that it was b/c he thought he drew enough contact to draw a fall from the guy behind him, but it actually wasn't enough. He threw it up trying to get 2 FT's, but didn't get them and thus, looked like one of those terrible floaters that frustrate most fans. 4. I don't know if you're going for a hyperbole here or what, but there are very few players are actually "dared" to shoot in the NBA, and this list does NOT include Rafer. Off the top of my head, some would be: Ryan Bowen, Chuck Hayes, Ben Wallace and Eric Snow from 3 (he's a career 20% 3PT shooter)...Rafer is not in this list. Otherwise, their shots are contested. Players like Rafer get open shots b/c teams are more concerned with T-Mac and Yao (as they SHOULD BE). It's not like those teams are begging Rafer to shoot and just saying "I dare you" like we do in pick up games. These are NBA games where a lot is at stake. They will attempt to contest, but he'll get many open shots because of the nature of our team. Don't fault him for taking open shots and getting "dared" to do so...that's just stupid. In the past 13 games, he's 40.8% from 3PT range, making 33 of them. In that span, he's fourth among all NBA PG's for 3PTM (only behind Baron Davis, Steve Nash, and Chauncey Billups)...you think teams really just want to "dare" him to shoot and the more he shoots the better?? WTF? Rafer is not my favorite player on this team and never will be. He is not the best PG in the league and there are others better out there. HOWEVER, he is sufficient for what we need him to do and he gets a lot of undue criticism. He's improved his game and fans should take note. Many haven't...That is, I believe, where the "preconceived opinions" stem from. In the past month, he's been one of the better PG's in the league. If you look at the stats, his numbers all-around have actually been better than Tony Parker's in the past month in almost every statistical category (including 3PTM, AST, REB, STL). He has a good AST:TO ratio and like I keep saying...he's doing all we could ask of him at that position. Will he make some mistakes from time to time? Sure. But stop asking for Chris Paul or Steve Nash b/c there aren't too many of those around to be had. I'm done arguing about this w/ people like you.
Rafer doesnt make play like T-mac because he rarely gives them wide open layups or 3 pointers. He's just a good facilitator. He averages 5.3 assists and that's bound to happen as we have superstars like T-mac and Yao to finish the plays. His 2 point FG% is 44.7%, probably the worst starting PG in any potential playoffs team. His 3 point FG% is 33.5%. For PGs on pace to make 55 three-point field goals, he's 23rd of 26. He's as bad as my assessment makes him out to be.
So he is the poorest of the play-off contenders. So by all means, if its SOOOO easy for the Rockets to get one of the players higher up on the list, then why havent they??? I mean, you can't have a player of Rafer's "quality" on a team that wants to try to win a title. So you just go out and get a superior player off one of the "uber PG trees" that grow all around the world. Easy as that right??
Yeah, really my point is that Rafer coached the right way can really overachieve. He really does turn it on when he's pushed. And you have to give him credit for doing a lot of work on the practice floor recently to get his shot in shape--both the jumper and the tear drop. The rookies are rookies. They foul a lot. I am feeling pretty optimistic about next season though. I think the Rockets did pretty well in the draft, all things considered. Definitely better than the league average.
I really want to stop responding, but you're making it so hard for me... 2PT FG% for PG's...are you kidding me?? Look at the link you provided. Farmar and Aaron Brook are 1 and 2...any statistic that has Farmar and Brooks above the elite PG's is not a noteworthy statistic. It even has Barea and Crittenton in the top 10...enough said. Again, look at the past month (or past 13 games...a legitimate sample size) and you'll see 40.8% 3PT%. Fourth in the league in 3PTM in the last month (3rd if you go by per game b/c some of Billups, who is above him, played in 2 more games during that span). And for the last time (hopefully), notice how in my original post, I mentioned Rafer has picked up his game in the past month and been what we need at PG. You just keep looking for ways to say that he "SUCKS," but look at my statistics that I posted recently in my previous post and those are actually worth noting.
So is Rafer a good enough PG for us? Like I said in my first post, it's not entirely his fault considering his salaries. James and Francis are bigger disappointment. But still Rafer is not good enough for us to do any damage in the playoffs. We need to address the PG position, it's as simple as that.
Yet a Rafer playing as well as he is this year from inside the 3 point line gets us out of the first round last year(thats how close we were). You can have a lesser PG if your players around him augment his weaknesses. And a Battier thats shooting around 40% from 3 point range and Scola/Landry making offensive plays at the 4 do just that. Kenny Smith was a very poor PG. He was basically a 3 point shooter that could handle the ball. He has 2 rings. Matt freakin Maloney played in the Western Conference Finals.
No doubt that some time next season I expect Brooks to seriously challenge Rafer for the starting spot assuming they is still here. Brooks is still learning and every game is something different.
i see another thread get hijacked. but briefly ( ), rafer is decent and has been doing some good stuff as of late. the tough one for me is, is he good enough for us to have a deep run this year? that's all of what i care about. think of it this way. comparing to the spurs (as the defending champs), we're about even at 4 & 5 combined; wingmen are about even as well (an injured mcgrady and battier vs finley/manu plus bowen); the difference is pg 'cause rafer << parker. (we're not too shabby at bench either compared to the spurs.) i wonder if this is the right way to compare. i mean we match up with the spurs pretty well, but if people have little doubt that spurs will have another run in the playoffs, isn't pg the most obvious difference b/w us and the champs?
Another obvious difference would be 5 (that's how many games back we are from them, as well as the number of spots behind in the Western Conference rankings). I don't know where you're going to find a better PG. This is the QB position of the NBA and teams don't just give up their best PG's away for role players. Having said that, he's still a good starting PG and fits into this system well. Honestly, we can upgrade at every single position, but do we have to? More importantly, can we?? He's not only the best option available to us on our team, but he's the best available to us period. Here's a list of PG's out there that are better than Rafer, IMO: Nash, Paul, Kidd, DWill, Baron, Calderon, Parker, Hinrich and Tinsley (the last 2 are not that much better, though). Players I consider equal to Rafer are Felton (who now plays SG, but has more upside), and Jameer Nelson. Neither the Bobcats nor Magic are trading these youngsters who are keys to their rebuilding process. And as for the nine players better than Rafer...c'mon...it's not happening. They're either franchise players or already too established in their backcourts and so familiar w/ their respective offenses that trading them away would be illogical for their teams. You want a shoot-first PG w/ a ridiculous contract like Bibby?? I mean, honestly...be realistic. What is it that you guys want?? We have a good PG and they're hard to come by. He's proven himself. Long runs in the playoffs are important, but let's first worry about getting higher in our rankings. And then let's worry about getting past the first round. Rafer's play is not the only reason we haven't been moving on in the playoffs. He had one opportunity last season against the Jazz and we lost that, but we had many holes in that series (inability to guard Boozer was huge) and Rafer was not alone when it came to poor play. Nevertheless, I honestly believe he's gotten better and smarter since then. Oh, and one more thing, dragon167 - to be on pace for 55 3PTM is a ridiculous qualifier for ranking 3PT%. I don't want any PG shooting 3's if he's only on pace to make 55 threes for the entire season. Not only that, but many of those players are not actual PG's on their teams (just listed as possible PG's for fantasy purposes).
Frankly if I was Morey I'd never stop wheeling and dealing. And if you look at the Rockets there's just no question that the weakest link right now is at the point. That's where the focus should be if you're really intent on improving the team. Yeah, you can certainly try and upgrade every position but it makes more sense to concentrate on that weakest link. Do I think a trade is likely? Nope, I'm guessing nothing's going to happen until the season's over. And even then I'm curious to see what Brooks can do. Is he really good enough to be the Rockets' guy? If so there's no reason really to trade--Alston or Francis can come off the bench in backup. I'd like to see Brooks get some more playing time so that we can answer that question.
