Let's see, 5-12, (2-7 from 3 point range - all wide open) 4 TO, 3 Assists - but at least he only let Chris Paul rack up a career high in assists. Yeah, that's MUCH better than last year, a lot. There were multiple reasons we lost in addition to Rafer. But once again teams leave him open, and unlike last night, he fails to make them pay. Again.
He let Chris Paul rack up assists? bwahaha. I have never heard anybody blame somebody else for poor assist defense. Several of Rafer's TO's were cause teammates weren't looking for the pass. I can live w/ those TO's. ...as opposed to Stevie's assists where he dribbles it off his foot. Assists were low because the team shot like crap ...not cause he wasn't making passes. Yes, he didn't shoot all that well but who did? Rafer, so far, is putting up better stats in EVERY category than everybodies idol Mike James. Better FG%, better 3pt %, better PPG, better Assists and better rebounds. You still want Mike James? Rafer wasn't the reason we lost this game. Rafer is what he is ...a role player. We need TMac to get back to his normal self.
82games.com shows opponent's assists, and several of their writers have written about how part of good man defense is stifling your opponent so he can't make the good pass. They've played a whopping THREE GAMES. How's about you wait before making a judgement about who's better? What we do know is that James was a very good player last season, while Alston was crap.
Getting beat off the dribble repeatedly doesn't help. This has nothing to do with Steve Francis, nice diversion. A TO is a TO and safe rafe didn't protect the ball tonight; that's a fact. No, he wasn't making passes because the team shot like crap, including himself, who was left open, who was shooting Why is this a valid excuse? he's the one left open on the perimeter - he's the one who defenses dare to beat them. Bwahahaha, no, you're dead wrong. He's got a better 3 point % now but that number is skewed by saturday, it's got an anchor attached to it. Thru 3 games: Mike James 14.3 ppg, .457 fg%, .400 3pt% Rafer Alson* 14.0ppg .400 fg% .423 3pt% *continuously left OPEN ALL THE FREAKING TIME and operates an express lane to the basket on defense The difference in these numbers will only accentuate James put up 18 points last night and 19 points the night before that. That's the kind of perimeter scoring that we coudl use from that spot - see saturday's game by Rafer for an example. Duhh. Stop shifting the blame, this is asinine. Rafer was nice and mediocre tonight. Mediocrity from others doesn't make this not true. But if you're asking, yeah Tracy sucks ass shooting now and is not the player he used to be. Wow I feel great having said that.
Hey SamFisher, what would be an acceptable 3P% for Rafer after, say, a month? Let's just say that if he meets that mark, then he's pretty much doing his job as far as shooting. Is 38% a good enough benchmark?
You can have a "defensive specialist" as your SG just to harass the opposing superstar. You can't have a defense only PG. So yeah. But, in today's rules, you simply can't afford ANY perimeter player who can't hit an open shot. No more illegal defense rule to hide those defense-only guys.
I did the pbp of the game, and it's fun to literally type every play, and it helps the memory. I'm no Rafer fan, but I hope he does well, and I'm just pointing out the facts as I saw them. The Hornets did not choose to leave Rafer wide open any more than they chose any other Rockets shooter. The Hornets defense doubled Yao (sometimes before he got the ball) and commited a help defender any time T-Mac took steps towards the basket. The person who would end up with an open 3pt shot depended on their position on the floor. It wasn't like only Rafer's man would leave him. All of the Rockets shooters had many open shots. And thus I believe one must lump Rafer into a team responsibility. Everyone has to combine to hit a high % of 3's because teams will constantly double Yao inside and cut off T-Mac drives to their best abilities. I'm not happy that Rafer shot 2 for 7 from 3pt land, but I'll take them as long as they were part of the offensive flow. Head was 2 for 5, T-Mac 0 for 3, Battier 5-11, Snyder 0 for 1....they were all wide open shots. As for the turnovers and defense. Rafer and T-Mac were bad tonight. They were the primary ballhandlers. I watched the game very carefully. Rafer had 3 terrible turnovers early and T-Mac was bad all game. But it was a team problem tonight. The Rockets are still feeling their way and the whole team was very sloppy with the ball tonight. As for defense. Nobody could stop Chris Paul penetration, but it wasn't like Paul was taking every single possession to the hoop. A few times, it really sucked, like before the half when Paul went 50 feet str8 with no intereference at all, but for the most part, Paul was using pick and rolls to break down the defense, and he was outquicking a slow, tired reaction by the help defender. Alston and Head were both equally bad at slowing down Paul. I disagreed with the general D philosophy of Van Gundy in this game. The hornets love jumpshots. Defenders need to be in everyone's face (not just Peja), because you want them to take tough driving shots in my opinion...a little mixing it up would have helped.
I saw it....had the same thought. just one more dimension to what Shane brings You want it in the clip or would you like it isolated for an analytical point? btw...exact time would help me find it faster...I onlyhave a general idea of where it was in the game
I don't get it. Doesn't everyone realize he's an above average starting PG? He is NOT an all star. We either live with what he is or start b****ing and moaning endlessly about getting another PG. Rafer isn't going to get to the next level of being some all star. Look at Ridnour or Nash they could do what the team needs are according to many members here on offense but on defense it seems the board would still complain. I think people need to just accept that Alston is what he is and get over it.
There is a difference between getting your points in the flow of the offense and getting them at the expense of it.
And what evidence do you have that James scores "at the expense of" the offense? Oh that's right -- zero. The only evidence in support of that was a bunch of made up urban legendry - invalidated when the rockets camped out on his doorstep at midinight this year. Meanwhile he goes on making shots at a high efficiency rate for a low price, while taking care of the ball.
If you are trying to argue that it was better to spend the MLE on James than on Bonzi, Spanoulis, getting Novak's bird rights, even perhaps a future solid PG in Lucas then you need to get off it. Spanoulis himself has higher ceiling than james, not to mention the kind of shooter Novak is.
LOL, and tell me Rockets Dynasty, is this assessment based on fabricated anectdotes like you usually formulate to justify your opinions, or is this something you got from one of your alter egos from tthe RealGM boards?
Just for the record, the 2005-2006 Raptors had the 5th most efficient offense in the league, and that offense was better when James was on the floor. The team sucked because it was 2nd worst in defense. I thought the objective was to "win now," during the several-years-window that the team supposedly has while Yao is still young and T-Mac isn't broken down yet? Bonzi is a one-year rental, who is good but not as good as James was last year, and is redundant when the team has Snyder, T-Mac, and Battier. A team should try to fill out the holes in its starting lineup (like the Rockets have at PG) before trying to add bench depth at its other positions. Spanoulis and Novak haven't proven jack yet. The lineup I wanted to see was this: PG Mike James SG T-Mac SF Battier PF Hayes C Yao There would be a core of 3 star-level players to carry the offense (superstars in T-Mac and Yao, a borderline guy in James). Complementing them would be Battier and Hayes, garbagemen who hustle for rebounds and do the little things. They wouldn't take shots away from the scorers (helping to address questions of ball usage), but they would be able to make their open shots. Battier has proven to be an efficient shooter, and Hayes was efficient based on last season. If T-Mac's back were to give out Yao would still have a deadeye PG capable of raining down 3's and creating off the dribble. That team would have been pretty damn good.
When Mike james can post feed like Alston then get back to me, until then this argument is nonsense. I think 25-30 points from Yao and 12-15 points from Alston is BETTER and MORE "efficient (since your're on that one) than 18-20 from Yao and 16-18 from James. But hey what the hell are we paying $15 million a year for that 7-6 with touch and skills anyway right?
the rockets didn't do enough? mike james destroyed that dream for you because he decided he was worth more in minnesota. he also has a choice. wells is redundant? why did the rockets sign him then?
Care to prove how much better Alston's post feeding is? Are you going to show any math? Or do you expect me to just take your word for it? The FACT is that last season, Mike James was almost as efficient a shooter as Yao himself. And he did that with a lower turnover rate than Yao too. Meanwhile, Alston was near the bottom of the league in scoring efficiency.
