All Mike James wanted was a freaking trade kicker, which the Rockets wouldn't give him. The team screwed up. Do you even understand what I said? The Rockets already had 3 starting quality SG/SFs on the team (T-Mac, Snyder, Battier). It was more important to fill a big hole at PG than it was to add depth to positions that were already decent or strong.
3:45 in the 4th. Sorry, I should have just posted the time when I first mentioned it. You know me....lol as for the Rafer back and forth. I feel like I walked into a shouting match and people expect you to take sides. Let's just cut through all this crap of people trying to use anecdotal evidence of each game to make their point that the insist on... 1. If Rafer starts making a habit of turning the ball over like he did against NOK...he's gone 2. If Rafer averages 2 of 7 from 3 like he produced against NOK...he's gone 3. #1 won't happen 4. #3 is a fact as far as I'm concerned 5. #2 is a disaster! 6. #5 depresses me. 7. #7 is a lucky number. so, where was I? in the middle of a Rafer hissy fit? Yeah that's right. And I meant to say to Easy...a Shooting Guard is called a Shooting Guard because they are supposed to Shoot well. A Point Guard has other responsibilites. Please don't try to redefine the meaning of a basketball position to me.
you should have been the GM to talk to mike james, then he would have been in houston. do you know why they didn't want to offer him the trade kicker?
Remember when fans would say Rafer was definitely going to take a backseat this year because of this arsenal of weapons he has? Well, Rafer Alston is third so far in three-point attempts per game... <I>in the entire NBA</I>. Unbelievable but true. Only the Seattle chucksters (Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis) are ahead of him after Rafer maintained his 7 threes a night average last night. I can't see him keeping up that average, but it's clear he's going to get (and take) a lot of open shots. We'll have to see how Bonzi fits in later on, but right now Rafer is this team's third option/scorer based on shot attempts. Does Rev. Haggard like sausage?
Why are we even talking about Mike James? Somebody arguing Rafer's case made the mistake of bringing it into the thread. Do they realize that comparing (contrasting) Alston to James is the reason the Rockets were pounding on James door at midnight last summer?
Having James AND Rafer would be great ...that's a no brainer. What everybody is bitter about is why we traded James in the first place ...for Rafer. (Of course, had we not traded James for Rafer, it is VERY possible that right now we'd have neither James OR Rafer. but that is a different story) SO FAR, and I stress 'SO FAR', the Rockets appear justified in the trade. Rafer looks better than James right now. Give Rafer all the crap you want, but if Rafer ends the season with his current stats (shooting 50% from 3pt land), we'll be very satisfied with that. Problem #1: We lost this game cause our superstars got outplayed by their superstars. If TMac's game doesn't come around and/or Yao doesn't step up his game, we won't win crap regardless of Rafer's 3pt %. Problem #2: Our PF spot is terrible. Problem #3: Our free throw % is absolutely horrendious. Problem #4: It was the 2nd of a back-to-back. Not an excuse ...just a fact. Individuals will have some good games and some bad games. That's what makes a great team to compensate when some players are down, the next one steps up. Last night, nobody stepped up ...that isn't Rafer's fault.
Justified....if you ignore all of last year where it looked like child molestation...and justified, if you don't count last night's game. He is not shooting 50% from three point land, you're using his stats after Saturday, his stats now have diminished signficantly after a characteristic game last night. Even worse is that, once again, his two point percentage is already low and getting lower.
blah blah blah. Last year was a negative aberation for Rafer and a positive aberation for James. The universe has come back into alignment and Rafer and James are about equal ...as it should be. Rafer will be fine and James can suck it. You are right. But even after last night, Rafer is still shooting better than James. bwahahaha. I predict Rafer will be the least of our problems this season. You need to be worried about TMac and how we'll address the PF spot.
krosfyah - by the end of the year, will Rafer Alston have a better three-point percentage than Mike James?
When the best you can do is say "James can suck it"........it's time to find a new battle. Really? That's odd, last time I checked James was shooting 47% from the field while Rafer was already at the 40% mark that he usually struggles to keep his head above - I'm sure if he keeps jacking up threes at a league-leading rate it will be the last time he sees 40%. I am worried about Tracy - as for the PF spot - isn't your solution Juwan Howard? My god....
Rafer is a career 36% 3pt shooter ...James is a .38% 3pt shooter. By the end of the year, I expect them to be similar just as they have their whole careers. James had one good year ...in a contract year.
I'm pissed that James screwed the Rockets by pulling an 11th hour stunt. Everybody else around here is pissed that the Rockets didn't fall for James' stunt. So from my perspective, James can suck it and I'm happy that Rafer is finally playing better. But feel free to continue to wallow in missery by putting the whole team's failures on Rafer's shoulders. Check again. James is shooting 40%. Rafer is shooting 43%. Rafer is, SO FAR, playing better than James. Uh, no. All I said was Juwan is better than Stromile Swift. I also said that replacing Juwan wasn't our #1 priority. Finding a reliable 3rd scorer and getting better outside shooters was our previous #1 priority. Now we've addressed those problems so our new #1 priority should be fixing the PF spot. I've said all along that we should upgrade Juwan if we can. The problem is HOW do you upgrade Juwan. There is a chance you could actually downgrade if you make a hasty trade.
LOL, way to fudge the numbers. James is a career 43+% shooter from the field and has been peaking recently, Alston is a career 38+% shooter from the field and has been declining recently Alston had one season, 4 years ago, where he shot around the same way James did, and then it was on a limited number of attempts. As you increase Alston's volume his percentage goes way down. They are not the same, they have not been the same for the their whole careers - that's a falsehood by you to claim that. James is an efficient 3 point shooter who can also be a volume shooter; Alston is not as efficient and cannot be a volume shooter. James is a natural scorer, Alston is scoringly challenged. These are simple facts. And the Rockets realized this. James is shooting 45.7% from the field, as I wrote above and Rafer is at 40 and droopping....and that's if we limit the sample to this year to inflate Rafer's numbers. Do you want to bet on who has a better chance of staying up there? Krosfyah? So far Rafer has had two mediocre games and one career high night; The fact that you have to harp on the fact that his three point shooting is artificially high, due to the season only being 3 games old, shows how much better a fit a consistent player who can shoot like Mike James is, and why it was essentially a no-brainer for the Rockets to get on their knees and beg for him back - which is what happened.
I have to say I really don't care in my own personal opinion. The way I see it healthy Sura > Alston Alston > James
Fg% is the ONLY stat that James is outperforming Rafer in. Rafer's PPG is comperable. Rafer is doubling his assists, better steals, better rebounds, better 3pointers, eqaul on turnovers. Having James on this team instead of Rafer, SO FAR, would not amount make a significant increase in the win column. Sure. We can do a $10 tipjar bet for fun. So by the end of December, I think Rafer's 3pt FG% will not be more than 2 points lower than James. Everybody's complaint about Rafer is that he can't hit open 3's. If he is shooting 43% from behind the arc at the end of the season, and otherwise keeps all his others stats equal, I will be happy enough. James's and Rafer's career 3pt % is about equal. Again, it was a no-brainer to try to get BOTH Rafer and James on the team. However, had we not traded James away, we probably would have NEITHER James or Rafer right now. So I'm happy that Rafer is playing 'better' than last year and I'm happy that we didn't lose James to free agency leaving us with nothing.
