OMG lmao.... Rafer is a career BACKUP. Yet there are still some on this board who think that he is a capable starting PG in this league (because we have had no other options). I will never understand this. Bottom line... we have four backup pgs on the roster. Each one is best served coming off the BENCH. Cut and dry... that is what's wrong with this team.
Wow. Ricky Rick. Rick keeps saying the absolutely most asinine things I think I have ever heard from a coach. Even Recently stating "We were 6-1" at one point. Well Rick, you are about to be 6-6. Even with Tracy, you seem to forget during this streak we lost to Dallas, should of lost to Bobcats (one airball from Rafer falling into the hands of Yao wont happen every game), lost to the Grizzlies and Even without Tracy for a half the Lakers aren't near as talented as the Rox. Bottom line is Rick is that we are about to be .500. But the main problem is that we are about to be 1-5 in division play. I don't care that Tmac is down, You AS COACH should find a way to win games. Not every team has the luxury of having a TMac, and I see already you are trapped into believing that you Have to have TMac inorder to succeed. I apologize you have a team with Bonzi, Yao, James, Francis, Battier and your Uber Point guard RAFER, yet you can't squeak out even one win. Your team has looked terrible on offense, and defensively they are even worse. Yet you wan't to keep claiming stick with it? I am dumbfounded. Its like your just chomping at the bit to sit Francis. You probably do have an agenda. Let me ask you this then Ricky Rick. You claim that better play in the preseason is how you selected Rafer over anyone else. Preseason was roughly 6-8 games. Why is 11 games into a MOST HORRIFIC start ever for a point guard in the history of the NBA and Rafer is still playing? Is Rick a hypocrite? What has Rafer done to earn his playing time since the games started for real. Why is it we can allow Scola to look like a walking turd for 9 straight games till we finally see the payoff, but you cant let Francis off the bench except for TMac injury after playing a B2B. You sir are a tool.
Exactly. that's pretty much the only thing negative with Rafer. he fulfills the other qualities of PG perfectly. he also suprised me with his pick and roll play the last two games.
Seriously, placing our losses on Rafer's shoulders is plain blindness due to rage/hate. Yes, he's missing shots that he at least hits at a respectable rate for his career. Then again, so is everyone else on the team. Yes, I know, you are a professional basketball player, you should make baskets. Well, I still firmly believe he's our best option, and it's not ONLY his fault we have been losing lately. Plenty of blame to go around. Just use the noggin' and eyes a little guys. He frustrates me as well, but let's not lose sight of the facts. 1. he can't shoot 2. he takes care of the ball 3. he can actually get it to Yao 4. he runs the break better than the other guards 5. he's not the only one not performing lately Just my opinion.
Besides that, Adelman didn't get it that many fans in Houston love Steve and would like to see him getting a chance to be successful here. NBA is a show business after all. If the lost continues and Steve is not on the court, the chanting of "We want Steve" will be followed by "Fire Adelman" soon.
I loved seeing Steve back on the court in a Rockets uniform, but c'mon he's not going to be the saviour. Did I even spell that right? He can be a big help, but who's place is he going to take. Don't say Rafer. Rafer can't shoot, that's his biggest issue right now. News flash, Steve is worse from 3pt than Rafer historically. Open shot or not, it's still a shot that's missed. Replace James? Maybe...since he hasn't been playing too well. Head? I actually think he's playing fairly well. Minus the 1-2 mistakes he makes a game. I actually think the best solution is to just stick with Rafer, James, and Head, until you see one of them is having an off game, and sub Steve in. Just try em all and see which one sticks for that game.
that really piss me off. c'mon ra, you can plug any of our four pgs, i guarantee they will win most of games. it doesn't mean anything on rafer's performance. later of season, i am worry about it would be too late to make changes. it takes time to get a new pg to gel with other teammates. if we are stuck with rafer, i would not expect much better results. maybe we can move beyond the first round but that's it.
remember, we need penetration besides tmac. all jump shooting teams don't have good fate in playoff. relying on jump shooting, you arer dead in playoff. afer's problem is he can't create somthing through penetrating.
Good Say! There are a couply game we are about to loss... The offense seems rusty not as smooth as before. PLUS Rafer Sucks
Oh he creates...he just doesn't finish all that well. I agree with ya, I suppose that's why I say, if the situation calls for it, put James or Francis in. See which one plays better for that game. We shouldn't have either planted on the bench.
It is my belief that RA and Rox management are hoping for a "decent" run from Skip to my Brick so that he may be traded, I have to believe this because there is no other logical reason to keep running him out there. When Steve played, he played pretty well, there was no dribble, dribble, dribble and he played within our offense. As long as Steve will do this he is a better option than Rafer.
I'm guessing that RickA doesn't believe you should lose your starting job b/c another player plays one game regardless of how well that guy does. Unfortunately for Francis, I don't know if he'll get enough chances to show he is or is not a better option. So I guess we'll just have to see.
He has too many wins to be. It's starting to look more and more like he has some sort of personal grudge with Francis. Even in limited minutes, Francis was clearly superior to Alston (no matter how the Francis-haters try to spin it) and yet he still flat out refuses to give the man minutes?
That would be every game for Rafer. Rick said that he thought Steve would start. So it would only seem natural that once Steve gets it together, he would save us from having to watch the monstrocity that is Rafer at the 1. In the preseason we saw: -a minutely out of shape francis who apparently was so out of shape that he still could jump out of the building, further proving that his questionable knee is actually bionic. NOW we see a Francis who is more in shape, tighter, and is running the floor and jumping and not giving up layups without a really hard foul. 2) in the preseason we saw a francis who looked out of sync with the offense. NOW we see him penetrating and dishing to scola, pushing with court-long bullet passes, crisp no look pick and roll passes to yao ming 3) in the preseason we saw a francis commiting dumb fouls, over fouling etc. NOW he's not fouling like that anymore 4) in the preseason we saw way too many turnovers, even for francis. but NOW were seeing a calmer francis settling in. 0 turnovers. (every single rafer 3pt attempt is a TO guys) 5)we've been watching 4 on 5 ball everytime rafer is out on the court. when francis was out there, the court was spread, his teammates were scoring. all cause francis makes people guard them. as seen in that preseason 4th quarter, francis can take over and start to light people up with penetration. he came in against the suns and flew to the basket. now people have to guard him. 5 on 5. makes scoring easier. that why we were close when francis was out there and we plummeted when rafer returned. francis' improvement and return to rick's initial estimation of who would start PLUS rafer's consistent cliff drop of diminishing returns means that we need to swap out minutes.
I was one of the original Adelman supporters but this line of thinking is r****ded. Rafer will never get his shot back because he never had a shot to begin with. "The sure sign of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result" Albert Einstein
