Performed as well as Skip? that's hilarious. Steve isn't half the passer Rafer is. If you watched closely, his passes were delayed by at least a second which gave time for the defense to recover, compared to Rafer's instant passing. There were about three times where he picked up the ball before deciding when to pass or shoot, and his teammates had to bail him out, and for some INEXPLICABLE reason, he was doing cross-court bounce passes that moved at 2mph, which clearly annoyed Luther Head. Francis is basically in the same situation Carlos Arroyo was in when he was on the Pistons. He had the same tools as Billups, but his decisions and passing weren't as quick so the Pistons struggled when he was in instead of Billups. This is the same situation here. Francis' decisions are a split second slow compared to Rafer and the team's rhythm is at the expense.
And yes, you were sitting in front of your TV with a radar gun to gauge exactly how fast Francis' passes were going. So tell me, was Rafer's pass 2.1 mph or 2.12 mph? And even if you're right. Let's just say that Rafer's passes are TWICE as good as Francis'. So what? How many games have Rafer played this season versus Francis? Honestly, Francis did fine and he obviously has some offensive tricks up his sleeves that Rafer doesn't.
Right, and Steve's vaunted defense will do the trick, won't it? It's fair to criticize Rafer and say that he sucks offensively, but to say that Francis would do a better job on Terry and Harris is laughable. Haven't you heard of his world-famous matador defense?
I want to see Francis 30 min. with Mcgrady. I don't know, it's kind of bad to say, but perhaps a pulled hamstring for Rafer will be the only thing that will really let us see how Francis and McGrady and Yao could operate together on the court for extended minutes. Where's Tonya Harding's husband when you need him .
that's kinda bad but he'll shoot worse when comes back after that (0.05%FG) then we'll really struggle
i am not really sure what all of rafer lovers are talking about. his passing skill? so what tmac did last year? last year, tmac either started to bring up the ball or get the ball right after the ball crossed the middle line unless a play was for yao. tmac was one who handled the ball most in a half of court. well. rafer was one who also handled the ball most in the other half of court. that is, bringing the ball from the baseline and get it crossed the middle line in 5 sec w/o to. if rafer can do what you described, tmac's job would be much easier.
McGrady's job done easier... Ballhandling and facilitating is one part of his game. The other part is SCORING Whats gonna wear done McGrady more, forcing his offense driving in getting beat up cuz no one else can score effectively, or passing the ball to Yao? Yes Tracy getting the ball from someone else does ease up his game, but remember Tracy has to GIVE it to someone also. Who do you want him passing the ball TO? What was gonna wear down Magic Johnson more, another guard helping set up the offense lol, or Magic driving to the rim, posting up bodying up people in the paint because inept offensives players keep giving HIM the ball back?
Seriously... for some reason. I think Francis will be starting by the end of the year. He will be our starting point guard come playoff time.
It has to be getting really difficult for Adleman to defend Alston. As the season goes on, everybody can see with their own two eyes what Alston brings to the table.
um...Adelman has never defended Rafer. He's just praised him for being a "perfect fit". That's much more than what he's said about Francis.
At least he's not taking it with a smile, like he'd do in previous years. He wants to do something about it and is clearly frustrated. He knows he needs to be playing better. To me this means he is not especially happy with the coaching. I don't remember hearing about him having conferences with JVG even if he was struggling.
As I said, everyone can see with their own eyes what Rafer brings to the table. So much for 'perfect fit'
Inevitably, this thread is going to deteriorate into the same, tired arguments that every other thread has. "Rafer can't shoot"/"Rafer is a our best option"/"Francis is out of shape"/"Francis should get Rafer/Head's minutes" Did I miss any?
To All Rox Experts, Rox made a few splashes during the summer. All those changes by that time carried a few of purposes. These goals arised after reviewing how rox performed during the last regular season and the playoff. Here are the topics I believe that rox wanted to make improvement. 1) Our bench. It is so obvious. No one will argue whether we need to add the depth. 2) Our PF position. Everyone also agrees on this. And rox did address the issue by signing Scola. 3) Our PG position. This is the most debatable area in today's rox bbs. My question is: did we try to unload Rafer during the summer? If yes, why did we try? The only thing coming into my mind is that Rox was not sure that Rafer was good enough after seeing Rafer performance in the regular season and the playoff. If this is true, the last season rafer's performance did not satisfy the rox. rox wanted to get more from this PG position. Now, come back to now. Does anyone expect Rafer is going to be better than the last season? If RA and the rox were not satisfied in the summer (I am not talking about the last couple games), how could RA and the rox satisfy Rafer suddenly now? It seems to me that RA and the rox believe that Rafer was playing better than the last season (excluding the last couple games). Some experts, please, give me some reasonable answers to my frustration.
I think it`s really easy: Rick Adelman wants to show RA and MJ, that he trusts them and that they earned their job. It is their job to loose and not SF job to win. So the only way for SF to get playing time is: a) RA or MJ gets hurt b) RA or MJ plays bad and thus hurts the team over several games (>10) Well, RA played pretty bad most of the games, so I guess he is close to getting a rest. But until then Rick Adelman wants to show him: I trust in you, show me that you deserve to start.
