probably, i didn't express very well. it has nothing to do with rafer current performance. it is whether you believe rafer is the right pg for us or not. in the summer, i believe ra and the rox didn't believe rafer was the one. how did they come up this conclusion? because of the last season rafer's performance. now ra and the rox believe ra is the right person. how did they come up this impression? because of his preseason and first 6 games? in these games, rafer was playing better than the last season?
I love Stevie, and hope that he soon gets a lot more minutes - if not the starting job. However, for whatever reason, he has made a lot of people leery of him. And this is one of the oddest achievements in basketball history since his trade from the Rockets. So, how did the fall from grace go so low as to not make it absolutely clear in training camp with the Rockets that he was far superior to Rafer? As sick as I am of what I call the "Reefer Madness" and why he continues to play, I think Stevie should've dominated in training camp or there is no way that we would be having this discussion. The upshot of all this is that if one continually gives a reason for others to be leery, it is very difficult to break out of that. People tend to be very conservative, and they go with what they know even when it is as disastarous as Rafer is. Bottom line for me is, I think Rocket fans would like this team to go on a title run now. So why can't we, at the very least, expand our rotation for the next 20 games or so just to experiment? Why not look at the big picture instead of the (near) short-term future?
It's really not that complex. Steve sucks. In his one game he played worse than Rafer, so there is no way he replaces Rafer. Rafer is better on defense (which say quite a bit), and better at running the offense. There is a reason the Trailblazers are paying Steve 30 million bucks not to play, and it isn't because they didn't have a roster spot for him. Come December 15th Steve will be traded and hopefully we can get at least a second round pick for him. This is like the Vassilis Spanoulis thing all over again, only this time there are already several teams that got rid of Francis and people still think he is some savior.
All good points, but I still have hope that once Steve is back in shape he can contribute. But I recognize that for what it is... hope.
To Steve's credit, he is in better shape now than he was during preseason, or even at the start of the season. I think as his stamina issues fade, he will become more of a contributor.
can't believe in the last game, rafer and sf were pretty much damnit equal. none of them overperformed the other. don't gave me sh$t just looking at the stats. sf scored 6 pts by 2 layups and drawing a foul through penetration. he made one jumps. so total is 8 pts. his penetration also created two asts, one for yao and other for scola. rafer had two baskets through p&r and made one jumps. his asts most came from his extra passes along the perimeter after yao kicked out due to double covered. what is the major difference? sf has better penentration capability than rafer. after watching all games last season, i believe we need a second guy who can penetrate other than tmac. it will help tmac during this brutal season. he will be fresh in the playoff.
Adelman has to play Francis soon. The losses keep mounting and he has to figure out a way to stem the tide. I don't care how Francis gets into the game. Let him take Alston, Head, or Jame's minutes it really doesn't matter. Those of us who followed his career in NY know what he can still do. Francis should be starting but I'm ok with him coming off the bench.
