Why don't you apply for the Head Coach Job for the Rockets, since you obviously know more then two Top Tier coaches when they chose to start Rafer Alston. For some reason a top notch coach like RA is starting Rafer over James and Francis on this Houston Team, so please explain to me how is it that I am wrong when I am talking abt the Rockets, not the Sixers or Clipps that Rafer will start infront of James and Francis and be the best option to start the game? The point is, Rafer Alston is the best starter at PG (not the best player) for this years Houston Rockets team that has unlimited potential. Not ANY OTHER team. If you put Francis and Alston both on a Seattle squad, then yes Francis will probably start over Alston 500x over, but at the same time I wont be surprised if Kevin Durant's ppg is 10points less then it would have been. I guess if your arguement is that RA is a horrible coach who doesn't know what his doing for his PG spot, then please show me proof of winning over 60% of NBA games in YOUR career as a NBA head coach, otherwise do not even dare question the ability of a NBA head coach that watches these players play every day, plans their roles, watches their tapes, studies and decides every waking second of how to extract the most wins out of this Rockets team. You or RA? I choose RA, and yes that means sticking with Rafer and his streaky shooting over Francis. By the way it's very bold of you to come out firing "you are wrong" since I always thought the board was for discussion and claiming 100% rightfulness is just out-right arrogant. As a senior member of the board, assumably more knowledgable, I think your aguements should hold more credentials then just some Rafer bias, pointing out his obvious deficiencies and exaggerating them by 100x. Zero benefits? If you really mean that, then I just have to assume you don't know what your talking about. I hope it was just a wild exaggeration _ Blues
So lets get this straight guard with a height and jumping mismatch has a two on one fast break, and he made the wrong decision by passing the ball to the trailer for a layup (that was made, by the way)? So that's a worse decision than trying to force contact and get to the line. Sorry buddy but you're touched in the head, you may have played in high school, but when you play with T-mac its okay to expect that he's gonna finish that play. That was the correct decision, and if your high school coach taught you that the point guard should always finish on a two on one break you weren't listening to closely.
In the playoffs...ABSOLUTELY. Mike James/Steve Francis both make the Rockets better in the playoffs. That what it is all about.
If Francis makes the rotation and starts getting PT, I'm completely behind him and more power to him. Who wouldn't cheer the guy? But until he does, that tells me he doesn't deserve to play, bottom line. RA is smarter than I am.
Okay, we'll look at the numbers. Here is the single greatest reason the Rockets lost to the Jazz in last year's playoffs. Everything else is secondary. Jazz Bench scored 150 points in the series. Rockets bench scored 74 points. This means the Jazz bench was TWICE as good as the Rockets bench last season...literally. Secondary factors. 1.) Yao averaging almost 5 TOs per game. 2.) Rafer shooting 33% 3.) Tracy Shooting 39% 4.) Yao Shooting 44% 5.) Boozer outplaying Yao As far as Rafer's defense. Here are Williams numbers. 43%, 16 points. 8.5 assists. He had a great series, but nothing extraordinary. Hard to say the reason the Jazz won was Rafer's defense. If you want to blame someone on the Rockets for defensive shortcoming in the series the primary blame should fall on anyone and everyone who was guarding Boozer. Regardless. The fact of the matter is Rafer is going to be playing about half as many minutes as last year, so your concerns have already been addressed whether Rafer starts or not. I think every Rockets fan agrees that Rafer played too many minutes and was forced to carry too much of the scoring load last season. This season he'll playing half as many minutes and will be shooting much less. And make no mistake it was his shooting that was his biggest issue last season. Trying to put blame on his defense and decision making is lame considering the Rockets were basically the best defensive team in the league last year and Rafer's turnovers were extremely low relative to other point guards, especially when you consider the amount of minutes he played. The Rockets biggest problem was already addressed this season by adding depth. They actually have a bench now, and yes Rafer will be playing closer to 25 minutes per game in this years playoffs instead of the 45 minutes per game he was required to play last year. Yet you act like nothing has changed.
I agree. I agree that that was the best decision. I also agree that Samar WAS a highschool BB player and WAS a lousy kind.
Damm, take your meds man. Steve made the rockets better in the playoffs? he oonly won 2 games while rafer pushed it to game 7. Shut up man.
As already addressed. TMac had a great series. His shooting percentage was down, and Yao's TO's were high because for the entire series Utah left Rafer all alone. They could of cared less if Rafer was running free out there. Rafer was the MAIN reason we lost against the Jazz. Plain and simple. Chuck Hayes zero offense was a close second, but at least he played solid D. Which is something Rafer did NONE of.
Wow you are lost. That was the best laugh Ive had in a looooooooong time. "rafer pushed it to game 7"
rox in 03 with yao's first year would have been swept by shaq/kobe/malone/payton lakers if steve didn't step up in the playoffs those two wins were big rox were supposed to beat utah and the series going to 7 games has nothing to do with rafer but our two superstars
Give me a break if Yao and Tracy suck that bad that they can't even handle a double-team then they shouldn't be considered superstars. Fact is both Yao and Tracy had a sub-par, inconsistent series. Another factor that I didn't mention is Yao's injury. He never came close to playing at the same level he was playing at earlier in the year when he came back from his injury...even in the regular season. He just looked slower. He was bullied way outside by Boozer and other's and was never able to get position down low. His turnaround wasn't working. These things can't be blamed on Rafer. Tracy was timid taking the ball to the basket and is quite content to settle for the outside shot. Also, let's face it. Guys like Girickek were doing a really good job bodying up on (and probably getting away with fouling) McGrady and he couldn't even get around them. I remember that all series and it was when they were guarding him one-on-one, so I don't see how double teams factor into that. But if saying it was all Rafer's fault help your case, by all means, keep making up lies.
Or, to make you feel better. Without Steve we could have been easily 0-82. obviously the credit was on tmac and yao. i didn't mean literally that Rafer took us to game 7.
I am baffled that any rockets fan actually WANTS francis to have some PT. It cracks me up, this guy obviously didnt care about the team coming into training camp. He literally showed up out of shape, and not ready to play, expecting to get into the games. I will not feel bad for him, nor did I chant the stupid Steve chant at the game. Alston is not the best pg, but the bottom line is that we are 3-0 with him in the starting 5... why is anybody complaining? our rotation is looking really good right now, we are out scoring our opponents bench thus far into the season, and most importantly we are winning. so, what is the problem?
The Steve Chants are just a way for fans to get into the game. Steve is becoming the pet fan favorite 12th man/oddity, ala Scott Brooks, Ryan Bowen before he really started sucking, Pete Chilcutt, Chucky Brown (part of rotation but was an oddity), Moochie before he got the fat contract...basically the guy you pull for because you feel sorry for him.
and... last season JVG encouraged rafer to take way more shots than he was comfortable with.. three games into this season, rafer is 8-21 on this fg attempts.. three games into last season, he was 14-35. prorate that over a season, and his fg attempts are being cut down significantly.
