lmao that's quote of the year. Rafer seriously doesn't get enough respect around here. For $3.75 million he is perfect for our roster.
Haha. I wouldn't say perfect considering all the hate he's gettin. But I agree...Relax and wait for the Mac to come back. We'll be alright.
Call on Me... It's either by Roger Sanchez or Eric Prydz. I don't see why we would replace Rafer with anything other than someone who is a better 3pt shooter or someone who is among leage leaders in FTA/minute. He's a decent rebounder, and decent passer. I've said it before, I'll say it again. Rafer's only problem on this team is that he's playing huge minutes every game. He can't do that. He's not solid enough to handle that many minutes. Get him a backup. Andre Miller would be useless on this team. T-Mac and Bonzi can both post up. Yao is dominant in the post. He can't hit the 3. The only quality that MIller posseses which would be useful on the Rockets is his excellent passing. For 10M, we better be getting the whole package - passing, shooting, defense. Unless they take Juwan in the deal, I would not do it and they would never take Juwan.
I prefer to add well-rounded basketball players than freakish pieces who do one thing well. Miller would raise the IQ of this basketall team and bring some stability to the point.
After crap like last night's game, I have to jump in here and say I was the first after the AI trade to suggest we go grab Miller. Our point guard play sucks. Let's get Andre Miller while we have a chance. And I don't think we have to wait until February. Andre Miller can be traded now if no other player is traded from Philly with him. The 76ers want to build through the draft anyway. And whittle down their cap. Rafer would be awesome in helping them tank. Rafer (4 mil) + Bonzi (2.1 mil, will opt out) + Sura (3.6-ish mil, will be an expiring contract, like CWebb, next year) might do the trick. If Philly wants a draft pick, fine, send them our 1st and use the TE for Korver (if it works).
Dre is an upgrade over Alston certainly--and I'd do it if the cost wasn't too high, but he really isn't the type of PG that would help us the most. Watson has the same problem (poor outside shot). What we need is a Jason Terry type (competent bringing the ball up, efficient off the ball shooter). Mike James was a lite version. Head does the shooting part, but not the competent with the ball part. I think probably we keep Alston. If we could more split minutes between Alston and Head at the 1 that could be OK. Problem is Tmac is out (best to pair with Head to help out with ball handling) and Head has been forced to cover 2 minutes with Snyder out and Bonzi slow to a groove with the team.
Miller wouldn't help on this team. Not at all. His greatest strength is attacking the defense. And yes, he's a superior playmaker and slasher and defender to Rafer Alston. And yes, we know he can't shoot the 3. But his true damage on offense will be taking shots away from people who CAN make the open 3, because defenders will leave off Miller to help on Yao, Mac or whoever. At least Rafer hits his at a decent enough clip, no matter how streaky he is. And for 10 million, he's definitely not worth it. The ultimate PG for this team would be Derek Fisher, if his price wasn't so steep as well. A rotation of Fisher and Alston would be good enough to run this team effectively imo.
I wouldn't mind Miller and Alstons as a 1-2 punch at the PG...Fact is Rockets only has 1 experienced PG on the roster right now and that's not enough. Luther Head, at least for now, is only masquerating as PG. I think a lot of us, and both Feigan and Blinebury from the Chronicle, too, noticed that with Snyder and McGrady injured, JVG really hasn't been trusting many of the bench player (and they havent' really delivered enough to earn the trust). The team does need some veteran bench guys to share some minutes. Guys like Barry and Mike James were critical in the success in 04/05, with Rockets often performing better when these bench guys sub in. The Rockets need to get a deal (or two) done to acquire some Barry/James type.
Andre Miller has a nasty contract that's worse than Juwan's ($2 million more per year, same length) - That's why the Sixers want to dump him. Everyone screaming about Rafer's 3-pt shooting would be in for a horrific surprise with Miller, career 22% and 25% this year. Awful. He has very good assist numbers, but he's (seems contradictory) not a good set up man in actuality. He doesn't make players better or the team more efficient. You'll never seem him compared to Nash or Kidd. Defense is solid. Rebounding is a nice bonus. Decent character guy. I don't think he's worth half the money he's getting. He'd be a slight upgrade overall to Rafer, but I definitely would not sacrifice a #1 pick to get him. Not in last year's draft, no way in this year's draft. Evan
I agree. Miller is not a halfcourt point guard. But what I will give him is that he's a crafty player, and he's VERY good at his lob passes. At 8-10 million a year though, being just crafty and giving you 8/9 assists and an alley-oop a game is definitely not enough. Van Gundier, like I've said in my post, a 1-2 punch of Miller and Rafer isn't exactly going to work. Teams are gonna sag off Miller more than they do Rafer, and on this team, you do not want that to happen. Miller can't, and can never shoot, for nuts. Not with that bad form of his. And he doesn't create enough offense to offset his bad shooting. If anything, Luther is the perfect backup at the guard spots for this team. If we're looking to upgrade at PG, any likely candidates will have to do everything that Rafer does, and he has to consistently shoot better. That's where the Derek Fishers and Delonte Wests come to mind. Not Andre Miller.
i would take him in a second. he can't shoot 3's... if any bothers to check, he's shooting them at about the same clip at tmac... sure rafer is a much better shooter, but guess what? andre shoots 47% from the field. he may not hit the long ball, but he is hardly an offensive liability. would you call parker a liability for the rockets because of his 3pt shooting? why don't we like rafer? because he shoots a good % from 3, has a nice ast/to ratio, gets a good amount of steals and rebounds... NO! he makes bonehead plays, he shoots a low % from the field, and he shoots too much (even with tmac in the game). all of those things are fixed with andre miller.
47% without a 7'6" guy clogging up the middle. You think that percentage is gonna stay when he plays in JVG's system? Hell no. My prediction is that his FG% will dip to about 44% maybe, because he's basically worthless outside of 16 feet. And that's before opponents adjust and clog up the lane even more to cut off his driving, at the same time providing easy helps on Yao Ming. Face it, Andre Miller is a good player, but a bad fit on this team. With that, it'd still be fine if he's making say, at most 5 million bucks a year. But no! He's making 8, going 10 by the end of his contract. !0 million for just a steady player who's potentially a bad fit? I won't take that risk. Not ever.
Well this is easy. Rafer sucks...better solidifies their shot at tanking the rest of the season to go after Oden. This year the draft will be pretty deep. There is plenty of talent to rebuild their franchise which is obviously the mode they are in right now. Also, Rafer does not have a bloated contract...not cheap, but not like Juwan's, Mo Taylors (was), or Cato's(was). I would be looking for Philly to be looking to move a lot more than just Miller, because right now they have nothing. I like Iguodala. Don't know his status, but he is a gamer.
he kept that fg% while playing with all-star post players like illgauskas and elton brand. infact, his highest career PPG totals were when he played with all-star post players. andre miller is a hell of a lot better than rafer. think shane battier at PG. solid, but not spectacular. he's not perfect in the way that chauncy billups would be perfect, but he's an upgrade. on another note, if you don't go after dre because of JVG's system, then you replace JVG this summer with a guy like larry brown who would love his eric snow like abilities, or rick adelman who would love his creative abilities...then what would you have to say for yourself? you have to bring talent on to this team. it doesn't matter if it fits what we do now. JVG should be able to adjust. if he can't then it shows that we need an upgrade there too.
I agree 100% ... we need PG shooters! How about Earl Watson or Mo Williams? Trading for one of those guys would be awesome!
I have nothing to add to this thread other than I've always thought Andre Miller and Luther looked like they could be brothers.
