November: 4.1 (injured half of the month) December: (injured the whole month) January: 6.9 Febrary: 8.2 March: 8.0 so far Wow, if he maintain his pace, he's average over 8 assists a game for next season. Who was the last Rockets player that averaged more than 8 assists a game?
amazing. rafer is doing a great job of getting the ball to players in scoring position. also, it's easy to rack em up when you have yao and tmac playing.
I've been so happy with his performance. We've been waiting for someone who can dish the ball for so long and now we finally have someone in him.
Not to be a downer on the whole situation but from watching the games, I've gathered that 2 or 3 assists a game of his come from his guy doubling down on TMac or Yao...them kicking him the ball and him simply making the easy pass to whoevers man rotated onto him. I mean it's still Rafers assist but it is completely created by Tmac from what I've observed and I'm sure the same thing has happened with Yao and I just haven't noticed.
The thing is that these re-positioning rare happened pre-Alstron. Once Yao kicked the ball out, it's gone for good. Wesly still cannot pass the ball inside. Head is so so. Damn, I miss Jon Barry just by his ability to pass inside.
Not to be a downer on your downer, but before Rafer, even this didn't happen. In the old days, Cat would take it for a one-on-one, or Stevie would jack it up or dribble too much, etc. No one ever really made these either. In fact, I really somewhat prefer it this way for half the assists, because that means they're playing as a TEAM and playing well in their roles, TMac creates, kicks out to Rafer, Rafer swings it out or back down to Yao, and swish. That's beautiful! And that's something the Rockets have not been able to boast in quite a while!
This just shows how the chemistry on the team is growing by leaps and bounds. If we can get TMac back soon, the sky is the limit. ..Damn Houston sports teams, always gotta give us fans heart palpations with their late runs. Is there something in the water that causes this?
the important thing is that the ball is moving and moving quickly. this is one of the areas in which we have seen major improvement from years past. our wing players are, simply put, better passers. does it really matter who is racking up the assists as long as the ball is being rotated from strong side to weak side, thus producing open shots for whomever is in the corner?
He lob to Stro late in fourth quarter was horrible, almost cost the game. Got to have poise Rafer!!!!! You can make those passes.
Why am I still not that impressed with him? He just doesn't appear to be a starting NBA point guard, in my opinion. Looks like a good bench player. Gets lit up by almost every PG in the league. But I like his distribution. On the other hand, he shoots like your grandma. I want a new PG and have Alston come in from the bench to push the tempo.
i think rafer has the mental ability and the skillset to be a reliable franchise point guard. unfortunately, i think he has physical limitations. if he were a little stronger and, possibly, taller he'd be outstanding. as is, i agree with you. he'd be an EXCELLENT backup point guard, but is a stopgap as a starter.
He doesn't look "built." look at billups or chris paul or even sura. he looks fragile to me. other than his distribution..there's not much to like about him.
