I'm sorry but i think he has been playing great since Yao came back. Albiet his scoring has been off, especially the last game, but his ballhandling, and passing, he is the direct reason Tmacs assists are under 5 a game. He has found everyone all the time. I know mike James has been scoring alot in toronto, but i'm quite happy with rafer.
yeah, every game, once or twice he throws some AMAZING passes. His shooting is terrible, but he cuts to the basket well, althought seldomly.
He is progresssing very well. No regrets on the Mike James trade. I'm still withholding my final judgement on Rafer. Give it until the All-Star game.
No, he's doing what you and others have wanted our PGs to do, pass the ball well. Mike James is taking like 15 shot attempts per game and still averaging less assists-per-game then Alston. We need a pass first PG.
Just curious...is Bobby Sura a "P1S2" PG? Maybe that's not as an important criteria as some posters think given Sura's success last season.
I had some problems with Sura last year. He's getting an unusual amount of support now because of our bad record and him not playing. Many think the two are directly related and, hence, the big time Sura love. What makes Sura so effective at PG are intangibles like his toughness, nastiness and rebounding. What he lacks in passing & playmaking he makes up for with other things. People have forgotten this but he wasn't good at finding Yao, which was a problem last year. He also struggled to bring the ball upcourt against pressure, which was agonizing for me to watch. By the time we would get in the 1/2 court set hardly any time would be left (slight exaggeration). A healthy in-shape Sura would be a great part-time PG behind Rafer, who could roll over to SG to steal minutes away from Wesley and Luther against bigger opposing SGs. He won't save the season but Sura can definitely make us better.
I think one of the best quality Raefer has that a lot of recent Rockets' PG did not have is the ability to handle the ball without turning it over. With Alston handling it, you rarely see somebody pick his pocket or he turns it over on some dumb mistakes. He also brings the ball up quickly and take a lot of pressure off TMac being a do it all. I think Alston is underrated.
