I don't disagree with much in this post.....however, why not put in a better shooter if the teams are going to funnel it to Rafer, which they are? Why not put Rafer squarely on the bench and put in JL3 to bring it up....or put Head in for Rafer and let Tmac bring it up? That way it is pick your poison...who do you leave open? DD
Was the rest of my post, that you ignored, a cliche too? Hope for a better player all you want. Let us know when you are ready to rejoin reality. Obviously you want a better player if you can get one. Fact remains, we can win with Rafer as the record CLEARLY shows. Not only are we beating teams, but we are decimating some good teams. We ran up huge leads on the Spurs TWICE (unfortunately, we collapsed in the 1st one). We decimated Dallas and Utah ...the top 3 seeds in the west. Clearly if you have a chance to upgrade Rafer, you take it. But you don't just dump/bench Rafer because we obviously can win big with him. The best argument you Rafer haters say is that we are winning DESPITE Rafer. That is a cop-out answer. We are winning. Period. Ain't broke, don't fix it. (how's that for a cliche?
I just would like to see Rafer take less 3s. Perhaps teams are leaving him open for a reason.... You've seen teams play against a team with a defensive specialist like Ben Wallace. They play way off of him, but he still rarely shoots a jumper. That needs to be Rafers philosophy. We don't need him to score much to win. He shouldn't be taking more than 10 shots a game in my view, and then we'll never see a 6 for 25 night .
Rafer's ineptitude right now is being masked and overshadowed by McGrady pulling a 2003 on us and our other players (Howard, Mutombo, Battier) stepping up in huge ways. During our 5-game winning streak (Rafer's numbers): FGM: 24 FGA: 79 FG%: .304% 3pt FGM: 9 3pt FGA: 28 3pt FG%: 32% Assists per game: 5.2 per game Turnovers per game: 1.6 per game "But we're on a 5 game winning streak...so we're winning WITH Alston" Sure we are, but everyone else has picked up their game. Mutombo is playing great minutes, Howard is shooting unbelievably good and Battier looks like he's starting to get comfortable w/ the team. You can give credit to Alston for our winning as fast as you can take it away. "Alston's the best we've got. Deal with it" It's like picking the lesser of two evils. On one hand we can start: -an undersized PG in Lucas -a SG who has no business handling the ball in Head -a guard who hasn't seen quality minutes since the preseason in Spanoulis or on the other hand, we have Alston. so yes, Alston IS the best we've got but that doesn't mean everything is kosher. Think about how much our team would improve if we had a PG that made even 40-42% of his shots. I'm not even asking for more assists or more steals--just a better shooter. "You're asking for too much. If we could get a player like that, we would have done so" Oh but we have, and it's Alston. People think I'm crazy for always mentioning this, but Alston's strength is within the 3 point arc...not behind it. He CAN get to the basket and he's very effective when a high pick is set for him. Tony Parker FG% wasn't in the high 40s for nothing--most of it came in the paint. Alston can finish just as well as any point guard in the NBA. "So now you want Alston to drive. Great, the point was for him to pass more, and shoot less and not the other way around moron" If the other team has to start worrying about Alston penetrating, who doesn't think that will open up shots for players around the perimeter? If they choose to let Alston take it in all day, let him do so. Eventually, they WILL have to do something and when that something comes around, it'll be too late.
If McGrady or Yao are not playing stellar basketball, the team is doomed. This team won't win if TMac and/or Yao are playing 'average' regardless of what you do about the PG situation short of picking up Nash. The reason people think your crazy when you say that is because Rafer is actually a better 3pt shooter than a 2pt shooter. Mostly because Rafer sucks making shots in the lane (ie layups). I'd be happy if Rafer continues to drive to the basket (because actually good at getting shots off) but instead dump off for an assist. I'd also be happy if Rafer continues to jack up 3's ...when he's open. Rafer should NEVER shoot a 3 off the dribble unless there is 1 second on the clock.
4-14 so far tonight.....Rafer continues his team killing play. WOW !! It must be nice not to have to worry about accountability. Just keep on Jackin !!! DD
Bullard just agreed with the title of this thread. He said we need to bring in Lucas cuz Rafer can't make a shot!
this has been said million times and who ever backs up this guy is insane he needs to stop shooting or just leave ****in incredible aaaaaaaaaaaaaarghhhhh
rockets are down 10 to twolves right now and its 3rd quarter... alston 4/15 shooting... why is he firing so many shot??? this guy is trailing only to tmac for number of shot fired and he can't even hit anything. He is here to initiate the offense and distribute the ball not firing up loads of shots with less than 30% rate of making one
I've seen alot of RaferHate lately but I've never seen it so intense as I did on the Chat during the 3d quarter especially as the TWolves starting building a lead with Rafer missing 11 straight shots.
