As JayZ above has said, well said. I have been a huge proponent of Rafer's passes coming off screens but I am sure everyone will downplay how good he is at this and how it is not that important and anyone can do it blah blah. It is very difficult to hit a player coming off of a screen especially when Rafer throws it with his left hand at times. Everyone in the whole arena knows the pass is going to come from Rafer right when he gets off the screen but they can't stop it if Tmac is in rythym and hitting his jumper. I can't wait till Yao gets back because Rafer will not get as many shots and will get more open looks. His looks have not been that open lately IMO. He needs to do a better job of driving and dishing also. I know everyone is frustrated with Rafer and will be until he is not a Houston Rocket but give the guy a chance to prove he is not an NBA championship caliber PG whatever that is. The Heat won with Jason Williams and Gary Payton who are definitely better than our "PG" position but people claimed Jason Williams was not good enough to win an NBA championship as the starting PG. What really has pissed me off especially of late is that everyone is scared to shoot the ball, besides TMac of course. Rafer at least puts a shot up when no one else is willing.
Not really. If his FT% or his turnovers were way up - that would be one thing, and evident of a lack of concentration. But I find it hard to believe that he can just magically "flip a switch" and turn things on and raise his 3 point percentage more - I just don't think that's possible I think it's more of a lousy fit playing next to a bunch of 1-on-1 guys who seldom pass like Ricky Davis which makes it difficult to establish a rythm. As far as a drop off - yeah there would be a dropoff, but that's because in Toronto he was the only thing remotely resembling a perimeter threat from the Yukon to Prince Edward Island. Well I know that he would have helped last week - and that he had a bunch of big games right before the trading deadline as his PT magically went up, so.... The T-wolves have been through two coaches and turned over 2/3 of their roster and most of their starting lineup since Cassell last suited up for them. Not the same team.
His 36-37% 3pt percentage isn't really that good, when you consider: 1) he is wide open for most of his threes, unlike a guy like t-mac 2) he runs in streaks. Just look at his stretch after the break. He is on fire in the games vs miami, atlanta, orlando. Then comes boston and toronto and he goes 3-17 combined. Championship teams get CONSISTENT play from key players. Rafer Alston defines the word inconsistent. And i'm sorry but 2-7 last night is not good for a guy in his role.
We used to just laugh when he'd go to the line that season. Then cheer like crazy when he'd actually make one.
So you say Rockets fans want Steve Nash to be their PG. Only Steve Nash satisfies the above qualities. But given these fans they'd say "OMG! Steve Nash plays no defense! And he doesn't dunk, either!"
Rafer leaps... no, he floats towards new heights of suckiness, with nary a backup in sight. I cringed when Lucas went in last night, and cringed when he came out. It's a drag to have to continually howl about the way Alston goes about his business, but the fact remains that we didn't address getting a backup for him, much less a replacement for him. It's the biggest hole in our lineup. And I thought losing Yao would expose our frontcourt. Nope. It's our point guard position that's naked. Keep the Nair away from the backcourt... we can't possibly afford to lose any coverage.
Well Carrol Dawson DID say that he would spend big if it meant getting a quality player...*cough*Billups*cough* Morey, Deliver Chauncey! In all seriousness, yes Rafer is a sucky shooter and i'm sure that if a better option is available, the brass is looking into it, they have to be. But giving Rafer the encouragement and confidence is key, they may be giving him a bit too much confidence, but better that than pulling a Larry Brown and crushing him on national TV for everything he does wrong. I seem to remember our sharp shooting starting PG getting his ass served to him by Derek Harper in '94, so all is not lost, i'm confident that this team has what it takes to do it, we just have to work ALOT harder than the other teams.
clyde drexler says rafer is a darkhorse all-star candidate and one of the best pg's in the game. case closed.
Most of the Rafer bashing is too far along to even reason with...I hope Rafer stays around for a while but when he leaves I can't wait for the complaints to roll in about the next pg not being able to get the stars the ball. Better yet Yao's production will mysteriously decrease and everyone will jump on him, nobody will even notice the fact that skip being gone is the reason for the decline. Guess this is a situation where you wont miss him until he's gone. Clutch, your entitled to your opinion but I'm suprised to see such a huge rockets fan have such a negative bias about a decent player. He takes primarily 3 ptrs...of course he's going to have a low %...it should be better than it is granted but it'll still be lower than your player who shoots an avg. number of 3s. And to whoever said we should fire the assistant coach who encourages rafer to continue to shoot the ball...you sir are an idiot. If you even think for a second that you know more about basketball than anyone sitting on a NBA bench you're a FOOL. F-O-O-L, him encouraging Rafer to keep shooting should tell all you guys all you need to know, its the best basketball decision. Everybody loves playing with Rafer...coincidence...i think not...they know if they get open he will not only see him but be able to get the ball to them.
Now I know better than to even get into it with you, Vernon, I mean tinman, but as much as I like what Kenny did for us, he was "sharing" time with Cassell because he couldn't get the ball up the court with any confidence, not because coach was implementing a youth soccer style "everybody plays" atmosphere. That was his downfall, as well as why people started wanting him OFF the court.
i was talking about shooting percentage. kenny still had a great shooting percentage with less time. rafer plays most of the game and doesnt have to worry about losing his job to a better player. kenny in his prime was good. his skills got worse with age.
We knew he was a horrible shooter. This finalizes that his a historically horrible shooter. It's so awesome, Clutch had to share.
Hello Hayesfan. I agree with that statement. Also, Chuck Hayes is one of those hustle guys similar to Shane Battier, they do all the intangibles that make a team win. They know their role and quietly perform it. The crappiness of rafer alston's shooting just shows that you can teach a player how to play better defense but teaching someone how to shoot or how to improve his shot is much more difficult. We must keep in mind that rafer was practicing all summer and still no improvement. If you compare his stats with Steve Nash, rafer probably has more shot attempts than the two-time MVP . Its not that Steve Nash can't create his own shot , he knows his role and plays it to perfection. He can shoot but he chooses to make his teammates involved in the offense. On the other hand, its not that rafer has to take those shots by necessity, it probably has something to do with basketball IQ.
On another note, and more in line with the thread, as badly as Rafer shoots... and as many bad decisions as he seems to make (especially late in the game)... I do think that part of the problem is (JVG Haters ignore this lob, I don't blame him and don't use this an excuse to get worked up) the style of offense he is fitting into. He is EXPECTED to shoot those open 3's, even though they know his % isn't going to be great. Sure they hope for a better %, but I do think that is part of the issue. Does it mean he CAN'T hit the closer 2? Debatable, somewhat, but the offense is getting him open looks at the three... frequently... so he shoots a lot of them as he is expected to... and anyone who takes as many 3's vs. 2's as Rafer is going to have a lower % than most. He will get better, or rather have his ups and downs. He will never be the greatest, but I do think he's doing his best with the situation he's in, and it's been slumping lately. Yao's presence will help Rafer, I think, though I have no stat handy to dress that statement up.
I agree with all of that... "The Jet" but again, my statement before stands regarding WHY he was sharing time.... it wasn't his percentage that was the problem.... and I don't think most people had a problem with his shooting by the time he had to 'share' time with Cassell.
Perhaps we can wait the the end of the year? Officially, he hasn't broken any mark yet since the year isn't over.
