Thank you. Seeing that poll and reading some of these posts makes me feel like I'm completely losing my mind. Rafer's shooting was so bad for the past two seasons that he does not deserve to be in the NBA, much less start.
So this board shouldn't exist? As far as I know, absolutely nothing we say affects anything in reality.... so chatter on.
It's fairly obvious. Morey said just within the last few days they are looking to acquire a backup point guard. Why do you think that is with 4 already on the roster? It's because they are trying to move Rafer and JLIII. They're looking for a cheap 1 year rental player, someone along the Jason Hart mold, that they can plug in behind James after they trade away Rafer. They haven't talked about Rafer or Luther all summer. Why do you think that is? Rick Adelman likes multidimensional players that can defend, run, cut and finish at the basket and shoot the ball. Rafe and Luther are both 1 dimensional. All Rafe can do is dribble and all Luther can do is fire. Put both of them together and you would have 1 mediocre NBA player. But they are useless in a system that is predicted on all 5 guys being able to finish. They are looking to trade those guys.
Its really more a of a situation where Rafer is considered to be the lesser of the two evils, considering that James really needs to dominate the ball to be effective.
rafer can pass, dribble, gets steals and doesn't turn the ball over. he is a much better control player than mike james and can run the offense very effectively.
Neither, Mike James is a 2 with the body of a 1 and Rafer would be a back up on just about every team in the league. If we are going to war we these two clowns running the show I guess I would say Rafer b/c Mikey is not gonna pass the rock.
Rafer starting and James off of the bench for the reasons already stated. It's going to be nice to have a choice for a change instead of settling for what we have in regards to bench play. Looks like we might finally be getting some legitimate depth.
Funny, last year Mike James' assist rate while playing on a bad Minnesota team was virtually the same as Rafer's while playing on one of the top 8 teams in the league. Mike James can pass just fine.
Did he learn an entry pass last year? Or is that something else that's going away with the Adelman offense?
The PG position, just like last year, is the weakest position on the team. At least now we have enough players to fill that position by committee. I'm leaning towards starting James because of his shooting ability. But if we start games off badly due to his score-first mentality I would yank him for a second in favor of Rafer. Not that it's a huge upgrade or anything. Hey, who knows? Rafer and James could be washed up by next year and we'll have to start Brooks. But I don't want to think about that. It's depressing enough to think that we're spending 10 million in salary on our weakest position.
I voted Rafer. James provides a spark off the bench and a change of pace. I'd probably let him finish games as well... Our offense was pathetic at the end of games last year.
13 Ways of Looking at Rafer Alston I Among ten players The only thing that missed the rim Was Rafer's layup II I was of three pains Like a basketball court In which there are three Rafer Alstons III Rafer's layup bounced off the rim It was only a few seconds of one game IV Rafer and a basketball Are a miss Rafer and a basketball and no defender Are a miss V I don't know which to regret Rafer shooting the ball Or Rafer not passing The clank of a rim Or just after --- Running out of energy, so I'll skip to a good one... --- XII Rafer is shooting The Rockets must be losing
I am absolutely stunned that so many fans want Alston on the team and even to start. He's the weak link on the team.
If the choice has to be between Mike James and Rafer Alston (a dismal choice) I would say start Rafer. I think this could change when we see how theyplay in Adelman's system, but with the assumption that they will be doing more in transition and running, I think you will see more from Rafer in his ability to handle the ball and set up easy shots for T-Mac, Yao, and now Scola. He is more of a playmaker QB type point than MJ. That is not to say he is the better player. I would have James come in when he can provide scoring with asecond unit. Take the load of of T-Mac and Yao for some stretches. He just hasn't seemed to me to be much of a distributor, and I think Adelman will want the distributor over the scorer on the first team. That said, I wouldn't mind seeing another option than those two. Maybe wish, pray, and beg for some way to get Bibby.
I don't understand why are we starting this poll... Morey implied that Rafer is likely to be move by saying we need a backup pointguard, isn't that clear enough? If Morey is going to keep all James, Rafer, Brooks, why do you think he is looking for a backup point guard with a roster that already have 18 players?..
Mike James took one shot every 2.91 minutes last season. Rafer took one shot every 3.03 minutes last season. The difference is minuscule. Saying MJ is a ball hog is saying Rafer is a ball hog.
I said Mike James long ago (but never spoke up). Rafer is simply NOT the right course of action right now as a starting PG. But as a backup, we still need him at least for this year. I like Brooks a lot, but he's still an unproven rookie. Let's get a few games in him before we automatically give him the backup 1 spot. If I remember correctly, JL3 was also impressive during last year's Summer League. Besides, as many people have mentioned, this isn't JVG's system. This is Adelman's system. Perhaps Rafer's "unique skill set" could end up fitting here? At this point, I'm just going to have to trust whatever Daryl Morey and Rick Adelman decide is right; I really have no how things will end up.
