The truth is Rafer is on the team because no one would touch that contract without swapping it for an uglier one ... but he looked good last night. He looked amazing in last year's preseason too though (didn't he hit like 50% from three in last year's preebies?).
Totally agreed with you there man. In fact, I think MJ played pretty horribly last night. He repeatedly get his shot blocked and was not good at running the offense. A big reason why we lost that huge lead is MJ. He repeatedly got blocked by hilton armstrong and it seems lik hes trying too hard to score and ball-hawk a lil too much. clearly, Morey did great by not trading rafer for dirt. We NEED him this year unless MJ improves his ball-handling.
I don't know why anyone can't think outside the box. The Rockets are starting Rafer so that they can showcase him to other teams for a trade IMHO.
At least learn to give credits to Rafer for his outstanding performance in the first preseason game, just try to admit that he had a solid game and is the best play maker of the team. If we trade rafer, we must find a substitute playmaker either from the current roster(which is possible, but won't be as good, t mac?? not bad, still)or trade to get a better play maker. If u trade rafer now, what's ur future plans for the playmaker position of the houston rocket? Give rafer a break dude, ya asking why is rafer still on the roster? but right now i'm wondering wht the hell u r doing on clutchfans, why r u here, just to bash rafer cuz ur wiennie is too small to admit he was big in the last game? get outta here, give him some respect, he plays for u too bro
Let's see, one preseason game and you think that Rafer's the man? Did you see the way he played when he was with the new guys, he did as lousy as every one else did. He did the same thing he did last year, gave it to Yao or T-Mac and then just stood around watching like everyone else. They have only been together a little over a week with a new coach, new players, new system. Yeah, Rafer is going to look good when he plays with the guys he knows because he's comfortable with them, he knows where they like the ball, etc. MJ did pretty good considering, it was the first pre-season game and he is playing with new people and new coach's, etc. you get the point. As far as Rafer is concerned, it would be dumb to cut him since he is owed abouit 4 mil, but I wouldn't keep him either. He's not a starting point guard.
I think Rafer *should* be the starting PG. James and Francis would be a couple scorers off the bench to keep the team scoring. We have seen far too many times once Tracy and/or Yao are off the floor, the offense becomes pretty inefficient. I think of Rafer as...well, to take from the advertising commercial the Rockets had, a piece of the puzzle. A lot of people are to blame for poor performances by the team last year. Rafer isn't the only one. EVERYONE has their weakness. Yao turnovers/fatigue, Tracy settling for outside the arc too much, his FTs, Head with TOs...we could go on and on. My opinions expressed above are independent of Rafer's performance or anyone's performance last night.
I didn't see people "waiting" for facts. I just saw people complained about why Rafer was still in this team, based on the conclusion that Francis/James were much better PGs. Now that's intelligence.
Alston is not my first choice to be our starting Point Guard but I wonder if James and Steve will ever be able to fit in under Coach A? Old habbits are not easily lost. Head should never be asked to play point guard, he is a scoring guard.
Rafer played well lastnight and out of all the PGs we have on this roster, he is by far the purest PG we have. I honestly wouldn't be suprised if he is our starting PG come the start of the season. Clutch also brought up a big point in that Rafer has a contract that teams do not want, period.
Hey Rockets_dude, maybe you should change your name to Spurs dude eh? They have a great scoring PG over there no? And they have won a championship. That's all you care about right? Dig aside, I'm all for keeping Rafer. Been saying it since the offseason, and I'm still preaching the same thing now. Rafer is what he is. He's never going to be anywhere near being a scorer, but he does do a decent job of hitting his open 3s, and he distributes the ball well and he's good at running the offense. That alone warrants him a starting spot, if only for limited minutes. Ideally, I'd want Mike James to start with this new offense we have. I do believe he can be a Bibby-type player for us, with Francis providing the Bobby Jackson-esque spark off the bench. But as I've always advocated, Rafer is insurance in case neither pans out, because his ability to run an offense while making few mistakes is proven. And look what we got here in game 1: he ran the offense well, and he played his role well. We really don't need baseless rant threads like this calling for a player's head based on...well...based on nothing but pure personal hatred.
Rafer has been playing very well, but if you can get someone like parker or bibby...then we make the move. Since we live in reality, we need rafer. James and Francis has been shakey the first game. Now Rockets_Man, even Clutch would agree that rafer's playing well and we know he's no rafer fanboy. I dislike rafer to the core, but he our team was very efficient with him last year. Maybe come playoff time he would get a limited role but right now he's the best we have.
i think we can all see that he can handle the rock and run the offense. this will only make his value go. i for one respect the fact that he has come out stronger instead of fading away. someone like steve francis would have too much pride in a situation like this.
That's right, rafer IS going to start, unless we get a better playmaker. Believe it, when it comes to delivering the ball and running the offense, he's the best in the team, and he is not a very bad one compare to any other NBA player in doing that job.
This board is amazing. Last season and up until our first preseason game, Skip had to be one of the most hated players along with V-Span. Those run-ins with the law didn't help is case either. Now he has ONE good preseason game and everyone is calling him to be starter again. All this after all the bad things that have been said about him. From him not being starter material to him only starting because hes JVG's "boy". Bipolar?
hmmm, do the contract of marcus banks match rafer? Banks plays great defense, and he shows that he could guard any PG any night. With james and SF3, we do may need a PG that could change the face of the game by playing defense. about the comment of Rafer being the best playmaker on the night, as i was looking at the plays, i notice a lot of ball movement and player movement, especially the 1st quarter, where its 3-4 passes and shoot. With most assist came with the post player giving the ball to the cutter or the cutter passing out to the wing player. Hence frankly speaking, in a motion offense like this, even jason kidd could not make much of a difference when the offense was really flowing in the 1st quarter. So when there is a better 3p shooter, and players better at making cuts at the team, rafer is still quite trade able.
you'd want marcus banks over rafer yea, just what the rockets need. Another pg who isnt a great ball handler, passer and like to shoot.
my favorite part of the night was when Rafer passed up the wide open three to pass the ball to the corner. Battier missed the shot, but it was the right play considering Alston's track record. The offense looked better by far when Alston was in the game. Mike James was making the case for bringing him off of the bench as a scorer. Francis looked comfortable on the bench... I have no idea how this will all work out, but I would personally still like Rafer starting each quarter just to set the tone that the ball goes through Yao and then through McGrady. He takes care of the ball and brings it up quick. I like that. the best was watching Scola though. As soon as he figures out what won't translate from international play into the NBA he's going to be excellent for this team. Cheers, Brock P.S. That Mike James drive going one on five and ending up getting his shot blocked reminded me of a certain playoff game against Dallas. But the night is young so we'll see what happens when we have a larger sample from which to make judgements.
