one more thing, one of the 1st things steve francis did was drive and literally FLY to the basket that is a veteran, all-star strategy. he is saying "you have to guard me" when steve is out there we are playing 5 on 5. when rafer is out there, it is 4 on 5. after steve flew to the basket like that, just his presence out there is spreading the defense. i think this is why we were gaining on them while steve was out there. not necessarily his shooting, but just the presence of as a scoring threat that can lift off at any moment he chooses...that was spreading the floor and making it easy for luther head and others during that time to score. it wasnt 4 on 5.
Rafer would try the tear drop. Instead Steve would drive in and finish strong around basket or dish to Yao or Scola for easy basket. . Once he improve his shooting I can see him get more PT. Don't really understand the praise for Rafer's ball handling skill. Wasn't he the guy who make 2 crucial turnover the last minutes in game 7 vs. the Jazz last year with his ball handling skill???
Well unlike (seemingly) everyone else, in the first half I thought we had found our legitimate starting point guard. In Rafer. He was continuing the strong drives we saw in the third quarter against the Spurs and limiting his three point attempts. Then he shot a floater and I lost hope again. If he could only keep taking it all the way to the rim... But, I was pleasantly surprised by Stevie. Sure, he was a lot slower (hopefully just conditioning) and his shot was off (practice), but he showed NONE of his old problems. He wasn't standing around and dribbling (Luther did that part for him) and he didn't make any clueless moves. His penetration was still great and gutsy, and his passes looked crisp. With some more playing time, he could and should definitely replace Alston/James/Head's role. AB looked pretty good, too.
I'll give him a pass since it's his first game.. Same for Brooks in garbage time. we seem to be giving all our free passes to our other g's lately. I do think everyone needs to get a better basketball dvd on making layups though Another thing I like is that Stevie get's the crowd into the game more
Are you serious? Rafer is our best PG only at making sure we SUCK! I can pass the ball to Yao or Tracy from the stands, and they dont have to pay me..just give me court side season tickets!
Like Francis said, he hasn't seen any "real" NBA action since April of last season with the Knicks. I thought he did well for his first stint of the season. His shots were rusty, but that was to be expected. He played hard and made a few good plays. Imagine how good he'd be once he shakes off the rust. I'm all for Adelman giving this guy some more PT over Rafer or MJ. MJ and Francis are interchangeable. Both are quick and can create their own shots.
Say it again brother! Maybe some of the not so intuitive basketball fans can start to get the picture with this explanation!
1 game isnt enuf time for him to get him to be playing the best ball he can play.. hope RA doesnt pulll some more bullsh!t..GIVE STEVE PT!!!!
Exactly, we desperately need a penetrator when Yao is double-teamed!! Yes, we have T-Mac, but if we have two good penetrators, we can put our pressure sonsistently on the other teams without wearing T-Mac out so that T-Mac can do whatever he wants to do at critical time. We'll become a contender caliber team by then.
The good thing is if we play Steve, when T-Mac feel tired and don't want to attack the rim, we'll have another chose and give T-Mac a break.
I can imagine, Tmac and Francis running round opponents, penetrating to the rim and causing havocs, scoring, or a dish to Yao for a dunk.
I think the whole "increase his trade value" thing needs to stop. By playing Rafer, we are hurting our team and hurting his trade value.
Exactly. Just waive or buy out him or give him away for anything, like a 2nd round draft, if I were Les.
