Sadly, Rafer has probably outplayed Mike James so far. What's the point in trading him? Lets hope Francis can come back strong.
This is what I've been saying all along. How are the Rockets supposed to compete against the list above when Rafer is the starting PG. If you can't trade Rafer, bench his ass and make sure he never sees the court.
I don't normally support trade threads after a loss, especially since I didn't watch this game, but I really don't like Rafer. That b*stard should stay on the streets.. he doesn't belong in an NBA starting lineup nor a 2nd string. Unfortunately this is our only problem. I don't think we can get anyone good for him. I have faith in Morey, but I think this is something out of his hands. I don't think the organization is willing to just dump him for nothing.
That's what I would like to know. That is what I had said all along last summer. I was surprised the Miami Heat were interested in acquiring him in a trade for Michael Doleac. To me, it was like what would Pat Riley want with him? I think that Rafer has done well enough to make such a trade like that one look lopsided since Doleac hasn't done diddley squat in a T-Wolves uniform. He has played just three games and hasn't scored a point so far this season. In the T-Wolves' blowout loss to the Grizzlies last night, Doleac still wasn't put in the game for the garbage-time minutes you would think that an end-of-bench player would get.
It's not just a PG problem. You can not garantee that someone else will play better with this team now. Look at Battier, James or Wells. They all missed their shots more often than their career average. We know they can definitely do it much better. There's obviously some problem with this whole team. Not everyone knows his role now or what he can do in this system. After some more games, everyone feels comfortable with this system/coach and displays his full strength, then let's discuss if we need any upgrades. Basically, with two all stars in the team, you can not expect we can trade for another all star caliber PG and get an immediate help.
Please stop playing Rafer Alston!!!! It tears me up when he's out on the court getting schooled or bricking shot after shots! The thing I hate the most is when he screws everything up in the 4th quarter. It seems like that has been something I tune in the rockets game. I don't think any team has any interest in Rafer Alston, because we couldn't get him traded during the summer for anything. Playing Rafer will not increase his value but only make the rockets lose. Rafer's a big problem but I also think that our team has more problems like slow. Yao ming is slow, Chuck Hayes is ok, Battier is ok, T-mac is slow, and Rafer is an average speed. Then besides that, we don't really have a very talented shooter to nail down the 3's. I can't think of any good 3 point players on this team besides Novak who will never play. I think Rick Adleman is making a mistake by benching Steve Francis. Francis may slow the flow of the game a little bit but that outweighs all the easy open shots that Rafer Alston misses. His tear drop doesn't even go in!!!!! We shouldn't even call it the tear drop no more because the ball doesn't go in.
When I am watching Laker games on television, I always sit there and think: "Why didn't Houston have the treatment Fisher was looking for?" He would be the PERFECT fit for this team. He has experience playing with two stars like Yao and Mac, hits his jumpers, controls the ball, and runs the offense.... Dreams...dreams..dreams...
Rafer would be a perfect fit on a team with enough offense and defense to cover his lack of it and needs a backup point to handle the ball well and get the team in the offense when the starting PG is out. There are plenty of teams like that, however, none of them will take his contract nor give us anything good in return. He could even start for Boston, they wouldn't mind a PG to set up the offense. Losing Rondo won't hurt them much, or at all, but what will Rondo do for us? BTW I don't think, as a coach, you can't bench Rafer. You can't bench a guy for trying as hard as he can. Granted he's just not that good of a player, you can't deny he tries hard is not scared to take the shot. I just think it's not fair to bench him, either trade him where he is useable and let the other coach deal with it, or play him reduced minutes. It's not like we have Billups, CP3, Williams, Nash, or Davis behind Alston to play. SF3 and Mike James aren't that good that you should bench a guy who's trying ass off to play. SF3 might be (and for sure was in his prime), but Adelman is still hesitant on playing him. And Aaron Brooks is a rookie. Sometimes, it's not about the on-court production. It's about setting a precedent that will carry on. I don't think you would bench Juwan Howard (mediocre player trying his ass off. A professional.) for a way-below-par Chris Webber (ex. star, just a role player now). I am not sure if Steve is still in the doghouse, I doubt he is, but Rafer doesn't deserve to be benched. Cut his minutes? Sure. Trade him? Sure, if you can get something or if someone will take him. Bench him? Wrong.
