Whoever is banging Rafer Alston

I don't know who is, but I will if he keeps this up.

 

I don't understand this at all. Virtually after every defensive stop last year, JVG was on the sidelines urging Rafer to push the ball for early offense. And I don't remember him ever discouraging Rafer from shooting the ball. In fact, he said many times that Rafer shouldn't worry about make or miss and that he would make the adjustment as a coach if he saw fit. I remember him encouraging Rafer to try to get to the basket more, actually.

For example:

[rquoter]

In Alston's corner

After fielding a few questions about the progress of Vassilis Spanoulis and John Lucas III on Monday, Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy gave a strong endorsement to his starting point guard., Rafer Alston.

"This has always puzzled me. When you lose Yao (Ming) and you go 5-2, I'm not looking after losing an overtime game to blow somebody up," Van Gundy said. "I know that may be shocking, but we're not looking at major changes to our rotation. We're not. Rafer is our point guard. If anyone has a problem with that and wants to see it changed, it ain't going to happen."

Alston missed his last 11 shots Sunday before going 2-for-14 on Monday. He is 25-for-97 over his last six games.

"You can't tell him, `You're shooting well,' because he hasn't," Van Gundy said.

"The only way you generate confidence from a shooting standpoint is to make. I think he's going to his floater a little too much.

"I think he can take it all the way to the basket. Even on those misses, he draws bigs and (creates) second-shot opportunities."
[/rquoter]

DD, you really don't need to turn every positive this season into a knock on last year's coaching. It's like you're trying to frame everything into how Adelman is better than Van Gundy. The truth is they are both very good coaches with more similarities and mutual admiration than you are ready to admit.

 

Any chance of that unmitigated compliment coming anytime soon?

 

Do you think Rafer is more successful going to the hole right now because Yao's big body is out of the way and he has more room to operate?

 

Yao's only been gone three games. Rafer's been doing this the whole streak.

 

Rafer is clearly perfect fit for high motion offense.

Loves to distribute the ball and to shoots, we're lucky he has been consistent lately and that is a big part of this streak.

You see know how Rockets are lucky that they didn't trade him for who?


Doleac?

 

The whole team is playing out of their minds. Has anyone else been really impressed by Luther Head recently? He's playing like somebody lit a fire underneath him.

 

You can send your thank you letter to Kenny Atchison, player development coach who is in his 1sy year with the team.

 

I have this feeling just based on watching player fundamentals this year that the Adelman team of coaches is doing something in instructing the players that wasn't being done last year. JVG may only have taught D.

Keep it up guys!!!

 

Durvasa,

I am not talking about the freedom to run, I am talking about Rafer being the guy who initiates the offense.

In the last few years, Rafer brought the ball up and handed it off to Tmac...and then was a spot up shooter...that was the offense....at least primarily.

This year, Rafer is waving off Tmac and setting and calling the plays himself.

It is a MAJOR difference in how they play the game......it is NOT a knock on JVG at all....he did what he thought was right.

Personally, I would NEVER have given Rafer the freedom Adelman has, but Adelman did, and he ended up being right.....there is nothing wrong with complimenting him on a job well done.

DD

 

I think the Bonzi trade helped his confidence. He knows he's gonna get consistent minutes now(Bobby Jackson will take Brooks' minutes more than Luther's). And with Yao out, Luther knows he can be more agressive trying to score.

 

4 the real...He's amazing right now...making good decisions, but even better, making his shots...

 

I saw Rafer at the club, Thursday night before the Memphis game. I told him not to get drunk. Then one of his boys said he was watching him, but if he gets drunk, he usually plays better the following night...

 

The argument that Rafer got no chances under the old regime or was afraid of being replaced is one of the sillier ones in the annals of the BBS - especially coming from people that used to throw temper tantrums that Rafer played too much and how coaches (including the current one) had TOO much faith in Rafer.

I was no supporter of Rafer earlier this season based on past performance but he has exceeded my expectations vastly - I'm not arrogant/dumb enough to try to turn that argument into something favorable to my earlier (mistaken) view that Rafer wouldn't get any better

 

I'll just say I was one of the few people who were smart enough to pick up Rafer Alston off waivers at the beginning of the year when the Rockets' amazing run started, before everyone knew that they were going to go on a ridiculous 20-4 tear. Rafer's game actually started to show improvement long before that and his FG% had been steadily rising.

That move, as well as grabbing Calderon earlier when TJ Ford first went down ... those two moves are the biggest reasons why I'm sitting comfortably on top of my H2H league right now. Rafer these days is good for 15-18 points, 7 assists, 4 or 5 rebounds, a couple of treys, a steal, maybe even a block, decent FG% and excellent 3 point shooting percentage, and very few turnovers.

 

Good for Rafer for playing better than his old timid self.

but he is still the weakest link of the team even he had done his best.

The judgement should be given in the playoffs or soon, vs. good teams. let's see.

 

yea hes playing great fo sho.

 

And Dean Cooper. And by extension Rudy and Jim Boylen.

Cooper has been with the team for 8+ years. He pretty much ran the summer league team with Thibodeaux.

To say Adelman is the reason is somewhat unfair to Rafer. He's clearly driving better and finishing better. He says, indeed, in that article that the acquisitions of James and Francis drove him to improve. He's been working hard on his game with Cooper and Atkinson since camp.

A drive is a drive. Finishing is not a function of Adelman; it's all on Rafer. Give him credit for improving. I agree this system gives Rafer more opportunities, but Rafer was poor at finishing under several coaches/systems throughout his nba career, not just JVG's system.

 

The thread title reminds me of a cleaner version of this: warning NSFW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnVJZkDuVBM

and in response

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGa29kPBbp4

 

20-4 tear?

I think it's actually a 24-3 tear.