Great move...addition by subtraction at the very least. Rafer will always be garbage. He just wasn't that good. AB should've been starting for a while now, but Rafer can't control his temper and would've become a distraction, which is one of many reasons he was dealt. We don't have to see that crappy tear drop anymore, no more bricking wide open shots, as moestavern said no more 1-12 shooting nights, and no more of Rafer getting into 1 on 1 battles with opposing pgs who are better than him. Rafer's body of poor play speaks for itself, but what really got me were the people that thought he had finally "turned the corner" when he put a few good games together every year. He was fool's gold and those that thought he was good were fools as well. Orlando will find that out soon enough as well. Both Kyle Lowry and AB are younger, better, and cheaper than Rafer. Although a weak defender, Brian Cook gives you a 4 that is deadly from 3 pt range. Lowry is a good defender and penetrator and finisher, but his outside shot is lacking. However, he doesn't settle for that all the time and drives to the basket where he can finish in traffic unlike Rafer. To top things off, the Rockets actually 300 K off of the payroll. I also get to change my signature. Now if the Rockets can only get rid of Battier and T-Mac. Goodbye Rafer. You won't be missed!
I've watched this thread for near 3 hrs and I feel a little bit better about the trade also after it all settles. Its not the worse and it's not the end of our playoff run; be optimistic. side note, a lot of contracts expire 2010 so therell be a lot of capspace and better trades. we're still a force to fudge with
Looking for a point guard who can help them shake their slump and turn them into a legitimate playoff threat, the Orlando Magic have acquired Houston Rockets point guard Rafer Alston. It's a three-way deal with the Memphis Grizzlies, as the other team sends Magic power forward Brian Cook and Grizzlies point guard Kyle Lowry to Houston, with the Grizzlies landing the Magic's 2009-2010 first-round pick. To make the salaries work, the Magic sent center Adonal Foyle and Mike Wilks to Memphis.
Im going to really miss Rafer I dont understand why so many of you guys hated him. He was decent. I know he had some bad games but he was a true PG. But Im also happy with the players we got. I belive they will help us.
One of Dwyer's comments in his article. Pretty good points, makes me feel better about the trade. ----------------------- This is just perception clouding the reality of the situation. Perception tells you that a player like Alston, who you've heard of and have seen play quite a bit, is better than another player mainly because he's older. Established. Been around the league. Perception tells you that a young point guard who you haven't seen play much needs to bide his time, work on his game, groom himself for the big stage. The reality is that the younger point guard already shoots better, finishes better, rebounds more, scores more, and defends better than the older point guard. The reality is that there is an assist difference, but one that can be completely made up for considering the talent level on the Grizz vs. better teams (Magic/Houston). The reality is that the idea that the idea of someone hitting "the big shots" makes no sense when you figure that he barely makes a quarter of his shots when the pressure is on. And I'd be worried about Alston being a designated stand-still shooter in an offense like that, when he's going to make 35 percent of his three-pointers. That's not someone you want taking a ton of three-pointers.
So a team that lives and dies by the three trades their proven, seasoned PG, which is an average three point shooter for an unproven PG that cannot shoot the three?? I'm not saying this is a horrible trade, but I'd love to know what they see in Lowry.
Maybe we have a wink wink deal with Orlando to trade Cook + fodder back to them this summer for Rafer, when Nelson comes back from his injury.
I wasn't a rafer hater but I definately thought we could upgrade at the point. The problem is that this trade doesn't make us any better at the point. If you are one of those people who wanted rafer out as the starting PG that's fine. Just give AB the start and the minutes and at least we will have a fairly reliable rafer when brooks is cold (which he has done for extended periods of time). We now have two, young, undersized, unproven point guards.
So Doc's post yesterday made sense. Rafer, who many fans wanted him out, was traded to the Magic whose jersey is BLUE.
Those of you trashing Rafer Alston's value to this team....he's getting traded to a team that's actually closer to winning the championship than we are. Obviously, someone sees him as a contender-worthy piece.
And by the way do you guys remeber what happened in last seasons playoff series? When Rafer missed two games.....If he didnt miss them I gurantee we would have won that series. But I guess we have to move on now Good luck Rafer. But im also happy with the players were getting.
Deals can be approved after the deadline as long as they were submitted to the league office before 3 p.m. -Marc Stein
Whoa....didn't we just determine that Rafer Alston plays really well without Tmac? Now we just traded him for an unproven rookie and Cook? What's up with that?
It just doesn't make sense. If we do like Lowry we could give memphis Head+first round+cash to make it (which is similar to what Memphis actually got). So it seems that we traded Alston for Brian Cook+other scrubs. Can you believe that is the best we can get out of Rafer???? There must be something behind the scene.
