I noticed the past few games that Rafer has been more aggressive at attacking the rim. I used to cringe whenever he attempts a layup..or any shot attempt for that matter, but lately, he has been making those layups. I don't remember Rafer ever being this aggressive at attacking the basket. Has he been working on his teardrops lately? Anyways, one thing that does bother me is that he doesn't use the backboard enough.
I am officially a Rafer h8er, with that said, he's been nothing but awesome the last couple of games. Very few regrettable turnovers, but all in all, a good player.
his ball handling is great! if he only made a few more three's accurately, then we'd be in excellent shape!
This is a cleverly disguised T-Mac bashing thread Yea i notice the difference too On one of the final possessions Rafer passed up a semi-contested 3-pointer, stepped inside for about 3 feet, and drilled the wide-open mid-range jumper. This is exactly what we were asking for from Rafer: Play smart, dont force the action, attack the basket at the appropriate time.
I was wanting Rafer to take it to the basket late in the game bu instead they went with Yao which wasn't a bad choice either.
A few games back, Bullard mentioned that Rafe had been working very hard with Dean Cooper on finishing around the rim. Whatever drills Coop has him doing, keep doing them.
Rafer and Shane play big minutes, despite everything said on this board and despite their respective shortcomings, because they're the smartest and most team-minded guys on the court, period. That includes learning a new offense. They don't change their physical shortcomings (inaccurate shooting, inability to take people off the dribble), but they do change their roles, to the extent they can, as the system requires.
Rafer's really picked it up with Tmac out. 18, 22 and 18 points over the last 3 games on ~50% shooting. It's been really good to see him drive all the way to the rim. I don't expect him to play this well indefinitely, but I do hope he can continue to attack the basket the rest of the season. His outside shooting is always likely to be streaky, but the penetrating drives all the way to the hoop are something that he has not done in the past outside of his occasional wild floater (which he has been hitting lately surprisingly). His play has been a major reason the offense has looked better even with Tmac out.
He's been playing so well, I had to pick him up on my fantasy team. I hope this isn't some hot streak and he'll continue this for the rest of the season. He's even been making those stupid teardrops!!
His uniform, I hope. Seriously though, I don't feel as much angst at Rafer. He was the obvious flaw of a team that was supposed to be shooting for a title last year -- one variable in a stable system that could have been easily improved. This year the whole equation has gone down the crapper. New coach, new system, new players. There are problems all over the place and even the star foundation is shaky. Rafer is far from the biggest issue right now. That said, his finishing ability has made a quantum leap forward... last year he shot 38-39% inside the arc (staggering)... this year it's close to 49%. HUGE jump.
I've always said that Rafer is the best penetrator on the Rockets. Seriously, this guy can get past damn near any perimeter defender and do so almost whenever he wants. But then comes his big problem: Finishing in the lane. So, why can't he make layups? It's not like he's undersized for a PG. It's not like he doesn't have quick enough hands. What I've begun to notice is that once he gets to a point where he's surrounded by bigs and no amount of ball handling skills will bail him out, he clams up. It's not just the awkward layups and teardrops...I've seen quite a few plays where the normally steady set-up man Alston freaks out down low and throws some ridiculous passes to (nowhere near) the first teammate he sees. Basically, he doesn't believe in himself when it comes time to making plays in the paint...he ALWAYS thinks twice. So, to tie this all in to the original topic, I'm speculating that he got the green light from coaches and teammates to be the featured penetrator in McGrady's absence. Perhaps now that his peers are placing their confidence in his penetration, he has shed that mustard seed (peach pit?) of doubt.
It isn't just his shooting in general that has improved these last few games, but rather the number of times he takes it all the way to the hoop for a lay up rather than settle for the tear drop or the spot up 3. And when he does take the tear drop it has often been much closer to the basket than in the past. His jump shooting I expect to remain streaky, but his penetrating and finishing can do alot to raise his over all field goal % and to create shots for other people.
The big thing I have noticed is that they are letting him run pick and rolls finally. Get Rafer into the lane to try to create or take it all the way to the rack. I'm not sure why we haven't used him like this before. We only rely on him to set up the "play" but I don't understand why can't be the playmaker like he was last night. Let Rafer make a decision off of the pick and roll. Either kick it back to Yao, take it to the basket for a layup, or dish it to one of the cutters around the basket.
Well the main problem in the past has been that no one seemed to care if Rafer got open on a pick and roll because he isn't a great shooter and up til recently his most frequent shot in the paint was a wild floater. On top of that the conventional wisdom has been why run a pick and roll with Rafer and Yao when you can run the pick and roll with Tmac and Yao instead.
that's because alston can't shoot anymore. what he got left is take it into the hoop. same can be said of tmac, which he got no "taken into the hoops mentally left", he can only shoot jumpers.
If anyone cares to look at the numbers in this thread http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=140261 they show that Rafer is definitely one of our top performers. The team has a winning record when he plays, 0-3 when he's out. He helps our offense, helps our defense, is OK taking shots at the end of the shot clock. He also tends to shoot rather too quickly and (we all know) is not hitting his three point shots. Other PG's in the league might be better than Rafer, but he is a top-five performer on our roster.
Which unfortunately is more an indictment of the lack of production on our roster than great play by Rafer outside of the last few games.
Rafer's had a nice past few weeks even, as far as shooting percentage. He's finally playing in the regular season like he does in the preseason. Given Rafer's improvement and his age, you'd suppose it gives hope for Mike James and Francis and all the other under-performing Rocket vets. How is Rafer (and players over 30 on other teams) still able to maximize his talent but those guys aren't?
