......... guess someone didn't get what I meant...... let me put it plainly: You listed a whole bunch of things, an awful bunch that made sound Rafer sound like an all-star...my point was...if u list the good qualities about a decent PG, such as Chris Paul, that decent PG's pros would take an entire page to list, compared to the 3 or 4 lines you wrote about Rafer, if you were to write about such qualities of each player. in simple terms: Rafer is quite crap...no disrespect but there was a reason we were willing to dump him for a bag of chips last offseason, and nobody else even wanted to touch him...
^^^ sorry didn't want to sound like a jerk. the discussion is friendly first and foremost...just expressing my opinion...no harsh feelings
Were we willing to dump him for a bag of chips I know we fans were... but Adelman wanted the guy as his starting PG. And regardless of how many times he got drunk last off-season and how many stupid things he did: IS there a better fit for this team? As far as the Celtics go, I totally agree that Rondo can't shoot, and that he is the distributor - to Allen/Peirce (who can shoot) or Garnett (who also can shoot from 18' and in). In their offence, Rondo fits fine - more to the point, he is GREAT in their defence. In OUR OFFENCE Rondo allows his man to sag off and double team Ming every single time. I'll assume you're not versed in the intricacies of post play, but every team that has a genuine big time post scorer needs 3pt shooters. And teams that have that 'post scorer' don't need a point guard to distribute, merely to bring the ball over the half court, pass it to the wing, and get ready to shoot the 3. (totally oversimplified - but you get the idea). We just can't afford a PG who is a worse shooter than Rafer Alston. It's the one essential quality for a PG on this team.
We already had a great pg and we let him go back to greece where he led his team to a championship! http://www.euroleague.net/uleb/domestic-leagues/domestic-leagues-2007-2008/greek-league
I think Rafer is fine. He's a decent ball distributer, defender, and shooter - and he doesn't make many mistakes. We just need either Brooks or Francis to step up and be a reliable backup. I wanted the Rox to pickup Hill or Chalmers (to play backup), but that didn't happen...
Perhaps it's time to look to Europe to see if there is any "good" PGs (PG that can pass, cut and shoot the light out) around if we can't get any good ones (most of the good ones are signed up) from NBA.
I would like to point out that the last couple of teams to win a championship had no all star point guard at the time apart from Tony Parker.
There is this kid in Greece who is leading the euroleague in assists. I think his name is vassili spanilli.
I would have liked to pickup 1 of those guys too. But I really wonder how better they would be than Brooks. The PG is the hardest position for a rookie to adjust to coming in the league. Adelman said Brooks poor shooting was an anamoly. Meaning in practice and in his career he has always been an excellent shooter and an even better finisher. He showed glimpses of that for us but then he hit the rookie wall and bounced back 1000 feet. He will be improved this year. As for Rafer I have always been a hater but there is no denying he played his best basketball maybe of his carreer in 2008. And in the playoffs he made ahuge impact when he played. He was better than average and what more could you ask for. My biggest problem with him now is his minutes. I don't want to see him on the court more than 30 a game and that means we have to have a good backup. I hope Brooks can be that guy at least till the trade deadline when we may be able to steal Hinrich from Chicago.
I used to love that kid and still do .. but with the mess he had with us, I just don't see how he and us would made up (it would be a miracle for that to happen). Anyhow, that kid can't shoot very well but excellent others (pass and cut/drive) .. if we could find someone like him and can shoot .. it would be a steal of the decade
Being consistent here, I would rather get a 3rd guy like Harrington, trade Rafer for depth, play brooks and sign dooling as a backup.
The fact is, if we had this Rafer crap healthy all the way during last playoff, we could have been in the 2nd round already.....
The Miami Heat were trying to acquire him in a trade for Michael Doleac. I would say that would have been quite a steal for the Heat since Doleac would end up playing in just 24 games for the T-Wolves, and average 2.4 ppg, 2.1 rpg, and 10.7 mpg last season, all career lows. I remember this one game on December 1, 2007, in a blowout loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in which he didn't even get garbage time minutes. The line on him for that game was "DNP COACH'S DECISION".
Rafer is OK. The problem is: There are better PGs, but they are all locked up by their own teams. We can't get them to do the upgrade. I'm expecting a refreshed SF3 to be the answer to our PG problem.
Rockets need a PG with size, savvy, shooting ability and the ability to make the entry pass. We'll be able to use this guy as a backup 2 man when Shane or Tracy sits. Unlike Luther, he can get by defensively, and won't turn the ball over passing it to Yao. Also, more ball handler is better. A bigger guy who can run the point may even make Luther more useful if we cross match them and allow Luther to guard the smaller guy.
mo is a great backup for t mac and shane,mo is a SG more than a PG ,even though he can act as PG,I have long been saying that we need a shoot ,mo is the shooter i mentioned .Despite his poor defence ,mo is a worldclass guard ,a 1/2 roster who may perform poorly in a poor team while can do greatly in a great team like the rockets. i guess bjax's enpiring contract is enough to be traded for mo ,add head if necessary,mo is a potential superstar,considering he was a 03 draft,he can be as good as Hinrich ,even Wade and any guy picked that year .Mo has a similar style with our former guy ,the cat,or even better than cat.The cat was not good at assistance ,but no one accused him of that ,because we had SF3 ,and now ,SF3 is back in our team .
Alston is just fine as the backup. But as the starter he's not good enough. At this point I have totally given up on the Rockets upgrading at the starting point guard spot and making him the backup. But all the "win championships now" talk is basically nonsense when they keep refusing to upgrade the one position.
