The only other thing I'll say is this because I think its a good trade for the Rockets and I don't want to seem like I don't. Just because a player caused problems on a bad team, doesn't excuse the fact he caused problems. I understand losing is hard but there are plenty of players who keep their cool. It may have been a losing team, but the element to his personality is still there, no matter what brought it out.
Yeah I'm the dude who started the thread questioning the Stro signing, but I'm all for Skip. Simply put...Skip has numbers...he's done it and the numbers bear it out. On the other hand Stro's all about potential and what he MIGHT do. The Rox needed a point guard and this guy was as good as any out there. Screw his attitude...we're not looking for choir boys. This was just what the Rox needed
I that is what I'm hoping and fear. I love Yao, but his hands are below average. Not as bad as Cato's, but I do see Yao TOing more because he can't handle the pass or wasn't ready or looking or etc.
Call me out? Read my post again. I don't think he has an attitude problem and I didn't say he did. That's why I asked the question because people keep bringing up his attitude as a concern. The only problem I heard of was from last year and I'm not going to hold that against him.
If that element of his personality only comes out when he's playing on a bad team, then it really shouldn't affect the Rockets. As long as Yao and Mcgrady are here, we're going to be a +50 win team every year. And if we're a +50 win team, everybody will be happy, including Alston.
This is a huge assumption. It could be that Alston is a problem character and winning (by itself) will not make him happy. We will see.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...93064&t=TS_Home Regrets, Alston's had a few, but he's playing hard DAVE FESCHUK Near the end of Rafer Alston's jabber session with the media yesterday, wherein he'd been recounting the excellent season he'd had last year, the Raptors point guard reminded folks, just for emphasis, that he was coming off an excellent season. After he cited career-high numbers in points and assists and minutes, the Raptors point guard was asked if statistics tell everything one needs to know about a point guard. The implied answer was, "Heck no!" Steve Nash, to wit, wasn't voted the NBA's most valuable player last season because of any particular statistic, although all of his numbers — save for field goals attempted — dwarfed Alston's. Nash won the award because the Phoenix Suns led the league in wins and he, in turn, led them. But Alston, whose tumultuous debut as a starting point guard led to 59 losses and countless hassles for coach Sam Mitchell, enjoys self-incrimination as much as he prefers pat answers. "You've got to come hang out with me, spend nights with me, if you want to know more about me as a person," he said. "I have a three-bedroom. You're more than welcome to move in, take a load off. You won't have to worry about your expenses. I know some great restaurants around here. I don't know if you've been to 'em — we can go there." We'd heard of TV-sports hotties finding their way into the three-bedrooms of certain athletes, but this — an NBA hothead offering shelter and three squares to the dishevelled, ink-stained wretch — had to be a first. Considering Alston's questioner is currently living in what an NBA eye would consider squalor, what with the leaks and the cracks and the family of raccoons recently evicted from their noisy residence in the chimney, only a fool wouldn't have indulged in the wondrous possibilities. Club-Hopping and Fur-Shopping With Rafer sounds like a dead-easy mid-December column in a season that's going to be dead by mid-December, as does Posse Members I Have Run Into On the Way to the Bathroom. Alas, though training camp begins today at Brock University in St. Catharines, the franchise's getting-worse storyline was prophesied by the general manager last month. So the tone of the discourse at the Air Canada Centre yesterday was best described as faux-optimistic. Matt Bonner, the freckled-face goody-goody, uttered the words "Eighty-two and oh," and even he couldn't help but crack up at the notion. Nobody else made more than a passing reference to a shot at the playoffs. And in a season where little substance is expected, style was a talking point. Chris Bosh's mini-Afro got much attention, as did the fruit of Rafael Araujo's summer — a new tattoo on the upper back and a dozen or so pounds off the upper body, surely because he laid off the supplements. As always, it was advisable to tune into the cryptic wisdom of Jalen Rose, who said, at the climax of one soliloquy: "Being in a losing situation doesn't make you a loser." Still, you've got to be a serious scrooge to quash all hope so early. Even Alston, for all his team-disrupting faults, was offering evidence that he might finally, at age 29, be getting a clue. He talked of spending some of the off-season with his son and daughter, "trying to be a better dad." He revealed his sadist's streak, admitting to re-watching all 82 of the club's games in a session of self-imposed summer school. He claimed he'd spent considerable effort repairing his relationship with Mitchell, with whom he infamously and unproductively quarrelled. The law of averages suggests Raptor fans, after enduring a predictable downward spiral, are due for a pleasant surprise. A clear-headed Alston, the shocker of a young century, would qualify, not to mention delight. "Regret?" Alston said. "I just regret getting into situations. Because it's unlike me. I'm a guy who just loves to leave it on the floor, have a jolly old time playing basketball ... That's the great thing that everyone understands about me — I'm going to play hard no matter what."
It's a good thread. I simply don't believe chemistry is going to be a problem on this team, but of course that's just an opinion. CD and even JVG have limited control over team chemistry. We have a unique team insofar as T-Mac's only learning how to be a leader and Yao actually might only believe he's the 4th best guy on the team. The chemistry from last year had more to do with T-Mac's reticence and Yao's humility as the blend of personalities that actually forged it. I'll take Sura, Wesley, Dik, JHo, Barry & Bowen 's influence over our superstars' and well beyond the reach of CD and even JVG. JVG is right that this group is an oddity in today's NBA: They all know they could be gone tomorrow have to defer to two all-stars and yet they love this team. And much of that group knows more about leadership than T-Mac or Yao can be expected to, given their careers up until this point. Locker room cancers are usually overrated, but in this case I firmly believe a guy that doesn't fit here will be gone. Period, and probably before JVG or CD makes that call. And yes, I've seen the Toronto fans giggling their butts off about this trade elsewhere but if Alston is a problem here then he will end up somewhere probably as bad as Toronto. He's now a pg on a high-profile team that has had sub-standard pg play seemingly forever. I calculate the odds and think Alston is going to be a choir boy here. Either that or get punched out a few times.
When I thought it was a proposal, I gave it a thumbs down. But his passing would allow us to average mid-nineties (desperately hoping here)... They're taking a big risk, but VG has managed bigger head cases than this one. Alston has a role, and if he plays his cards right, he can get a Derrick Fisher-like contract when his 5 years are up.
Um, we already averaged in the mid-nineties last year (95.1 to be exact). With Skip and Swift aboard, I don't think there's any doubt that we average at least 100 ppg. If everybody clicks right away then there's no reason we couldn't average 105-110 ppg. Seriously.
Whoa there, big fella. Let's not get carried away now. Don't forget that this is a JVG team. 100-105 ppg at the very best. We won't even have enough possessions to get to 110. We're a half-court team because of Yao and that's a good thing. High-tempo offenses are not conducive to good defense. Right now we're one of the best defenses in the league. I wouldn't give that up for a few more ppg.
I like declan's take. While I think Alston has a good chance to flourish here, I am still cautious because of the chemistry risk. You can't coach chemistry. Players control chemistry. The irony is that MJ was shipped out probably because of chemistry problem. Alston's game might be what we want. But nobody (including CD and JVG) can predict for sure how it will go in term of his impact to team chemistry. If it doesn't work out, we'll have to ship him out again, and might not get equal value back. Those of us who have reservation about this trade are concerned because we gave up James to get Alston. James has value. (On the record, James was one of my leasts favorite players last year.) We want to get value back. But after seeing him pulling out several great deals this summer, I have faith in CD. So even if we do need to unload Skip, we still have hope that we can get something nice back.
You can be a good defense and still score a lot of points. You'll give up more points because there will be more possessions, but as long as your opp fg% stays about the same then your defense is just as good. And this "JVG slow it down offense" concept is so overblown. There were a number times that we scored over 110 last year. And that was with the Howard/Padge/Spoon three headed monster at PF. Now for every single minute that Swift is on the floor (either PF or at C) we will have at least 4 guys that can run the floor. According to CD, and a bunch of posts from Toronto fans on other boards, Skip pushes the ball up the court every single time he gets it. T-mac and Swift can run and finish with the best of them, Wesley is a solid finisher, and Barry is an excellent shooter and passer in transition. Call me crazy but I envision this Rockets team as the Showtime Lakers II. Skip plays the Magic role (obviously Skip isn't going to have the vision or creativity of Magic, but at least he can really push the ball and pass). Wesley or Barry (or possibly Anderson for that matter) will handle the Byron Scott role as a finisher or shooter on the break. Yao will be Kareem, the trailer. And here's the kicker, we have TWO Worthys in Swift and T-mac. JVG will be like the reverse Riley, going from slow it down offense early in his career to wide-open offense late. Yeah, I know that I'm getting way, Way, WAY ahead of myself. But I just have such a good feeling about this team.
My main concern is Skip's D. You know JVG is tough on D, so his offense wont offset his D in JVG's system. Other than that, things such as potential locker room trouble, less effective in the half court etc, I am not too worried about those. Becuase it's not like he has to carry the offesive load. We just need a good ball handler that can bring the ball up and can knock down open shots. Skip is all that. The plus is he can run the break, so offensively he address our PG needs.As far as chemistry, we have 14 other solid guys with good reps, and two super stars that are really humble, he is not going to stir things up. He's just not on the ranking level in the locker room that can cause troubles.
