What you fail to mention is that the entire Lakers team could of cared less if rafer was left roaming free outside the paint that game. That his man sagged and made things increasingly difficult for TMac and Yao. Add Chucks man leaving him roam around outside also and it was a tragedy. Rafer has ZERO ability to hit the open shot, as attested by the fact that he is the worst shooter in the NBA over the last 27 years. Plus he can not drive the lane and dish assists, or breakdown his matchup. He is absolutely worthless on the offensive side. Plus his defense sucks. If Mike James and Bonzi wells didn't come in at that very moment, this Rockets team very well could of lost that game due to the limited crappy ability of Rafer Alston.
Who would have thought through 3 games that the assist-turnover ratio rankings would be: 1. Luther Head 2. Mike James 3. Tracy McGrady 4. Rafer Alston So far it looks like the Rockets now have a legitimate third scoring option with Mike James, and it's long, long overdue. No more watching 7-8 threes hoisted a night from Rafer in 44 minutes of excruciating action trying to fill that role. Those days are over.
Amen. I'm still baffled as to why Rafer Alston plays so many minutes for this basketball team. I can't grasp the concept. What in the world is going on.
Let's be reasonable. Tonight Rafer shot OK, took care of the ball and had some assists. Plus, he only played 24 minutes. What was wrong with that?
I totally agree that James is filling a role off the bench that we sorely missed last year though. Now if we can just get Battier shooting straight. Battier is shooting 7-22 so far which is actually worse than Rafer's 8-21. James is 13-30 in comparison. Assist to turn over wise, numbers so far are: Head 2.7 assists to .3 turn overs in 8 minutes James 3.3 assists to 1 turn over in 24.7 minutes Tmac 4.7 assists to 2 turn overs in 39.3 minutes Alston 5 assists to 2.3 turn overs in 25.7 minutes All 4 of them are doing well so far, though Head doesn't really get enough minutes to compare. Alston is 4th in assist to turn over by a slight margin so far, but is leading the team in assists per game. Really 3 games is an insignificant sample size to even matter stat wise. Shooting wise I don't expect Rafer to be as bad, nor James as good as they have started off. Expect Rafer's 3 pt % to increase from his pathetic 18% 2-11 start, up to around his career average of 35.7%, and likewise expect James to go down from his 75% 6-8 start back to around his career average of 38.4%.
Opps posted wrong number for Battier, he is actually 9-26 for 34.6%, compared to Alston's 8-21 for 38% and James at 13-30 for 43.33%
I actually feel a bit vindicated. I defended Rafer a lot last year and would often urge people to look at his positives while realizing that scoring is only one of many aspects to the game of basketball. He is at the very least competent at everything else. As a former PG and current coach, I can easily see the virtues to Rafer Alston's game. I would be the first to acknowledge that his shooting leaves a lot to be desired, but outside of that, he is still a good starter for us in my opinion when stacked next to what we have on the roster. People would vilify JVG for playing him over V-Span and JL3 of all people, but now we have legitimate options at the position and in spite of that, Adelman has still elected to play him and give him a significant role. I think that speaks volumes. Two very well respected, professional, head basketball coaches with two completely different offensive systems and philosophies think that Rafer Alston deserves minutes and I respect their opinions. Maybe because I agree with them, but that is neither here nor there, lol. I am glad that I no longer have to hear about Rafer only being JVG's boyfriend and all of that nonsense. Your ideal point guard would actually not be any of these guys but some sort of mix between them, but unfortunately that isn't what we have and if we did, that player would be an Allstar. What we do have is guys who are completely different players, that ironically, have strengths in the exact areas that the others have weaknesses. Be happy, last year we didn't have that. I'll admit that I have hated on James in the past about his weakness at this or that and his shot selection, but there is no denying that so far, he has brought an element to the team that has been lacking for the past 2 years...a viable 3rd scorer, a 2nd option at PG when Rafer struggles, and more toughness.
So are you going to start a thread about how James shot the ball last night and how many assist he dished out in 20+ minutes, and ask "What is a James Lover to do?" Are the so-called Haters Lovers going to do this after every game about such and such player's performance?
No. But I will point out that there were basically zero of James shots last night that consisted of him dribbling the clock down by himself, or that didn't come after he was set up by somebody else - most of the anti-James crowd informed us that this was all he ever did. Regardles of how it happned though it was not a good performance. Anyway are you going to start a thread about Alston? Bostjan Nachbar? Luther Head? When James wins games for us it's gravy - when he doesn't show up - that's why he doesn't make $15 million. Thanks for bumping the thread - are you "going to do this after every game about such and such player's performance?"
The clown clock is on and the circus cars have entered the building. Sam Fisher is the ringmaster while Mike James, Rafer Alston, Snyder, Francis and Aaron Brooks enter the midgit car for the short drive to center ring. This is the famous Fisher Circus Basketball league. Played in a travelling circuses instead of the other famous league being played in barns. The rules are simple. In this league, if you are a guard, you have to put the ball in the hands of your primary shooter beyond the three point arc. In this case "Mike James". The object of this game is to get other basketball players to be pylons while getting the ball into your special shooter. If you bounce a ball off a pylon and somehow get it back to James so he can shoot a 2, then you have are playing fine circus ball. The other way to score in this league is to send it to your front court players aka Yao/Hayes/Scola for the shot within 5 feet of the bucket.
True. In my opinion, James should be held to the same standard as Rafer as far as shooting the ball goes and the last couple of games he has been bad. He has to take his share of the blame, just as I would give it to Rafer. What will set the two apart will be percentages, and we'll see how they play out. Everyone will have bad nights -- Yao and T-Mac included -- but their overall effectiveness will play out in the stats. If Mike James shoots 37% for the year, he's no better for us than Rafer, but I don't believe that will be the case. Also, if it didn't dawn on them before, it's becoming apparent now to Rafer fans how often Skip takes a back seat to McGrady in creating on this team. Rafer runs a fast break very well (assuming he doesn't try to finish it), but in the halfcourt, how often do you see Rafer take his man, drive to the hoop and set up a teammate? Most of his assists come from passes around the perimeter or telegraphed dishes to T-Mac coming off picks for jumpers. He's better at it than Mike James, but by much? It's just not cutting edge point guard stuff. It's important to point out that if Rafer plays heavy minutes like last year, he'd still be taking 12-14 shots a night, every night, in this system. James was fantastic in the first two games, and I believe his worth to the team will show even more as the season progresses. Assuming of course they can catch perfect passes all alone under the basket without falling to the floor in a heap.
they need to spend an entire practice just dumping the ball down low to yao until he learns how to hold on to the damn ball without: 1. getting it stripped 2. falling to the floor
