I already knew this just by watching games and by judging his decision making. For instance is he going to penetrate left with no one in the corner or right with someone on the corner because that is a big indication whether or not he forces shots or just flat out dont make the right decision or pass. A stat you should look at is his assist average vs wins and losses because that is also a key factor whether or not he is finding his team mates or forcing a bad shot instead. His shooting woes is just part of the problem vs wins and losses but assist is also crucial whether or not team mates are hitting shots initiated by his decision will tell you how consistant team mates really are and if they lack a prime time passing point guard who makes better decisions or not. I can gaurantee you that if T-Mac and Alston dont average atleast 10 assist a game combined the Rockets end up losing that game. Rockets are the only team in the NBA who have atleast 2 players average 5 or more assist.
Aren't you just saying as our pg goes... The PG handles the ball so much and takes alot of shots. If he is passing and shooting well we win. If he sucks we lose. The problem is our starting pg plays brilliant sometimes and sucks other times. He is inconsistent and literally has lost us 6-10 games this year. He has also won us almost that many as well the probelm in most of his brilliat games we would have won anyway if only he had played average. Only a handful of games we have won we actually needed his best. The other wins were blowouts and we could have handled less. SO the biggest problem is getting consistent play from him. Consistent play is what we really need and he is the anticonsistent man. What's worse is the only real consistency is he plays worse in big games. I hope he proves me wrong this year but his history in the playoffs is terrible.
Wow, your saying when we lose, Rafer's FG% is low. When we win, his FG% is high. That's amazing, but I could have told you that without looking at any stats.
Alston is averaging 3.7 assist with 35.6 minutes in losses. Alston is averaging 5.9 assist with 34.6 minutes in wins. He is averaging 2.2 more assist with 1 minute less vs wins and losses. Atleast this is what it tells me on the calculator. It showes you the longer he playes on the court the less efficient he becomes which could lead to jacking up bad shots and not making the extra pass or making bad decisions. Now i will get his shot attempts in wins vs losses.
We will not go too far in playoff if we rely on Rafer as our 2nd scoring option. Rafer's shot attempts often equal to the results of stagnated offence. He did "heat-check" himself occasionally but that hasn't come to the extent that worries me. Guys like Battier, Landry and Scola must step up big and share the scoring load from TMac. I would rather see Rafer logged more assists then shooting attempts.
In games Alston shot over 40% and dished out atleast 6 assist only 17 games out of the 48 wins. Man just imagine what Calderon would do with this team. Alston has averaged 5.9 assist in 48 wins. Alston has averaged 7.7 assist in the 17 games in which he shot over 40%. In games Alston has shot over 40% and dished out atleast 6 assist only 1 in 22 losses. Alston has averaged 3.7 assist in losses. So in the 1 loss of those 22 you can blame someone else. In the 17 games Alston shot atleast 40% and dished out atleast 6 assist Rockets have scored over 100 points only 5 times and 3 times during the streak. So his assist average is much more important to the team even more so than his shooting %.
nice stats ... not to take anything away but i think when we bash rafer he has good games and when we say he is playing well he plays like crap... so i say we keep up the rafer bashing ... he will use it as motivation
At least we have a backup point guards for Rafer unlike last year when he played more than Tracy McGrady.
Not disagreeing. But assist numbers don't tell the whole story. More assists may mean that his teammates are shooting better. It may also mean that teams aren't sagging off of him when he is shooting well. The key is still his shooting. If he shoots well, everything else opens up. When Rafer shoots well, T-Mac has more room to operate. All his teammates have more open shots. He can pass much better when that happens.
I know i said before that shooting % is only part of the problem but there is no denying that players on this team shoot much better on the recieving end of passes instead of off the dribble and any great shooter will tell you this. Here is some examples. Raja Bell shoots great why because of the kind of passes he recieves. When Quinten was in Phoenix he shot better. Before he was in Phoenix he never shot so well. When he left Phoenix his shooting declined. It seems that with every wing player that playes with Steve Nash they start shooting much better then what they did before they got there and once they left it was never the same. Grant Hill is another example of shooting much better after joining Phoenix. His 3 point shot increased dramatically and was never once known for his outside shot untill he arrived in Phoenix. Great passes in the right location makes you a better shooter. Some guys are much better catch and shoot guys like this team. Some guys are great shooters off the dribble. Very few can do both the same. The Rockets are catch and shoot guys mostly and man Calderon would be every thing this team needs from just 1 player. 1) A 3rd scorer. 2) A 2nd playmaker. 3) Elevate T-Mac's game somebody to take pressure off of him and let him focus more on scoring than creating.
Right he doesn't have to play 45 minutes a game, ands that's the key for playoffs. Bobby has been also playing on a really high level which is good.
When you think about it there is ways to land Calderon but it would be through a 2 way sign and trade deal and Bobby Jackson's expiring would be in the mix with probably Landry and Brooks but we could land him. Just think about it he does everything that Alston does when scoring the ball he attacks, shoots off the pick, and shoots off a open perimeter shot exactly how Alston scores his points. What Calderon has over Alston is better court vision, more athletic, better passer can find cutters or slashers or back door playes which Alston never does hardly. Calderon is one of the best shooters in the league he shoots like Pedja and passes like Nash. His defense is some what under rated he playes less minutes but has about the same number of steals as Alston. He would make Yao and T-Mac better players as well as those 2 a long perimeter playmaking wing and a dominate inside post would make Calderon even more lethal. They all 3 would feed off each other. Alston on the other hand is really the perfect back up probably would be the best back up in the league. imo.. Calderon is a elite point guard imo... this is only his 2nd year in the NBA and is putting up better numbers than Nash when he was in his 2nd season.
When rafer is good, he's very very good, when he's bad he is just atrocious. the problem with him has always been his consistency. I still think we should be actively seeking for an update on PG position.
Already been through this Calderon debate. For one thing, the Raptors likely don't want our spares, other than Landry. And I think Morey is high enough on Landry that he doesn't trade him, though crazier stuff have happened. For another, the consensus has been that the Raptors will likely pay Calderon the MLE or maybe slightly more, and that Calderon is likely to re-sign with them. Calderon is the next big point guard prospect outside of Paul and Deron. The chances of us landing him are small to nil.
JVG said it best when he was doing the Lakers game. Rafer had hit his first 3 pointer and JVG's comment was... "That's good for the Rockets. When Rafer's shot is on they are hard to beat." Simple, direct, and to the point. The good news now is, if Rafer isn't on, we have a second option in Bobby Jax. If Bobby Jax can fill that roll when Rafer is having a bad shooting day we can overcome that lack of offense from him and take away some of his less than productive minutes.
The raptors took Garbajosa's case to court, and his comrade calderon did not like it at all. This is why I believe he will play his last year and walk away from toronto. And as much as I love calde, I'm not sure I would give up Landry for anyone.
I agree but never say never lolz. They might want to get stronger defensively and Houston is the team to pick from for defense and want Battier and Landry S&T and Jackson and Brooks all 4 of these guys either young prospects or high trade value. and they would offer Calderon S&T and Kapono basically their best 2 shooters on the team. They still have Delfino and Brezec to resign as well. This gives them the option to trade Ford after this trade because the back court would be replaced. Or they can keep him 1 more season and go with Ford and Jackson. They would get stronger defensivly and better up front. As of right now they get out rebounded and dont play good enough defense. And no matter how well Calderon playes for them they cant seem to win anyways.
To be fair...you should only be looking at games since the team found itself (or started gelling) in early January. Perhaps you should only look at the games with out Yao. There are so many parameters that are clouding your results that I am not sure you analysis is 100% correct. I believe that there is some truthfulness to your notion. However, you may want to limit the number of games using one of the criteria above. The problem with that is that you are reducing the sample size and perhaps your results will be conclusive only up to a certain rate. Enjoy!
