At the top of Lenovo [with Yao back it didn't take long]

If you look at the top individual it's:

Spoiler

Rafer Alston +37 points!

 

it's really surprising

 

I'm not that surprised. He's the caretaker of our offense. Maybe he can't shoot, but he makes the team go. And, he essentially doesn't have a back-up.

 

Stats don't lie.

 

I'd just like to point out that Rafer at number 1 is for yesterday only (against the Sixers).

Dirk is number 1 for the year with T-Mac AND RAFER tied for 13th. Still not bad.

link for year leader

 

This is why I think Rafer does so well in the +/- stat versus the other starters.

 

Yes, Rafer does so well because he is playing alongside Yao, McGrady, Battier, and Hayes for most of those minutes. If you take out Rafer and insert Head, with that unit, Head's numbers would be even better because he is a better shooter.

 

Again, who your backup is doesn't affect +/-. It does affect +/- differential. All the +/- says is that the Rockets have out-scored their opponents by a cummulative 359 points this season with Rafer Alston on the floor.

It's worth pointing out that Battier is 18th and Chuck Hayes is 21st in cummulative +/-.

 

I don't think Luther would be better than Rafer at all. He can't handle the ball or run the offense yet, but I still love him! I love our team!

 

And how often do you think Rafer runs the offense when McGrady is in there?????? Unless you think handing the ball off to McGrady at center court is running the offense.

 

Err ... this is completely wrong. If you've been paying attention you'd know that the Rockets offense runs much more smoothly with Rafer at the Point, even with T-Mac in the game. Even with T-Mac in the game, Luther Head at the point still does most of the work of bringing the ball up, calling the play and then getting the ball to T-Mac (who is usually coming off a screen to get into shooting position). There's no way Luther could match Rafer's +/- at the point, ever. There's a lot more to basketball than shooting. I think you're confusing "how much the team outscores their opponents by" with "individual field goal percentage".

 

It depends. Sometimes when Tracy is passive, Rafer does indeed run the offense. When Tracy is aggressive, Rafer turns into a jumpshooter.

Hopefully in the playoffs, Tracy will rarely be passive.

 

Soon Yao will be able to remove the brace

Soon Yao's finger will have healed

Soon Yao will have shaken off the cobwebs from his broken leg



It's gonna be a helluva finish for the Rockets over the next few weeks.

 

Better check with Mark Twain

 

Exactly. He plays almost all the minutes and he has no back-up - so the essentially gets more Lenovo benefit than anybody on the team.

 

I agree! for those who wanna trade him lets get MJ who can score but cant pass and make players better!!

 

I included the words "versus the other starters". Alston's +/- is better than Battier's, but Battier's stats take hits when the Rockets aren't playing a PG. Alston's stats are worse with Battier off the court, but they don't take as big a hit.

 

Tell the truth, you don't wath the games, do you?

 

Yeah it does. It affects it a lot - that is why there are adjusted +/- ratings taht try to control for this.

Yes becasue w/the exception of Hayes they also log tons of minutes. I haven't even looked at the lsit but I guarantee you the Suns top 6 players, who put in 30 mpg + each, are up there in the top 20.