It's pretty sad when one of your PG is the one having the most trouble figuring out your new offense. Steve just seems completely unable to make an impact on a game in a positive way unless he has the ball in his hands for half of the shot clock.
um, we traded for Mike James first. Francis was the last guy to sign with us. Bonzi, James, and Alston are so much more important to this team than Francis right now. Add Head in there as well. We didn't want to sign Francis, he signed with us. it was a high reward/low risk situation.
Adelman is trying to force Francis to become what he isn't-- a shooter and a cutter without the ball. Adelman isn't letting Francis play his game. Francis is most effective with ball in his hands. Francis was TMac back in Houston. Francis will leave the team soon and no longer hate Adelman for his lies.
Hilarious. During the Kobe for T-Mac trade hysteria, some people were actually suggesting that Steve was a better fit for the Rockets than T-Mac. That we should never have even traded for McGrady. Plain nuts.
i honestly hope youre being sarcastic. cutting and shooting are the most fundamental things in basketball. if a player cant do that, then that's their problem and noone else's. i supposed we should let t-mac play his game and jack up 40 footers, or let mike james play his game and shoot whenever he has the ball. like t-mac said, players have to SACRIFICE their games.
I thought Steve looked worn, most of the game last night. I think the phrase I used to my wife was "Steve looks OLD."
actually, that's completely wrong. the rocket's starting five was at or near #1 in the NBA last year in team plus minus. translation: the rockets had the most effective starting five in the NBA when you combine offense and defense. it was the bench that let the team down. I'm happy to see the same guys back in the starting lineup. i'm even more happy to see a decent, versatile bench behind them.
I guess I'll go on somewhat of a Rafer rant, as he seems to be such a topic of concern on these forums. I think Rafer Alston is an extremely talented basketball player. I think this point is recognized by both players and coaches alike, especially in practice. I think that most everyone that plays alongside Rafer realizes how much of a natural he really is. I think that most of us who play basketball realize how incredibly graceful he is with the ball. However, I think that Rafer is a very emotional player who wears his heart on his sleeve. He seems to constantly look for approval from the coach and his teammates after every play. If players don't praise him after he makes a shot, he appears to doubt himself. This is most likely due to his roots in streetball. And all of this leads to inconsistency. I also feel that most of the hate for Rafer stems from a strong love for Rafer. I believe that most Rocket fans truly want Rafer to do something great or exciting everytime he gets the ball. And because of this, his shortcomings (not statistics) become very exaggerated. I truly believe that Rafer was meant to win a championship in the NBA. The fact is that he is going to be the starting point guard for the Rockets because he deserves to be. Alston has a tremendous amount of potential yet to be seen. So let's extract all of that potential by giving him love and expecting the most from him. We needed point guards, we got point guards. We have a great team this year!!!
I am going to 100% agree with you. All that stat junkies around here are going to run to 82games and tell you how wrong you are and how valuable Hayes, Battier and Alston were. Of course, they'll totally ignore the playoffs section of 82games. They are also going to tell you how great this trio is looking now...while they totally ignore the low level of the competiton. I said it before Adelman was hired and I'll say it again...if any 2 of 3 of Hayes, Battier and Alston is a starter, it's another 1st round exit. Once the competition becomes for real instead for evaluation, Alston, James and Francis will all be back to square 1. Personnally, I take the unpopular view that eventually James and Scola start and Wells is first off the bench.
Amused at the hostility and anger when people begin to realize that Adelman prefer essentially the same guys Van Gundy did last year. Rooting for a early playoff exit if Adelman doesn't play your preferred lineup is pathetic. The problem wasn't the starters, even in the playoffs. The problem was the fact that there isn't an realisitic change of pace option coming in once the spread the floor and make TMac/Yao attack game plan failed to produce. Luther came in and he's just another spot-up shooter. Juwan came in and he can shoot the midrange jumper but neither he nor Chuck could exploit Boozer's shortcomings on defense. This is where the offseason moves come in... if Plan A with the starters dont' work in a particular situation, the Rockets have a realistic Plan B to go to with more iso/Dribble penetration guys around. Some of you don't understand this doesn't mean Plan A should be scrapped.
What if I looked at the numbers specifically when they faced strong 5-man units? I can do that, if you're interested (using the data at basketballvalue.com). Or do you prefer we just focus on a hanful of games against Utah at the end? You think that's a better indicator of what works than a season's worth of information against a variety of strong opponents? That's not an unpopular view at all. It's unlikely to be the case at the start of the season, but midway that's a very real possibility considering we'll probably continue to look for trade offers for Rafer. And do also you think Bonzi will be playing more minutes than Battier by the time the playoffs come?
MJ has one good games as a PG and people are suddenly thinking he could be starting over Rafer. I like MJ and think he's going to contribute tons to this team this season. But face it, he's no Bibby or Kidd. The guy needs to get his shots in order to feel comfortable whereas Rafer is fine with just passing the ball. The problem with Rafer is that he has trouble guarding the quick ones and that's where James comes in. On most nights, Rafer will be fine in the line up. But on the occasion, when James is needed, he's gonna step on big for us. Let's not forget, this is a job for Rafer to lose.
Did anyone else see the return of the Teardrop last night? Amid the giant lovefest surrounding the Rockets this year, it was like I was blindsided by a backhand slap to the face. Nooooooooooooooooooo! Adelman will do well to implant an electrode in Rafer's brain, shocking him everytime he even BEGINS to think about going for the Teardrop. Beyond that, I'm all for Rafer starting, and I do think we can win the championship with this starting five. Once we start outscoring people in the regular season the way we've been outscoring them in the first quarters of the preseason games, everyone else in the country will be hyping Rafer up too.
So would you say if we had Mike James and Bonzi Wells coming off the bench instead of Luther Head and Juwan Howard against Utah in last year's playoffs we still would have lost?
i have to disagree with u. i dont think rafer is constantly looking for approval, and i dont think he doubts himself. if anything he's very thick skinned and he has no conscience. just look at how many shots he jacks up. he doesnt care if he misses. thats what i love though even when he misses. he just goes out there and plays.
In my opinion, whether the starters are Hayes and Alston or Scola and James is relatively unimportant. What is important is that if Alston and Hayes start we no longer have to rely on them to play so many minutes. We also aren't stuck with them playing when they're having off games. That being the case, I really don't care who starts so long as we're winning games. And with the depth and level of talent we have this year, I expect to see our Rockets win a whole lot of games. That's really all that matters. And oh yeah, if Alston and Hayes start, it's because they beat out their competition for the starting spots. With the competition being as stiff as it is this year, that can be nothing but good for us.
