If Rafer was playing for an opposition people would be screaming about his hacking. The guy has active hands but...
Partly because according to this BBS, Rafer is a bigger albatross than GW Bush, David Carr, Tim Purpura, and Charley Casserly put together. Rafer's a good team defender (good at snatching steals from the passing lane) but doesn't lock individuals down. Mike James is the opposite - and gets his competitive juices going with the thought of making a bigger named guard look bad. Cat was the same way - he lived for going after Kobe. Evan
cept for when kobe dropped 30 on him. don't get me wrong, I loved cat, but I also remember him joking about that happening, saying he just had to avoid looking up at the scoreboard.
That's assuming the fans have the ability to discern the basketball truth about a player.... but if they could do so as well as a coach or scout why wouldn't they be in the business?
We agree on this one. For obvious reasons, neither JVG nor Adelman is going to criticize Rafer's deficiencies. It's isn't hard to figure out. JVG's public statements were as agenda-driven as any coach I've heard. Adelman doesn't want add any gasoline to Rafer's fire. It's called "coachspeak".
I'm sure the coaches agenda is something other then winning , unless your Larry Brown. People who are thinking Rafer is getting starters minutes with the first unit, so we can build up his trade value are morons. During the season the team does not practice much. Training camp and the preseason is where all the plays and system is going to be installed. You think RA is going to give those valuable starter minutes to Rafer so he can be showcased? RA is giving rafer all the minutes because he thinks Rafer is the best choice to start with Yao and Tmac, not so he can help Morey with a trade that is most likely never going to happen.
I haven't. He and Juwan were beyond awful. We put 7 bodies out there during the series but only 3 were breathing.
I don't agree with this at all. Responsibility has to be shared for the loss by the full roster, including Yao and McGrady. No one played up to the standards they set in the regular season. You said that Chuck's offense was a liability and was key to Utah's defensive approach. You know, I could say the exact same thing about Yao's defense being key to Utah's offensive approach. Do you think Chuck's lack of offense had a bigger negative impact than Yao's inability to matchup with Boozer or Okur?
what exactly did you expect yao to do when matched up against boozer? that's like asking shaq to guard shawn marion. the truth is utah causes matchup problems for everyone, because okur plays like a small forward out on the perimeter even though he's a center -- and boozer is a freaking beast. the shots he made versus us were just outrageous. ya, yao didn't play up to his abilities (hi, he was hurt)...but it definitely was not his / tracy / shane's fault we lost. at least they were able to score in all of the games, that's more than I can say for literally everyone else on the roster except alston.
yao wouldn't be able to guard any of their big men b/c their big men are versatile. that's why having scola last year would have helped. again, i blame the offense more for our loss. tmac and yao didn't play to their standards. the role players didn't even suit up.
Durr.....yeah Yao and McGrady should've combined for 90 points every game. Then we'd have had a chance!
though the responsibilities of tmac and yao were higher than boozer, but boozer was "perceived" to be the best player in that series b/c of how he played. if tmac or yao is not the best player in the series, particularly tracy, then i'm HUGELY disappointed. unless you're going against duncan or kobe, those 2 guys should DOMINATE their position with ease. i expect that this year. tmac was just vastly inconsistent last yr. yao was just in the post too damn much and too predictable. adelman will change that.
Maybe the weaknesses of Hayes and Alston's offensive game had something to do with the offensive game planning? Adelman raved about Hayes's passing skills, which were never used in previous years. Rafer is good at hitting moving targets (I'm talking about passing, not shooting ), which seldom existed in previous years.
exactly, hayes and alston were liabilities (hayes did nothing except set screens or grab off. rebounds and alston just shoot open 3s) b/c of the way JVG used them. w/ adelman, hayes will be used in the high post at times to tell his man that he's not just there to be there. u have to guard him. scola will even make it better b/c he is an actually an ofefnsive player. alston will actually move a lil bit and not just stand at the 3pt line. what people don't understand is JVG's offense is simply 2 things: either tmac create or yao down low. that's it. the rest did jack enough to put fear into the opponent. now w/ adelman, u see scola/hayes/yao in the high post, u see some plays running for battier not just in the post and so on... adelman will elevate us to another level by simply making us more creative and unpredictable on offense. our defense is not the problem, even WITHOUT JVG. we have great defensive players. we're going to be top 3-5 this year on defense too. JVG wasted a few yrs in this combo (05-06 was not his fault b/c of injuries)
