No way man, did you see that lob to Hot Sauce last night???!!! Hot Sauce does play for the Rockets, right?
the guy is not that bad, he' needs to be surrounded by good players, we have ****, so i don't really blame him. He's not supposed to be one of your primary offensive threats; he's just not good enough to be. Though put some other guys out there that will attract attention (ming & t-mac) and he'll do better. The rockets need a PF with defensive prowess plus a dead-eye shooter. If they can accomplish those two feats this offseason, the team shall be all right for next year.
That's where I am. But it is disturbing to see him play the way he has for the last month or so. He seems to have even lost his instinct for getting Yao the ball. I'm still willing to give Rafer a shot next year with a healthy roster with guys he's somewhat familiar with. But in our offense having a pg who can stick the open j may be as important as our glaring needs at the 2 & 4 given the way Rafer's played. If that's the case we are probably screwed for the next two years. The odds of replacing 3 starters in a year with 2 max players signed are long and tall. We may not love Rafer, but right now we need him to be at least average. Desperately.
Beyond just his performance, his age also has to be concern. How many players with his profile, historically, have held up well into their 30s? He's not a great shooter, he hasn't been particularly durable, he's not strong, and he relies on his quickness to achieve what meager success he's had. Honestly, can anyone actually see him improving after this season?
Yes, he can't shoot or defend very well. How many times do we have to go over this. He is primarily a back-up player. If the Rocket's think he is their future starting PG they are just plain stupid, period. He is obviously not starting material. Sometimes I wonder if we have "professionals" in charge of this team. Do they have to get hit with space junk before the glaringly obvious sinks in? Good grief!
Alston is not a pass first, playmaker, Point Guard. He could be quite suitable as a back up. He needs serious counceling about his focus on the team game.
Well, according to wikipedia, Rafer Alston suffers from ADHD. I haven't heard anyone talking about this. Is it a joke? I mean if it's truly the case, I think we have a problem in Houston. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_Deficit_Hyperactivity_Disorder
And over his last 4 games, he's averaging 33.5 ppg, 7 apg, 5.8 rpg. He's shooting 54% from the field, 58% from the 3-point land (with an average of 4.5 made per game over the stretch) and 81% from the free throw line. I can hear the Alston apologists right now .... "Yeah, but how many of those games has Toronto won?"
I havent read through this thread so im not sure if this has been mentioned, but to me the problem with Alston wont be with his attitude. I think his attitude towards winning and playing hard in just fine and wont be a problem on this team, and although i realize its hard to make any kind of judgement on Alston until we see him play with Yao and Tmac over a stretch of games, i can clearly see that if he doesnt become more of a consistent shooter and a better and more able and willing post passer, that his time with this franchise will not be very lengthy.
getting Alston was a very bad trade... now I am not attacking Alston and saying the guy sucks, but he doesn't fit at all in our system.. RAfer needs a running style, kinda like Steve Nash's Suns (now I am not saying they are similar, heck no they r not even close) but Alston is a good ball handler who can run the break and finish strong to the basket or make the right pass ..that's the exact opposite of what we need,.. I've seen him running the break but nobody runs with him ,he runs to the 3 point line then stops, and passes to somebody else.. that's why we should've kept James,, James could shoot pretty well and fits in the team perfectly.. remember when we got him last season, the first game he played with us he was throwing ally-oops to T'mac and shooting the three like crazy... so please, trade Alston next season for a good shooting PG, Alston is not bad but Houston is not his right place for sure...
Alston wasn't brought in to replace James he was brought in to do the things that neither Steve Francis nor James could do ...... Be the pass first playmaker Point Guard. Although he has respectable numbers for assists, he isn't the player we need to be our starting Point Guard. While Yao Ming has been the main go to man on the court, Alston's inability to pass to Yao has been exposed.
Well, this has turned into a "Mike James vs. Alston" thread, but what I really wanted to hear from everyone was whether they thought his play on the court in the last few games was indicative of a quitter, or if he seemed to be deliberately losing games, which, in my book, would mean there's no place for him here. I liked James, but I don't think he fit here so well, as there's only so many shots that can go around. Sure, with all our injuries, he'd have been better here, as we've had everyone out, and James could have gotten his shots without detriment to our true weapons amount of touches. That's all nice hind sight, but I think this isn't the point. I am aware of, and even in agreement with, the assessments made here of his skills, issues, and even up side, but I was more concerned with his commitment and professionalism, in light of the last couple of weeks... mainly the last couple of games. Any input regarding that would be nice.
it says he is autistic. "Is currently the only active autistic player in the NBA." I didn't know that. Like that kid, J-Mac. Interesting.
Considering that James is shooting 47% taking nearly 20 shots a game, it's quite possible that with fewer shots in Houston he could have shot over 50%. Alston, on the other hand, is struggling to get over 40%. With McGrady healthy, we didn't really need another full time ball-handler. Just someone who could make the simple pass to the open man or score off of Tracy and Yao's double teams. James would have been more effective in that role.
I am not actually worried about his shooting percentage. When t-mac and yao are on the court, he doesn't have to shoot. So how bad he is really dosn't play an important role. But I noticed his turnover numbers have been going high. This may because he is not focusing as much as before or is just tanking for us since anyway winning or losing doesn't really matter. Or he tried to put on too much on his shoulder. when he can play with t-mac and yao, he has shown how good he could be(7-10 assists, very high ASSIT/TURNOVER ratio, not bad FGP etc). I will be glad to see him next season playing with our duo.
I don't question his attitude just his shot in particular his 3 point shot. He is trying to take up some of the offensive slack caused by TMac being out so if he taking more shots its understandable. I was not a fan of his or the trade but for a brief stretch this season you could see why we traded for the guy, we are going to have to wait next year to judge this trade.
