Rafer Alston Houston Rockets Position: G Height: 6-2 Weight: 175 College : Fresno State Player file | Team stats 2006-07 Statistics PPG 12.8 RPG 4.2 APG 6.0 SPG 1.50 BPG .00 FG% .385 FT% .750 3P% .385 MPG 39.5 Mike James Minnesota Timberwolves Position: G Height: 6-2 Weight: 195 College : Duquesne Player file | Team stats 2006-07 Statistics PPG 15.2 RPG 2.8 APG 4.4 SPG 1.40 BPG .20 FG% .452 FT% .867 3P% .389 MPG 31.6 Obviously it's early and things will change over time, but so far the head to head looks (imo) to be slighty in the favor of Rafer. I have been happy so far with Rafer's play but would like to see someone step up and claim the backup pg spot to ease his minutes. Can he keep his production up and maybe improve on his shooting?...
with Yao in the team , assistant becomes easy... but anyway, Rafer's effort and contribution deserve respect. if James or Alston, I prefer Rafer.
to me, the three point shooting is the key. And in that respect, the shooting is very similar. Not to mention the assists and rebounds which are key for this team.
How about these: +/- per 100 possession James: -5.0 Alston: +34.0 Wins/Losses James 2-4 Alston 4-2 I'd take either player, but Alston has played very well this year.
Considering how many 3s Rafer is taking, I don't think it's that bad. 38.5% is also his 3pt percentage. You'd like him to go to the hole a little more, but that's not really his role in the offense unless he's wide open to the hole.
MJ has signed his last NBA contract and he will never have another season like last year. Nuff said. I'm not satisfied with Rafer but I'm glad MJ chose the T-Wolves.
It should be noted that James is getting his stats in under 32 mpg, while Rafer is playing nearly 40 mpg. James is putting up more points per minute, and doing it more efficiently than Rafer is. 2006-2007 stats (updated daily) have been posted at knickerblogger.net. Rafer's shooting is much improved. His overall scoring efficiency (TS%) so far has been decent, which is a huge steap above his horrid shooting last season. Per-minute scoring isn't very impressive, but he does pass a lot. Rafer's turnovers, however, have been horrible (15%, or more than 1 in 7 of his used possessions end in TOs). His overall individual stats still aren't very good, with a PER of 12.69. James, while not playing at his 2005-2006 level so far, has a PER of 17.41, which is pretty good. He's not sucking or playing at his "normal" crappy level after getting his contract (which isn't even that much). On the other hand, the on/off court stats suggest that Rafer's presence on the court helps his team a lot more than James does. However, Rafer's +/- is ridiculously good right now, and he won't be maintaining it for the season. In comparison, All-Stars last season had +/- per 100 possessions of around 10, or even in single digits. It's still too early to make judgements about who is going to be better this season. One or two great games (such as Rafer's near-triple-dobule in the 31 point rout against Dallas) can really throw off the stats at this point. For now, I'm happy that Rafer seems to have found his shot, although it wouild be nice if we had James as well.
What most people seem to be forgetting is that in the past 4 years in Yao's career, entry passes have been the prime topic. We've tried from Moochie Norris to Rod Strickland to Tyronn Lue to Rafer Alson. Yet, in Yao's recent dominance, Rafer's credit is rarely mentioned. If we were to compare between Rafer Alson and Mike James, it's very likely that Mike James would come up on top. However, basketball isn't a one-on-one sport. I would take Rafer's game any day over Mike's. I think we've tried about 10 guards (Mike James included) before Rafer and NONE, none of them (yes, even Tracy McGrady) can pass to Yao the way Rafer has. He's done a beautiful job. Let's enjoy our wins and don't look back. We did the right thing
Compared to Mike James... MJ All 28/62 = 45% 2-pt 21/44 = 48% 3-pt 7/18 = 39% Rafer All 25/65 = 38% 2-pt 10/26 = 38% 3-pt 15/39 = 38% MJ takes a lot more 2s ... more routine. I wonder how many of Rafer's 2's are because the clock is running down?
IMO, Tracy is a better entry passer than Rafer or Shane. How many times in 04/05 did Tracy decide Yao was going to get a basket on a given possession and seems like 95% of the time he did? Because Rafer and Shane are both excellent entry passers, we now have an abundance, unlike before. But Tracy is better than both, especially since he attracts so much attention when he has the ball. But let's get one thing clear: Yao's dominance is only partly due to better entry passing. He isn't the same player he used to be. He's a dominant scoring machine who commands the ball in every 1/2 court set.
I'm with you. I not a Rafer fan, but I appreciate what he's done this year. BUT, and that's a big BUT, his entry passing to Yao hasn't been great. A big reason why his turnovers are high (and Yao's turnovers too, many which are Rafer's fault) are because Rafer can't get the ball to Yao many times. Now many times he does it great, but other times, the pass is too hard when it should be soft, too low when it should be high, too left when it should be right. Rafer's doing fine now, but one does not need to look back any futher than the 2nd half of the Knicks game to see that NOBODY was able to get a decent entry pass into Yao when the knicks went to zone, fronting, and speed. Battier was the closest to being good at it, and that's why he's the best entry passer. This is still going to be a problem to work on for the Rockets.
