Apples and oranges. Rafer's value to the Raptors was basically nill and was not going to get better. It's like the Rockets trading Bonzi Wells for anything (much less a PG shooting 47% with a contract that expires in a year), only after signing him to a 6-year deal. Don't take my word for it... read the <a href="http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=102446">Toronto papers after the deal</a>.
In retrospect, Rox Management should have offered the Bucks the 8th pick for T.J ford and should have found another way to acquire battier Now that would have been impressive...O.K,let me wake up now.
You answered it yourself- bench marking Rafer against other options on the team as it stands- is a like an Ostrich diving under the sand to hide! This whole stuff about "loving" and "hating" is getting a little too old!
You're pretty hardcore, man. Rafer Alston is a very flawed player, and I'd love to see an upgrade at the PG position, but his two strengths are that he is a good three-point shooter and an effective ball-handler. Are you trying to say he jacks up too many three-pointers? I think that's a hard point to argue when he shoots 38% and only takes open shots. Are you trying to say he doesn't have enough assists? 5.4 isn't a terribly flashy number, but it's a lot better than the point guards that played alongside Pippen in his prime. When you are playing with an effective point forward, you're not going to average 10 a game. But Rafer has been successful in setting up the offense and distributing the ball.
I sincerely hope that we pick up Acie Law in the draft by trading future First round picks. This guy is good. ( Remeber how Utah picked up Deron!)
He's trying to say that the fact that Alston shoots more 3s than dishes assists is an indicator that he has more of a scorers role on this team than a distributors. Since Alston's 3 pt FG% is slightly above average while his overall FG % is dead last in the league, he is a horrible fit for the scorer role.
I think it's the exact opposite - he's the perfect fit for this team. Would we like a player that can drive and all that? Sure. But look at the PG history of this team for the past 10 years or so. Post Smith-Cassell, we desperately needed a point guard that could shoot wide open 3's. We went as far as signing Matt Maloney to a long-term contract and drafting Bryce Drew because that's all we asked. Of course, the defense sucked and they didn't really bring all that much else to the table. Then we had Francis. Our complaints there were that he wasn't all that bright, didn't manage the team well, turned the ball over a lot, and got torched on the defensive end. He was a superstar, but the questions were always whether he could really win consistently. Post-Francis (for one year), we had Sura. He was a great fit, but couldn't stay healthy. If he could, he'd have been a nice fit. Now, we finally have a point guard who manages the team extremely well, handles the ball well, doesn't get torched defensively (much credit to JVG's system here), stays healthy, and can shoot that open 3 that you get when you have two superstars on the team. Can he drive well? No. But you're not going to find a guy who can shoot inside and outside, manage the ball, play defense, and make smart decisions unless you find yourself a superstar. Of all the things we can live without, the inside scoring is the easiest to sacrifice. I'd say Alston is a perfect fit for this team when healthy. When Yao or Tracy are hurt, he's forced to be more of an offensive playmaker, and that's not him. But when they are healthy, he just needs to be able to hit open 3 pters and manage the offense. That's exactly what he does. Is he great? No. Is he good for what the Rockets need? I think so. I think people take for granted all the things that frustrated us about the Rockets PG situation for nearly a decade before Alston.
t-mac, shane, juwon, and i think snyder is 6 foot 6. i guess he means at center, but still....if they want us to pay for ESPN insider....i expect a little more.
Clutch leads the Rafer sucks riot around here, haven't heard much from him in a week or so...the one mention of Rafer was a back handed compliment...imagine that. Guess he couldn't stand that someone would actually claim getting Rafer was a good deal for the Rockets, stupid people. I'd love to see what kinda PG we woulda got with our MLE had we not made the trade and MJ left town to get his shots.
My question to Clutch is who would have a cheaper or equal cost and be better than Rafer? It was asked earlier in this thread but received a response, while revealing, which didn't particularly address that particular question. My other question is how is Mike James doing these days - but I already know the answer to that one. Best Regards, Brock
corby -- For many I'm just repeating myself by replying to you here, but here it goes. I'm not saying that Rafer is shooting more threes than he's supposed to, nor am I saying that he's dishing too few assists. It's basically what TTRocket is saying. The signature is a simple factual statement that exposes all those who thought Rafer would be the unselfish-fifth option-supreme playmaker of this team. That was the debate before the season started and some who didn't understand Rafer's role took issue with this article that I wrote 8 months ago: http://www.clutchfans.net/news/1348/hard_look_rafer_alston/ ... and this was the response thread to it (though there are many such Rafer debate threads): http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=116039 Some people just never understood what the point guard's role around a playmaker like McGrady was. Most have pretty much changed their tune, but there are still people today who think Rafer doesn't need to shoot well. My point is, and always has been, that "Rafer the playmaker", "Rafer the defender" or "Rafer the good chemistry guy" is not enough, in this offense, to overcome "Rafer the piss poor shooter". I agree though that Rafer's three-point shooting has improved. I never saw him capable of putting two games in a row like he did recently (7-10 from the floor and 9-14). After watching Rafer's clunker last year (mind you Rafer's fans wouldn't even admit then that 32-33% three-point shooting from Rafer would hurt us), I would have jumped on the chance that he would do 37% this season. So those who said he wasn't likely to improve in this area, such as myself, deserve their lumps. Still, I don't think anyone wanted to see his 2-point percentage drop as much as his threes increased. And I've watched him enough to know he's viciously up and down (mostly down). His shooting percentage is poor... from three pretty decent. Not unreal, but above average. Overall I just don't have any confidence in him when he has to put the ball in the basket, and I don't think his "strengths" make up for it. I think he is going to hurt us in the postseason, but I'm not more interested in "being right" about Rafer than I am the Rockets winning a title. We'll see -- the playoffs will be a great proving ground for him and maybe he'll get me to change my opinion on him. Odd, since you're replying in a thread where I have 4 replies. Disappointed I haven't sent you a Hallmark?
