I agree with the article. With T-mac out it allows Rafer to be more of a PG vs being a spot shooter. The offense runs through T-mac when he's in the game, so Rafer becomes more of a shooting guard.
Eerily similar from previous (last season) blogs. The truth is, Rafer at his best (what we're seeing) is fine and can be a big part of a championship hunt. Unfortunately, these stretches don't last. He fades back to averaging 12 and 5 and sub-40% shooting, though with a great A/T ratio. His playoff numbers have been crummy, and the intangibles weren't apparent either. Kenny's averages may have been similar, but his shooting was far superior* and was consistent. Career Playoffs: Kenny: 46% FG, 45% 3s Rafer: 35% FG, 31% 3s I hate the level of Rafer bashing on the BBS, and the way it gets so overboard. But there's no defending his unreliability as a scorer. When he's riding a nice streak like he is this month, super. But he was shooting 36% the first two months of the year. He was ringing up around 45% last year during the 22 streak, but then crashed back to earth shooting 35% to finish the season. There is no reason to feel confident that we're seeing a new Rafer that's here to stay. Evan
Finally somebody who sees we DO NOT need a damn all-star at every position to win it all. If we have everybody healthy in the playoffs, and we're still trying to blame Alston if we don't make a deep run, then we have more serious problems to be concerned with. Yao, T-Mac, and Artest all healthy with our bench should be plenty to bring us championship.
Sure, it's fine and dandy when he's making his shots. But when he's not, Rafer is shooting more every game than Yao Ming and missing 70% of his wide open looks.
Comparing Rafer to Kenny Smith is a disgrace to Kenny Smith and all old school Rockets fans. Kenny Smith >>>>> Rafer Alston
True, but that doesn't have anything to do with averaging 21 ppg. He's hot right now - that's pretty much it.
Come on man, Kenny Smith was not that much better than Rafer Alston. Like the article states, I believe that Rafer is better when T-mac is out. This is because he is forced to be aggressive instead of just waiting on the three point line for the shot. In this current offense he is being the point guard, but when T-mac is in he is basically the shooting guard (which is not the position he can be productive in).
which is going to get u further in the playoffs: an aggressive rafer or an aggressive tmac? k. smith is that much better than rafer....the shooting percentages alone is enough to prove that point.
One has two championship rings, got second in the slam dunk contest, and the rocket's all time best 3 pt shooter. The other was in an And 1 video and is a career 39 percent shooter. You deserve an tinman type beating for such blasphemy.
last year Rafer had a similar run and we all enjoyed a great photoshop thread about him bricking later on. It is always up and down with Rafer he is not consistent. it seems like every time he is about to lose his job, he plays better. last year with Francis and James and this year with Brooks when he was playing out of his mind.
How many of you would like Adelman to just bench Rafer for the rest of the season? Raise your hands. If not, then please kindly stop complaining. Yes, Rafer sucks at shooting. But everytime he's injured or suspended the rockets show how weak they are at the 1 without him. Were you all happy when he went down last year in the playoffs against Utah? Do you all still think Vspan, Mike James, Francis, and Brooks should start over him? I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather have Rafer on the court than in street clothes. I'm the #1 Rafer hater. I want him gone. But he's shut me up by outplaying all the guys the rockets have brought in to replace him. It's clear that we can't just bring in any guy with a higher FG% and expect him to outplay Rafer. He's not holding some young buck back and he doesn't have a bad attitude. Either come up with a realistic way to replace him or shut up. We've said it all before already.
He shoots better when he just brings the ball straight down, straight up. It is when he gets that And1 hitch going to the left side when the balls start flying off to the right. hopefully he keeps it going when the others get back.
This is what I've always said about rager v brooks. With tracy in the lineup, its takes away from rafer's strong point and highlights his weakness. His strong points are decision making and pushing the tempo while tracy's strong point is decision making in half court. When Rafer and Tracy are together, its highlights the negative in alston game. That's why I've said that brooks fit better with tracy than alston does. We know alston is on a hot streak now, but when he can cut loose a little, he better than being a spot up shooter. When they traded for him and signed swift, it was thinking they could uptempo more and get more easy baskets, but since tracy and shane doesn't run and yao doesn't either, its hard to run.
