No one is saying Mike James is "that good" I'm just saying he is a better fit for our system than Raefer. One on One Raefer is a better ball handler, better decision maker, and better defender. But he CANT SHOOT.
If someone on our team is as open as raefer was at times he d*mn well BETTER shoot unless he's Chuck Hayes or Deke
So our defense wasn't an issue? Uhhhhhhhhhhhh, ok. I wasn't wrong about anything. Rafer did well this year. The Rockets would not have had the equal success with James as Alston. James doesn't know how to run a team. He doesn't defend. He doesn't pass and can't involve teammates. He's a good scorer and percentage shooter. That's it. Nothing more. Hell, even McGrady mentioned the need for a more athletic PF yet said nothing about Alston except that no PG deserves to play 45 minutes a game. But, hey, I guess the almighty Clutch knows more than TMac, right? Even when TMac said we need a backup PG (which I agree with wholeheartedly) and is fine with Rafer. Even when the damn head coach, who has a past of being hard and critical of players, supports Rafer 100%. So, let me get this straight, JVG and TMac are cool with Rafer, but Clutchfans isn't. Hmmm. Atleast we can prove Rafer's a quality PG (and yes, 13 ppg, 6 apg, 4 rpg, and almost 2 steals per game is quality) for this team with this year's numbers. For James, you have to go back 2 years ago to 04-05 to prove he's worth anything.
The Knicks are indeed paying about $50 million for point guards...but there has been talk of them buying out several players...and other than Rose...it didn't happen...how'd that work out for them? Isiah is an idiot, so sure anything is possible....the Knicks did get $50 million to roll off their $140 Million payroll... What is the logic in paying a guy $33.5 million NOT to play for you? Steve is signed for 2 more years....not one. Even if Steve got cut and paid...why would he re-sign with Houston...where the team, the fans (and most of the people on this board) ran him out of town as the scapegoat for everything bad that happened pre-TMac. Why would a guy that had a $16.5 million dollar contract sign for a MLE? if you are so insistant on bringing back a former Rocket PG...why not Sam Cassell? He's a better shooter...has championship experience...and the Clippers want to play Livingston as the starter. sorry to pop your bubble...you wanna borrow the rock to hide under?
He spoke to CD in the last off-season (around the time of the whiteboard incident) about wanting to come back.
my first isntinct isto say you were wrong about lots. I remember you took offense w/clutch's article that started this debate & lookin' back it was a bullseye. http://www.clutchfans.net/news/1348/hard_look_rafer_alston/ http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=116039 [/url]
I don't know if this has already been posted or not, but I thought our franchise center himself said it best: Or may be Clutch bribed him...
Who said anything about the defense? YOU said offense didn't cost the Rockets the series. The Rockets score 10 points less per game and see a large drop in FG% and 3-point%, and in your typical assclown fashion, you tell us we're all smoking dope. Why? Because you love Rafer, and his offense could never, ever, never, ever hurt us. Never mind that when point blank asked why they lost the series, Yao said "offense". Never mind that Yao said flat out if the Rockets had Mike James they would have won the series (how much more blunt can you get?). Never mind that Tracy McGrady says the Rockets need someone to take time from Rafer -- and here you are spinning this against me? LOL ... what, was Mr. Magic +/- tired, or does T-Mac know exactly what we know: You have to mask Rafer's weaknesses. I guess as you would say the "almighty Rockets111 knows more than Yao and T-Mac combined". Obviously, because here you are, with balls of steel, telling us you "weren't wrong about anything". I agree... you weren't wrong about anything... except of course about Rafer's great 05-06 season, Rafer not backup-caliber, the Rockets not depending on Rafer's shooting, Rafer being the 5th option, Rafer not being a featured scorer, Rafer shooting no more than 3 threes a game, Rafer averaging 9 assists with Yao/T-Mac healthy, Rafer in no way needing to see a reduction of minutes, Rafer not possibly hurting us in the playoffs and anything whatsoever to do with Mike James or the Rockets interest in him (Dear God, remember when you said <a href="http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?p=2372409#post2372409">Keith Bogans would make Mike James unnecessary?</a>). Anyone with access to search can see it -- you smacked of cluelessness on this topic from Day 1 because you had irrational love for Rafer and irrational hate for Mike James. It was pure Homerville for you from the start. You couldn't see what Rafer's role was or how James would have helped. You were busted over and over again in false statements. I <A href="http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?p=2662506&highlight=clear#post2662506">told it to you then</a>, and it's more true than ever: You never had any idea what you were talking about.
Clutch, cant you just ban all the Rafer and JVG lovers for a while so we can take our frustrations out and not have to worry about arguements back and so we can move on in harmony????
Can't handle the truth, eh? Don't worry. You've got plenty of company around here...Looks like I'm going to have to lower my already low expectations for the upcoming season. it's just as well, the shock of this organization actually getting something right would be too much for my heart to take.
ESPN.com just reported that the Rockets and Timberwolves have agreed to swap Mike James and Juwan Howard. You can all quit b****ing now.
It's obvious where the rockets are headed in the draft now... power forward. I'm sure I'm gonna catch some **** for this, but please don't take glen davis. He sucks.
LOL. As much as I thought Luther was pure money in the regular season, I think that sums up his playoff series. That's funny, man...
There a few issues I have with this. First, the Knicks do have incentive to buy out Francis. I'm not saying that they will, but to say that there is no logic behind it isn't really true. They Knicks are in trouble and are desperatley looking to improve, however their exorbitant payroll makes that difficult. Francis is still a more than decent player, but there's no team in the leauge who will take him on with the kind of contract he has. He has fallen out of favor with Isiah and is just taking up space. If the Knicks want to improve their roster and avoid paying the luxury tax, Francis is the most logical choice to get rid of - and the only way to get rid of him is to buy him out. So there is a logic behind it - again, I'm not saying that it'll happen, but I won't be shocked if it does. Second, you say we should go after Cassel, but lets be real honest about that. I'll always have a soft spot for Sammy, but he is truly done. He had a great season the season before last, but last season he was pretty much injured the entire time. You may say, well so was Francis. And sure, you'd be correct. But if you look at Steve's numbers when he came back - they were still pretty good, you can't really say the same thing about Sam. Third, if Cassel is servicable for one more year, the Clippers do have reason to hold on to him. Yes, Livingston is the guy they WANT to be a starter. But you forget, he had a major injury last year. If that injury doesn't end his career, it will, at the minimum based on all the reports, keep him out all next year. So the argument that the Clippers will shop Cassel because they have Livingston doesn't really fly. Francis is still a possibility - and even though we'll end up with MJ, I wouldn't mind having Stevie here too.
End the end it wasn't about a single trade kicker to MJ. It was the trade kicker policy. It's not about one player.
And the rockets policy is crystal clear: we won't give trade kickers, we'll just pay you more money instead down the road - and we'll let Rafer shoot his heart out and drag us into an untenable position to prove how hard nosed we are before caving. It's like the Rockets chose the worst of all possible routes to achieve their goal honestly I'd like to see somebody game theory out the rox' decision tree.
