TOTALLY AGREE! I was at the game last night, lucky to have a gal and a guy rox fan sitting behind us. But, Rafer and JVG lost the game for us. No doubt. The whole stapels center was booing laker until Rafer kept turning the ball over and Kobe got hot! It was a great game until Rafer got choked!
You are so right!! You know more about who needs to play then our NBA coach who obviously does not know the team. Its not like he sees them play everyday.
true, his leveno numbers are pretty good...but all that proves is that the team plays well while he's on the court, not that HE IS THE REASON or a CONTRIBUTOR to that good play. being flanked by two superstars (mac and yao) and two super hustle/role players (chuckie and Shane) means that his weaknesses are covered for in a lot of ways on both sides of the court. Any average to mediocre PG who takes care of the ball reletively well and bangs the occasional open 3 would produce a similar plus/minus ratio. His ratio is still good, despite his crappy shooting (37 percent from the field, 68.5 percent from the foul line, and an actually not too terrible 36 percent from 3) and the fact that he takes the 3rd most shots on the team (262, 68 more then 4th place Luther Head and almost 100 more than shane battier). Rafer shoots too much, has no midrange game, and can't finish particularly well (hence the miserable shooting). What I'm getting at here is that if we replaced rafer with a more efficient offensive player, then that plus/minus leveno stat for the starting lineup would get even better. we could have a SCARILY efficient first unit if rafer wasn't sucking the life out of our offense by shooting too many bad shots. Our options to replace him: VSPAN--span is a worse shooter then rafer, so unless JVG gives him the tony parker/baron davis treatment (tells him to stop jacking threes and drive the lane) he wouldnt help that much. he still has too many turnovers too. JLIII--didn't we bring him here for shooting? in limited PT he's shown range, ability to finish/hit the floaters that rafer can't. He was Big 12 player of the year (4th in the conferences history in scoring, 3rd in threes made), and a Wooden All-American. He also lead the Rox summer team in scoring (23.4 points, second in the vegas leauge) and assists (7.6--FIRST in the leauge) He's a coaches son, a 4 year college player, and he's been a floor leader at every previous level of the game. He'd listen to JVG and run a disciplined offense without jacking too many bad shots. AND, he's from Houston (Bellaire HS anyone?). only problem is he's a little bit of a midget...which only means he plays with a chip on his shoulder. If a bandwagon exists, i'm jumping on it. if not, let it begin here: JOHN LUCAS III FOR POINT GUARD.
I'm with you. When Rafer is struggling so bad, that he is having trouble beating the 8 sec count across halfcourt, it is time to try something else. JLIII and VSpan should have been tried.
The sonics don't give a sh*t about defense, so might as well as let Rafer hone his offensive instincts there. Rafer + 2nd rounder for Watson. Kelly called Watson the best defensive PG in the NBA. He's a little pricey, but statistically is a good 3pt shooter and passer.
exactly what i was thinking but who do we send to Seattle ? he makes 5M$ this season, our TE is 4.2M$ right ?
he's doing that sometimes, but his teardrop shots looks like teardrops from hell! its not falling for some reasons
did he really say this...I actually think they would form a great duo...Iverson can find a seam in any defense. If they collapse on him he'd find Yao everytime.
I'd like Watson on the team but he's a fantasy trade for the Rockets. Besides Padgett there isn't anyone the Sonics are interested in. Even then they're not going to essentially trade Watson for Padgett. http://test.denverpost.com/sports/ci_4851505 Maybe MJ fans will get their wish... Sura+Lucas for Mike James.
Between Boston, Denver and Boston, we could also go for Delonte West from Boston. I wish we could get a piece of that Iverson trade and get rid of Sura.
Kelly, I'm not sure if you wrote this for affect, but you do know this is not true, right? Yao gets a reentry pretty much every time he asks for it.
Or... "He's special. He's a gift from God." -- Allen Iverson, 76ers guard " http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/news/2003/01/13/talking_trash/
*yawn* Been saying this since Rafer Alston trade. He melts faster than Swiss Cheese in a furnace when the pressure turns on. Last night was just a regular season game but gave a small taste of how disastrous Rafer Alston can be in crunch time. His IQ drops faster than you can say W-A-F-E-R. Wait till playoffs roll around and he is faced with this kind of tension every game from the opening tip. He is a disaster waiting to happen. Dont keep hiding JeopardE, Dandotirik, and the rest of blind Rafer lovers. Unless of course you are digging an early grave for yourselves before the playoffs.... What does JVG do when Rafer keeps making boneheaded mistakes? He claps his hand like a maniac in a desperate plea. *laugh*
V-Span was 1/10 in the final game against Greek in the FIBA championships. That's the winner you're talking about? Face it guys, the Rockets have more PGs on their roster than any team and not a single one outside of Alston is even worthy of playing back-up. V-Span and JL III are embarassing to have on our court. Alston has his negatives, but he is easily the best we've got. I agree with Van Gundier in that with T-Mac out, Rafer seems to think he is the #1 option and makes mistakes, especially when the team is in a bad situation. He only had 2 turnovers for the first 42 minutes of that game, and made a couple of bad fouls/turn overs once we lost the lead -- mainly in overtime. Nonetheless, he distributed the ball well, shot decently enough, and was in complete control for the majority of the game. I don't think I could say that about any of our other PGs for longer than a 1 minute interval.
For those who want Francis back, let me remind you of his game: dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble jacks up off-balance 3
