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Storm on those rare occasions, he should play more minutes...but when he goes into his Acme mode, he needs to sit. DD
Less Rafer=Less wins. It's a proven fact that Rafer was part of the best starting 5 last year (and yes, an important part) and if we can use the same argument for Scola starting (when I really think Landry should be given a run...) i.e the starting lineup of the Rockets this year has run off an impressive +- differential and an impressive W-L record... Well yeah. Btw, I'm trying to find the charts to prove it (it'd help if someone could, since these are pretty obscure stats), but throughout the year the best defense played by the Rockets (calculated in PER AGAINST) has been at the PG position and the SF position (no coincidence that the two players occupying those spots are Battier...and Rafer.). Rafer has always been known as a good to great team defender. ...Just keep in mind that not EVERYTHING is based on FG% in the NBA, otherwise Jason Kidd would not have a job.
Last year and earlier this year, yes, but now that Bjax and AB are in the rotation we are better able to weather the loss of Rafer. Rafer is important, my point is that both he and Tmac are ball stoppers.... And when AB or Bjax come in there is a lot more ball movement.... DD
Uh? Think that might be subjective... I dunno. If anything I think Bobby is more of a ball stopper...Brooks is the best distributor out of the three (imo), but putting a rookie PG into the starting lineup of what amounts to be a Western Conference powerhouse...eh. Rafer's very underrated by this board, is all I'm saying.
I did not say start Brooks, I am saying when Rafer is struggling with his shot, put in Brooks or Bjax.... Yes, Bjax looks for his own shot, but also is a very good passer.....if Luther ever learned how to play, he should be watching Bjax. I don't think Rafer is underestimated at all, he is an average PG....who is good on D, and great as a dribbler and below average as a shooter, passer and finisher.... He would be an excellent backup PG..... DD
if you think they're ball stoppers, bjax is more of a ballstopper. right now, he's hitting his shots. but he rarely passes. he's more of a scorer when he's playing.
Mmm...might have misinterpreted your point. My bad then. But yes, I do agree with you actually on most of this post. It just kinda sickens me when people say Rafer is trash, Rafer sucks...Rafer has been an important part of what promises to be a 55+ win club in the West. So I may have overreached a bit. With that said, I think Rafer is more then adequate as starting Rockets PG, unless Morey can somehow pull the deal of the century and land a Chris Paul/Steve Nash type in Houston.
steve nash is not that good in a half-court system. he would not fit with yao or tmac, who are half-court players. did you see him with dirk and finley in dallas?
2000-01 DAL 15.6 PPG (48.7% FG/40.6% 3FG/89.5% FT)/7.3 APG 2001-02 DAL 17.9 PPG (48.3% FG/45.5% 3FG/88.7% FT)/7.7 APG 2002-03 DAL 17.7 PPG (46.5% FG/41.3% 3FG/90.9% FT)/7.3 APG 2003-04 DAL 14.5 PPG (47% FG/40.5% 3FG/91.6% FT)/8.8 APG Man, mark my words, I would KILL for the "Dallas Steve Nash" on the Rockets if we didn't give up Yao or Mac. Seriously. That would be beyond sick.
LOL every time rafer had 1 bad game, or aaron brooks has one good game, people always think rafer needs to go......sure he's not as consistent as you want but if he was then he'd be freaking one of the best PG's in the league since you guys only like him when he's running the offense well, hitting lots of 3's and playing great D and grabs board which he does great for a PG. brooks and bjax both shoot worse from 3 than rafer........based on turnovers per minute, they're both worse than rafer as well and they only shoot slighlty better in FG's in general.......it's just that when the rest of the team hits shots like they did yesterday, the PG that happens to play that day just looks good.
I'm sorry but this is ridiculous. I'm expecting Francis to surprise us but you are just unrealistic. 1) Francis has averaged 7 assists ONE TIME in his career. That one time was coupled with 38 minutes and IIRC a league-leading 4 TO's per game. Rafer Alston has NEVER averaged 7 assists per game. However, he has never averaged over 2.5 TO's a game. Judging a player's passing starts with assist to turnover RATIO. Then you put that up against team assists and number of possesions. Then you can look at total assists and total turnovers average. Steve Francis is not HALF the passer than Alston has been his entire career. 2) Steve Francis has been in the 43-45% (although you said 44-45%) range 5 times out of 10 seasons. That is hardly consistent. Consistently means he's been AROUND (above and under) that number for almost his entire career. I'm not saying Rafer is better here, but you claimed that Francis has been something that he's is NOT - around 44-45% consistently for his entire career. 3) Francis and Alston have both earned plaudits for being underrated defensively in the last 5 seasons of their careers. I'm not sure any is better than the other. However, you are right in that Francis is the better offensive player. That is because he's better at going to the line, is physically stronger (to finish) and has a quicker first step than Skip. This is all compounded by his much better FT%. As for being a better overall player, he's 3 times the rebounder Alston is. He can't be as easily posted up. I expect to see Francis coming here next season, penetrating a lot, followed by kickouts or FT attempts. He's also got good experience getting the ball to Yao. He'll bring heart to this team. I want to see his FG% in the 43-45% range, less than 1 3pt attempt per game and a asst/to ratio of better than 2-to-1. I can see that happening. Imagine a second unit consisting of Brooks, Francis and Landry? Explosive.
The sad thing about the Rockets is, years later if Steve Nash is still playing at 40, he'd probably still be better than anything the Rockets can put in at point guard.
Rafer isn't the best point guard in the league. and TMac doesn't completely dominate the game every night. And when he does dominate the game we don't always win. There, I said it. Why? Why!?? Why does it have to be that way?!? Why can't we also have the best point guard in the league and why do we loose games sometimes?!?! Why G-d?! Why are you so cruel? LOL. I love Rafer. Wow. I said it. I do. He plays hard, he has mad handles, and he can be VERY potent offensively. As DD suggests, sometimes, Rafer goes through cold spells with his shot. Not a biggie for the regular season, but in the playoffs, for example, last year, he went though a cold spell and became a scape goat for our playoff loss. Hated to see that happen. But its never on one player. If I recall, I think it seemed to be on everyone but Tracy (which is its own kinda blemish on Tracy and the obvious inadequacy of putting it all on him, rather than getting more of a team response). Yao got owned by Booz, our bench in general gave no scoring punch, Hayes and Battier didn't give much offensively either when we needed it. Point being, Rafer has been goated, and its unfair to Rafer. That said, I love to see AB on the court. Love that he can create. BJax can create. Rafer can also create. All our players are human. Adelman knows this and doesn't ask supernatural things of them (besides TMac b/c he might just be superhuman and we take that for granted).
Well, I certainly did not want to have him get injured, my point was that it was nice to have other options when Rafer goes out, or starts hogging the ball. I guess now we get a glimpse of a Rafer less team......in at least these next 2 games. DD
Rafer is a controversial player in this forum because of his shootings. But acutally, Rafer is a hard worker and he's producing around his career averages. So, there is nothing people should really complain about. The Rockets pay the money for a Hyundai, not a Mercedes Benz, and that's exactly what the Rockets get. When you see Rafer played in a zone during the streak, and peaked his performance in the Lakers game, you know Rafer would come down to earth and be Cinderalla again. Noone can escape the Law of Averages. For me, his sucking lately is as expected. Everyone know the Rockets need a better PG and the Rockets management knows it too as showed in its attempts to upgrade the PG position with failures last summer. PG position is tough to upgrade. There are very few available good PGs out there. As long as Rafer is with the team, I bear with him, for his good and his ugly. There is no use to keep whinning. Head is not good. Brooks is not ready. BJ wants to play off the ball because he's actually a 2 guard and more effective as a 2. The Rockets really dont have any good substitution of Rafer for now. For those fans who wish Rafer out of the playoffs because of injury, they should be ashame of themselves. How could you root for a team and wish that team doesnt have a full healthy roster to go into playoffs that'll come this weekend? Do those fans really want the Rockets to have a chance to win?
its funny how people talk about how much we don't need certain players but they change their tune when they get hurt or can't play. It has happened with everyone from yao to tracy to rafer. Let's face this team is a hustle team so we need all the talent we can get, and then some.
I know what you mean, but this has been said. If we had better, they'd be in there. When "Socks" (Bjack) is healthy, he sees good minutes, especially if he's hitting... but "The Answer" showed Brooks and the rest of us why, even though he's got skills and potential, he isn't ready for any more significant minutes than he's already getting. When there's a matchup he can run on? sure... but against AI he looked like a rook. I'm with you, Rafer could use some help from time to time, just to spell him, or bring in speed with brooks or experience (both in years and with RA's offense) ... and if Franchise were healthy he'd be good in spots also, but I still don't see anyone that can keep this team on an even keel like Rafer has. Unfortunately, gotta take the good with the bad. Right now with a Grow-in reinjury, I'm afraid we'll see just how unbalanced this team can be for at least a couple of games... though I hate to see that at this point in time, especially against UTAH while so much is still at stake. I think we all knew when Rafer went off during that 22 streak that he'd start trying to do too much, especially when the team was struggling, and I agree that isn't the answer... but I still feel he's our best option for the lion's share of the available minutes, no matter who else is healthy.
