Look let's be honest....

I have to agree...this team will likely get to the second round and be done. We need a PG like Mike Bibby or Jason Terry...or even Jason Williams. We need someone who can make a wide open 3, make an entry pass, and has decent shot selection. Hopefully Adelman recognizes this.

 

trade rafer already..damit

 

see, I completely agree with you Stevie Wonder, but there's something that perplexes the crap out me:

-I kinda understand why Rick is playing Rafer even though I completely disagree with it; he thinks that Rafer's above average ball handling and fastbreak-running ability makes him a good fit, and even though Rick completely neglects Rafer's dismal shooting, Rick can come up with a credible (but B.S) argument to back up his decision. Now, What I DON'T get is him having Luther on the court for atleast 11 minutes a game! the guy is shooting 10% from the 3-point line (per NBA.com) and he is supposed to be a strictly Three point shooter because he has absolutely nothing else. he gets burned on defense EVERY time.. every single time, whenever I see an easy basket by the opponent, I rewind the play (thanks to Dish Network ) and watch whose fault it was, and 8 times out of 10 its Head's fault. he gets lost on defense, goes for the wrong man, leaves his feet quickly, doesn't close up properly on guards, allow mediocre guards to blow right by him, and doesn't defend the jumpshot whatsoever. that's added to the fact that on average, he is giving up at least 4-5 inches in height to other shooting guards.

Now, I know that Francis ain't that much better than Head on defense, but the guy can drive, he can create, and since he won't be handling the ball is he played in Head's place, he won't get a chance to hog the ball (which is what all the Steve critics whine about).. I see no reason for not playing him the 10-15 minutes that Luther is getting (and sucking big time). We achieve 2 things by playing him: 1. get him in game shape (since the only way to get in basketball shape as Bonzi put it is to play basketball and 2. we have ourselves a slight upgrade over Luther freakin' Head's sorry a$$..

I think a trade is our best bet right now. package Rafer, Head, and throw in a 1st rounder for an above average PG who can shoot (Dick Dickau/ Pargo?) or a strong Power Forward to give us more depth along with Chucky and Luis (maybe Darius Songaila?).. I don't care what we get, just send away Rafer and Head and have James/Franchise play..

 

Wow... Thank you Stevie Wonder... to see that you mirror my frustration with the guard play actually makes me feel better.

For those of you who argue that tonights game was close, and we did not have Tmac.... YOU JUST DONT GET IT!!!!!

Its been 11-12 years since this organization has tasted success, and to me that is unacceptable when you have players like Tmac and Yao. When I read posts like this thread it makes me happy to know that there are other fans out there who actually want to win titles. To do that it takes more then just competitive teams, and thats what we have with this team.

Look.... if Tmac was the kind of guard that could run the offense and get creative with passing the ball then we would be alright, but he is not! That is just not his game. He is a huge scoring threat with above average defense who can take over a game every 3rd night. In order for him to take over a game the players around him need to do their jobs, and that is not happening. The reason for this is the purpose of this thread. We have awful guard play after Tmac!

The reason we have awful offensive production at critical points int eh game is because we do not have a proper PG on this team. I think we all agree that Rafer is a garbage can. After 10 or so games its clear as day that this is not going to get any better. This is reason we lose leads late in games, and this is the reason we struggle late in games as we have with Miluakee, Los Angeles and San Antonio for three games in a row. Don't let yourself be fooled by the San Antonio win the other night. That game was won early on with a huge offensive output. If we could do that every night we will be alright, but lets be honest again... it wont.

When the going gets tough at the end of games this team struggles, and last years playoff loss is evidence of that. The reason was the guard play, and as Stevie Wonder stated with this thread.... NOTHING SIGNIFICANT WAS DONE!!! We are the same team with a nifty new PF and more potential on the bench.

Its sad, and it might already be too late to find a PG to save this season.

 

i dont think YOU get it. truth be told, the weakness lies in mcgrady and yao. competition simple wonders if theyve acquired the killer instinct, as do i. its just that simple really.

 

News flash, Rafer is our worst starter. In other news, Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto, and Desagana Diop are barely more than scrubs.

 

See ya next year, or at least the trade deadline.

 

This thread is absolute BS. Teams have won championships all throughout the NBA's history without strength at the PG position. Houston, Chicago, and the Lakers all come to mind for teams in the past fifteen years. And don't give me that crap about how the game has changed so much that guards dictate the entirety of the results these days. How come Paul, Deron Williams, Jason Kidd, and Steve Nash didn't win it all last year? The reason had to do with execution: when it came down to crunch time, Tim Duncan could not be stopped in the low block. The truth of the matter is 1.) who wins the championship is still based on who has the best TEAM, meaning overall composite talent combined with the chemistry to get the best out of everybody, and 2.) of all the positions of scarcity in this league, the center is first and foremost among them.

Give the Rockets some time; you take the best of what happened in this game (Scola showing up, Rafer getting lots of dribble penetration, and Battier and James and Head actually being able to hit wide open jump shots) and interpolate that to we could do at the end of the year when we're done with this ridiculous schedule and have gained some confidence and chemistry and possibly Steve Francis, and we are a team with no ceiling. None at all. PG will be this team's weakness no matter what, but that didn't stop MJ, Shaq/Kobe, or Hakeem from offsetting that weakness now did it.

 

Guess what?
Their PGs can hit an open 3.

 

No need to present an arguement or have a debate, this is true and is as plain as the nose on your faces. If you have ready my postings over the years you know that I have been pointing out our need for a Playmaking Point Guard who can also shoot when called upon to do so. IS AB our answer or is he just too small? If Morey doesn't fix his blunder in December we had better start training AB and possibly go for the Championship next year.

 

Rafer shot almost 600 3 pointers last year. How in the hell did he almost hit 200 of them if he cant hit an open 3??


Which one is the true indicator of his ability?? Rafer's 35% career 3 clip or his 07-08 20% on 3's.

IF I told you at the start of the season that T-Mac would be the teams best 3 point shooter and he would be having an "average" season at that, you would have laughed at me.

Surely James or Head or Battier would be higher.

 

Rafer Alston just plain sucks period. He cant run the team what so ever and score a bucket and jack up 3's whenever he feels like it. Play Stevie already geez Aldeman

 

Your !! because we won the championships with great Playmaking Point Guards Kenny Smith and Sam Casell and Playmaking Small Forward Robert Horey.

 

Lets be honest. This is a extremely rough stretch. We will have easier ones to make up for it. I'm glad that Shane and Scola stepped it up and our pg's finally had a decent game.

I am sure Morey will do something but its early in the season. The only thing that matters is the postseason.

 

I was there. Cassell was able to penetrate a little and he made a decent percentage of his open 3s. Smith was a 3p shooter plain and simple. Most of his layups and dunks came on fast breaks. Cassell's penetration took the team to a new level because they had the punch off the bench(much like James is doing this year). That, and Dream > all other than Michael Jordan.

 

Yes, it was only a 84:90 lose without one of our superstars. However, if you watched the game, you definitely can see when we tried our best to have a chance to grab a lead, our PGs didn't know how to do that and burnt the chance off.

 

And who usually handles the ball in that situation??


That's TMac time. Of course, if not for Alston's play early in the 4th period, the Rocks never have a chance to get it that close. Cant penalize for the last plays when great plays earlier bring you to that point.

 

By far, the worst problem with the guards so far this year is that they have shot a much worse percentage than they typically have throughout their careers. I expect that the problems with the backcourt will seem less severe as the guards start shooting closer to their usual percentages. There's a reason it's called "midseason form".

 

No no no. Dont you know, the career averages mean nothing and the percentages the guards have right now is what they will end the year at.