I'm still not convinced we can't mold Head into a solid PG. It's JVG who doomed him by molding him into a one-dimensional 3point specialist.
WOW 47 pages for stevie, that's great. I'd take the guy over Rafer any day of the year. What else do we need? This is going to be a great season. Can't wait.
Absolutely no, he simply cannot dribble and watching him in the playoff games in person trying to make the entry passes to Yao were painful. He is a undersized sg, thats it. Trade him.
I would trade alston b4 I trade luther. Luther is our best 3 point shooter. James and battier adds that too, but rafer is expandable with francis/james/brooks
Alston was 15th in the league in assists, so I guess it depends on who you are comparing him to. I'm certainly not saying Alston is an all star caliber pg by any means. But then again neither were Francis or James last season. Neither managed to even start for their prospective lottery teams. I expect them to help alot because we need some players that can create their own shot, but I think Rafer is still better as a pure point guard. Especially if he is in an offense that doesn't require literally 50% of his shots to be from 3. Certainly the team looked absolutely and completely lost when Rafer went to the bench, which is one reason he played 10 minutes more per game than his career average last year. His minutes need to be reduced no doubt, but some of you have rather delusional ideas of james and francis skill levels being all star level. They are incredible upgrades to VSpan and JL III off the bench, but with all our new scoring options we need some players who are looking to run the offense and distribute without turning the ball over.
I realize how crappy he was in the last playoff series but I'm just saying that we shouldn't give up on the guy just yet. He was crappy because he was never coached properly to be a PG. He was molded into an SG. At least he hits his threes, unlike Rafer. Undersized yes, but he plays relatively effective pesky defense against most non-posting PGs.
I'm really glad he's back. I don't care what anyone else says but I really felt sorry for him when he got traded. People were ripping on him back then, saying he should stop whining and just accept the trade. I didn't understand the attitude of those people...he did not want to be traded. I thought it showed how much he loved Houston and I actually respected him for not wanting to leave and saying so. Now he's back, and reportedly chose Houston over more lucrative destinations. In my opinion, his heart never left Houston and now he's back where he belongs. Hopefully his short lived exile has made him hungrier and he's going to work even harder to prove the people who traded him wrong. And besides...I think Yao Ming is really happy about this Go STEVIE!!!
You can't evaluate a PG on his APG alone. It is not that cut and dry. Tony Parker averaged 5.3, 6.1 and 5.5 APG in the 3 seasons that the Spurs won the title and his career average is only 5.4. Billups only averaged 5.7 in 03-04 when the Pistons won it all. Meanwhile, Alston averaged 6.7 APG last year and has a better A/TO ratio then Parker for any given season and for his entire career. Alston is right on par with Billups in the same category over their respective careers while both of them have been among the top-ranked PGs in A/TO in recent years. Of course, Parker and Billups are better scorers by far but wait a minute... The reason so many fans grew frustrated with Alston was not his inability to handle the basketball or his failure to look to pass before looking to score. Alston actually excels in all the main criteria that are used typically to evaluate a true PG, which is exactly what Alston is. In fact, Alston is the only true PG we have on the current roster. Brooks, James, Francis nor Lucas are true PGs. All of the aforementioned Rocket backcourt players are either combo guards or two-guards by nature. The real reason people were criticizing and discrediting Alston was the fact that, last season, we needed a PG that could score as well as handle basic PG duties. In other words, people wanted, and we actually needed, an untrue PG. With Bonzi not playing and Battier only possessing the ability to spot up and shoot, we needed a 3rd guy that could create shots and score on a consistent basis. Many fans and most of the media wanted that out of Alston which was, in reality, nothing more than prayer and excessive optimism. Now, moving on to the present, Morey and the Rockets front office have somewhat magically, in a matter of a mere few weeks, transformed the Rockets in many areas, not the least being offensively. Despite this fact, countless people in here are abruptly and short-sightedly looking to get rid of Alston while failing to realize there are a couple of reasons that may not be such a good idea... The first reason is, as I stated before, that Rafer is actually are only true PG and still are best ball-handler, other than Aaron Brooks, who is still too unproven to necessarily be expected to become a starter or a regular contributor in the rotation (personally, I think this kid is already NBA-ready but that still needs to be proven and can not be depended upon). With all the offseason changes made so far and, potentially, more to come, Alston will not need to be a scorer by any means should he remain part of the Rockets rotation this upcoming season. Instead, he can focus on each and every one of his strengths, regardless of whether he is starting or coming off the bench. Again, those strengths are ball-handling, passing and controlling the flow of the game, the primary attributes of a true NBA PG. Secondly, we have a new coach and a new system that is much more condusive for an instinctual, open court, play-making PG such as Alston (see the Suns and Steve Nash). Alston was not best served in the strict, half-court system instituted by JVG and therefore was unable to play to his strengths. Conclusion: I would hesitate to drop our most natural PG just because he is not a scorer at this point given the revamped roster. Scoring, his greatest weakness, is no longer what we would need from him. Alston could be a real asset next season as a primary ball-handler, utilizing his unquestionably gifted court vision to creat easy scoring opportunities for the number of capable finishers we now have on the roster. Among our glut of guards, Rafer is still the best in this particular area which makes him unique and valuable for next season. I am much more open to leveraging Sura's contract to a team that wants to free up cap space next season along with possibly Luther Head's or even Kirk Snyder's, the latter being a player that I would actually prefer not to get rid of unless moving him allows us to fill a greater need.
Welcome back, Steve. All GMs hate to receive any call from Morey from now on! The first idea come to their mind when Morey calling them is:" What is Morey going to steal from my pocket?" What a crazytrade, T-mac is a complete steal!
I agree 100%. We certainly can use Francis and James, but they should be in addition to Rafer, not instead of him.
When Steve was here I loved him and after he was traded away, I saw Barry, Sura, Wesley, Yao and McGrady pass the ball without hesitation. I didn't realize how much he needed the ball bouncing until then. Maybe it was Rudy's fault or maybe that is just the way Steve plays...I don't know, I didn't pay much attention to him after he left. I'm nervous about this acquisition because I don't know who we signed, someone who knows how to share the ball or someone who dribbles for 20+ seconds. I am cautiously excited about it though because like someone said earlier, he's cheap and if it doesn't work out than it should be pretty easy to trade him.
Actually, by looking around the league, Every good PG can score a bunch efficiently in this league on top of his court vision. Every team need PG's shooting.
