I dont think they consider Head in that group. It seemed to me the four guards he was talking about were the PG. Clearly Luther will not get minutes at the PG this year with so many other options. Doesnt mean he wont get playing time. Think about it, Morey's quote doesnt mention Tmac, Bonzi or Snyder either and they are all guards.
I think Luther can be on the court as long as Francis is playing point. Francis is big enough to cover the SG on defense and Luther can cover the PG. On offense, Luther is still there to utilize his outside shooting but Francis can handle the dribbling duties.
Amazing. I never seen this board so Pro-Rafer all of a sudden. Especially from what I remember during last season. I guess TWO preseason games can change all that?
Actually francis was starting to turn it around at the tail end of the game against the greek club. he started off slow, but i thought he was just starting to pick it up. i expect to see more improvement from francis against dallas on the 18th. At this point james and rafer are playing better then francis. but as the pre-season rolls on, i expect francis to improve gradually..
It's got more to do with the offense. this offense is tailor made for someone like Alston who is a great open court player. he has all the tools to be a fine PG in the motion offense. smart player. great passer, great ball handler . knows how to feed the cutters. even last season rafer looked at he's best when we were running(yao was out to injury).
Also, they aren't looking to move Luther. As long as he plays well, he'll get minutes. He's another guy who Adelman feels is a perfect fit in his offense. The article wasn't focused on him and he probably just forgot.
From what i've seen of luther, he seems like he's got the offense down pat. he makes great cuts off the ball and seems to know where to be on every set play. luther seems to be a pretty handy player to have off the bench. He and rafer look the most commfy in the new offense.
So does this mean Steve and MJ have underwhelmed RA? I think that's the real story. Where are all the Francis and Mike James articles?
Just because SF and MJ are not comfortable right now in the offense, it does not mean they won't get it later down the road. We all know, for example, that Steve isn't the brightest bulb when it comes to basketball IQ, but he's talented and he tries to adjust. Just remember how hard he tried to adjust to Van Gundy, wasn't too pretty, but it worked OK eventually, and Steve did well vs. the Lakers that year in the playoffs. The thing is, Rafer may be the best right now functining within the system-- and he may be the best doing it all season, too-- but Steve and Mike bring qualities that Rafer can't. Steve and Mike can make things happen outside of the system.... when the D takes away all the backdoor cuts, and runs out to open shooters, Steve and Mike and penetrate and make opposing team pay. Rafer simply isn't that guy.
MJ and Rafer are the only real PGs we have. Francis and Luther in the backcourt together without Rafer or MJ on the floor at the same time would be a disaster. Francis definitely isn't ready dribbling duties yet. Maybe by the end of the season.
speaking of john lucas, i saw him at Mikayo (sushi restaurant) on westieimer last night. he said "Im not worried about making the team. I'll end up somewhere"
Geez, what is wrong with people? 2 preseason games? it says something. But pls look at history before making any conclusion. I guess coach just want to make a safe plan and decide to use the starters from last season because it will guarantee 52+ wins. If we are looking for a breakthrough, then we will need to replace RA. I would be very surprised if Alston starts in Nov.
I am so happy that we have many good guard(PG and SG), and many thread that talk about how to dispart the playing time. I hope that PG is not our weak position in coming season.
I don't mind seeing Rafer getting the start if he's that good. I still want to see Francis, James getting major minutes though. Mainly cause I'm pulling for these guys especially Francis to turn their careers around and regain some of that shine.
Exactly. Alston's performance is no fluke IMO. He has a set of skills that this team can use. We would not have traded away Mike James if Alston was not a good player. The problem was he was forced to do all of things that he is not capable of doing over the last two seasons due to a lack of scorers on this team. This team needed a scoring point that could take it to the rim and finish. It just so happens that is the biggest whole in his game. The guy is a hell of a ball handler and a better than average passer but if there is nobody to pass it to who can score then he is useless. Now, he will have no fewer than 3 options on offense. All he has to do is get the ball to one of them and hit a few spots up 3s now and again (which he is pretty good at). You can tell the guy is having a blast now that he can focus on being a PG instead of being the second or third option on offense. It also is translating into his defense where he seems to be energized.
