Cato was pretty good in he's last year here under gundy. he was playing great defense. he did a great job as yao's backup prior to getting traded. but he did have a bad year after the massive contract he recived. Under gundy he was pretty good. i remembver gundy praising him for he's interior shot blocking and D.
My point was that preseason can be fool's gold. Damn it wasn't that ****ing hard to figure out. Continue on with your mancrush for Rafer all you want. The Rafer I've seen over the past couple of seasons wouldn't fit in any system as a key cog. If he has learned how to finish layups, floaters, and open jumpers over the offseason, then awesome. But pardon me if I remain skeptical after 2 preseason games against two crap teams.
Yes he was, some people forget that. He actually did a good job as the starting pf alongside Yao as well. He definitely played with heart that year and was key in the rox making the playoffs.
Along with Rafer's good play, its also about familiarity with the group of players. Francis and James have been Rockets before and in recent years, but even though there's a new offense Rafer has played the most with the current group of players which gives him a bit of an edge. Rafer's "grown" with this team in a sense, kinda like a young guard through more experience gelling with his team. Which is good, and dont want to be "right" saying a player is not going perform at the level the team needs. But theoritically if Mike James was the starting guard going into his 3rd year with the club and Rafer was the newest guard, I doubt he'd supplant Mike James as the starter cuz Mike James is "shoot first". Its why John Lucas might look more comfortable instead of Aaron Brooks, cuz he's been there. Gotta project into the future, and how we know Brooks has higher upside with the club, the team has higher upside with Mike James in the lineup. Its an easy way to not disturb the flow, to keep the lineup as is and have the "new guys" just stay that. Just have a feeling Rafer will come back down to his usual form like the stats show, and they'll ease in others at point guard anyway. Except its legit NBA players and not some Spanoulis projection garbage
That's a good way of putting it. There was a similar situation going on with Juwan Howard the last couple of years. Never really had an opportunity to have someone outright supplant him though we sure needed it.
Actually Rafer play a bulk of minutes against the Greece and look good with the combination of Francis or James. So i expect him to play a bulk of mins at PG but it can change...we'll see.
Guess you didn't understand my post either. The difference is i won't result to any petty insults. That's when the thread starts getting derailed. I was discussing all of our guards and how people are judging them after 2 games. As for the rest, again, pointless for discussion. I'm actually tired of talking about Rafer, Francis and james. I'll reserve my judgment on them until we play at least a few regular season games.
You mean Rafer, right? That is how he set an all-time rockets record for distance shooting last year en route to his historic 3pt shooting attempt season (24th most in history - congrats mr. pass first!)
Wow, I can't believe people want Rafer to get significant minutes. I hope he's a goner, even if the Rockets have to swallow his contract. He's the same guy who played well in the pre-season last year and stunk it up in the regular season and playoffs. No matter what offensive system you run, a wide open shot is a wide open shot and I believe Skip had the worst fg% in the entire NBA last year. He can't finish, can't create his own shot, and at crucial times in the game, when the pressure is on, he can't even handle the ball well. I get nightmares just thinking about that floater he bricks everytime. Rafer is what he is - a mediocre NBA player at best. He has no business on a team trying to contend for the title. His weaknesses far outweigh his supposed strengths. He's a liability.
You mean just cut him?! actually, rafer is a fairly good spot up 3pt shooter. But you are right, he can't finish that well and he can't create his own shot...however thats not his job! He isnt a scorer. The Rockets have plenty of scorers, what they dont have is someone who can play a pure pg role. Not a good ball handler? You may have nightmares about the floater, but you need to wake up and realize there is more to basketball than someone's scoring ability.
I don't understand why I keep hearing that Adleman likes to play a short rotation. I remember those Kings teams going pretty deep. The Bench Mob with Jon Barry, Bobby Jackson, Pollard, Corliss Williamson. That team easily went nine or ten deep. This season I think he has the luxury of doing the same. Rafer can get 25-30 minutes, and there shoudl be minutes for James and Francis at the 1 and 2. Brooks is going to be buried at the end of the bench for the majority of the season barring some injuries, but hey he's a rookie he's gotta show something before he gets on the floor.
I still can't get out of my head all the flying bricks Rafer threw up last year.... especially those dumb running floaters.... ugly. Whatever - as long as we go deep in the playoffs I really could give 2 sh!ts who starts, or comes off the bench.
I agree with Will. They may be showcasing him to trade him. Even if the dude was sucking right now, I doubt they would come out and say it.
http://blogs.chron.com/nba/2007/10/for_starters_will_everything_o.html Apparently, Tracy, Yao, and even Luther are in on the conspiracy to fatten Alston up for a trade. This Daryl Morey guy sure is sneaky. You look at him, he's just some chubby dude who looks nervous on camera. But he's a regular Chubby Machiavelli.
I was curious how Rafer's scoring efficiency changed when he was playing with Yao and Tracy. Unfortunately, 82games.com only has pair-wise stats, so I just looked at his stats in games that Yao and Tracy both played in last season. There's one big difference: Code: | MPG | TS% | 2FGA | 2FG% | 3FGA | 3FG% | % 2FGA --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yao & T-Mac | 37.7 | 52.5% | 4.7 | 39.8% | 7.0 | 37.4% | 40.3% no Yao and/or T-Mac | 36.4 | 47.1% | 8.2 | 38.3% | 6.9 | 35.1% | 54.3% He actually manages to be average on TS% in games that Yao and T-Mac played. It's the other games that really hurt. His percentage on 2-point and 3-point shots aren't drastically different, but the proportion of 2-point shots shot up from 40.3% to 54.3%! In other words, without Yao or T-Mac in the lineup, Rafer had to be more aggressive looking for his own shot, instead of being primarily a spot up shooter and "facilitator". With more offensive weapons on this roster, I think we can definitely expect Rafer's efficiency to go up. Still, if Yao or T-Mac miss a game, it might be a good idea to start Mike James instead.
That was more like shoot last. But I have no idea how to even start to have a discussion with someone on a topic about which that person is so dillusional. Perhaps you would know more about Mike James' game if he weren't sitting on the bench for most of last season. I dunno'...
Awesome to hear. I like all of our guards, but its obvious Rafer is the only true PG and best defensive guard on the team.
if i had the time and money... i would spend all day on here keeping tabs of the folks who wax and wan between bashing rafter to saying he is the best fit for our offense. one comment by the coach, on good preseason game... and folks say he is the greatest. one arrest, one bad shooting game... and the same folks are calling for his head.
