wow, i hope rafer doesn't take this emotionaly... maybe we can trade rafer to stan van gundy to florida, he had his better years in miami. hopefully things would work out with him, cause he was a true professional.
Rafer HAS to go. We have too many point guards and he has the most trade value of any of them. I hate to dump him after all the minutes he played for us last season, but James and Francis are better options at the 1. Hell, even Brooks might be before long.
A very good post. He has done the best he can do. I still worry a bit about him leaving,if Mike James sacrifices his shoot first habits we will be all right in case Rafer leaves. Francis' overdribbling concerns me a lot.
What? Has Alston been reading ClutchFans BBS too much? I certainly don't think we should let him go. I want him as the backup PG at least until Brooks shows he can handle more than just the summer league. If we move T-Mac to the 3, and Francis to the 2, we still need someone other than James at the 1. Brooks just doesn't cut it . . . yet.
He always played with a ton of heart but he can't finish at the rim and is an average at best shooter. Thanks Rafer
I do NOT want to see Rafer go. This team needs ONE point guard (no matter how poorly he shoots) whose game is not entirely predicated upon DRIBBLING.
personally I'd rather have Rafer than Francis if it was an either or situation, but Ideally we have james, francis, and Alston. Alston is much better at distributing the ball, entry passes and keeping turn overs down. His offensive woes were in a large part due to an offense that required he shoot an over abundance of 3's and also him playing 37 minutes a game during the season and 44 min a game in the play offs because we had no back up when his career avg was 27 min a game. Reducing his minutes and playing a more motion/uptempo offense should increase his effectiveness quite a bit, and the increase in scoring options on the team should better hide his personal lack of scoring.
I think it will be a major mistake ito trade Rafer. Who is going distribute the ball? Francis? James? Doubtful. Rafer often got a bum rap for his shot selection. Many times he had to jack up an ill advised shot because there was no one other than Yao or Tracey willing to take a shot. Now we have a number of players who can score, but we still need a PG who can get the ball up court AND be willing to give it up. Until Brooks proves himself in the NBA, that player is Rafer.
Rafter wasn't spectacular in anyway but he was contributing quite decently, on par with his salary level. What if Steve goes back to the ball hog he was? We already have Yao and T-Mac that require most ball touches. How's Steve gonna react to that?
Good luck to him. I think Morey liked him well enough, but when you can get Steve Francis for $2.4 million, you have to go for it and make room for Francis. Had the Francis trade not happened, I still saw Rafer playing 20 or so MPG for this team, but you simply do not have enough minutes to go around for Rafer, James, and Francis (not to mention Brooks). Some teams would probably make good use of him, though. Maybe MIA and LAC can use him. Maybe Denver can have him share minutes with Atkins. I think Stan Van Gundy might want him in Orlando, too... he's certainly more of a passer than Jameer Nelson and less flaky than Chuck Creek (a.k.a. Carlo Arroyo). The question for Morey now is how to get good value in a trade of his extra PGs.
I think if they can swing it they would love to keep Rafer. He was statically the best team player in the league during the regular season last year. Plus, the good thing about both James and Francis is that they can be used as the SG rather than the PG. So with Alston on the roster you have more flexibility because he is a PG and only a PG. It's all going to depend on what trade offers Morey gets. Regardless of all the Rafer hate on this board last year he was a good point guard who played way more minutes than he should have which exposed his shooting issues. Rafer can pass, Adelman's offense demands players that can pass. Hopefully Morey can find a way to keep Rafer.
Not trying to sound to greedy, but I hope they can get something for him. Rafer was the pebble in my shoe all last season.
