Hell, I would GIVE Alston away and just play Vspan as our starting PG, even though we'll blow even more in the beginning, at least Vspan has room to improve. Alston has already shown us his limit and his limit is CRAPPY GIVE ALSTON AWAY!!!!!
I have been a proponent of Alston, but am coming around on the criticism of him. The shooting and occasional bad decisions I can handle because experienced point guards with health and their legs are hard to find these days. To his credit, Rafer can push the ball up the court, he makes great post entry passes, and he doesn't usually look for his own shot. That being said, Alston's struggles defensively are what worries me the most. He just gets torn apart by athletic point guards and our division/conference has just too many good ones: Parker, Terry, Paul, James, Deron Williams, Nash, Davis, Bibby, and now likely Iverson. We need to upgrade there and we need it badly. I don't think anyone will take him off our hands, but I would love to see us make a run at someone who can spell him, rotate with him, or simply take over. My vote goes for Antonio Daniels, as he gets few minutes behind Arenas at the point and is behind Deshawn Stevenson at the two. I don't know what it would take to get him (Sura's expiring contract if we can talk him into retiring? Wells if he proves able to play? Head plus one of above?), but he would meet the need, in my opinion. He is long enough to give us some time at the two, he can handle the ball well at the one, he defends well at either spot, he has championship experience, and he is a great FT shooter (which we desperately need in close games). My only criticism is that he can't hit the broad side of a barn from the arc and, if we give up Head for him, then we lose our only consistent perimeter scorer in he backcourt. If not him, then someone who can defend and give us minutes at both guard spots. It will cost us Head and that sucks because I like him a ton, but if this team is going to reach its ceiling once McGrady gets back, we need some help for Alston.
NOT TO MENTION HIS MATADOR D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! opposin guards are gettin penetration galor from the lakers 4 days ago....he makes smush "sucky" parker look good then the warriors and montae"1 year in the league" ellis and baron"somtimey"davis turn into all stars against us now tonight again.........kobe gettin 50 we can withstand and could have probably still had won this, but know he has to go and let smushy look like some type of all world guard again in the same week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! bye, ariva durche, avida say, adios, and whatever else language you need to learn cuz you should be playin where these lanaguages are spoken!!!!!!!!!
No doubt. It is a tear dropper for everyone watching him do it. He is no Tony Parker .. someone need to remind him of that. Just bring the damn ball up .. pass and run away to the other side of the court (bring your defender with you) No need for pull-up 3s with 21 seconds on the clock. No need to dribble dribble dribble dribble .. TO Very bad 2 days of basketball (at least end results)
The fatal irony here -- as far as the Rox are concerned -- is that Rafer was brought in and marketed this entire time as a "true" PG...The joke was on you, Houston. I was against the Mike James trade from day one, even the Rox brass realized they made a mistake and wanted him back, so much so that JVG was knocking on his door a minute after midnight of the first day the Rox were allowed to approach him. At this point, the Mike James trade is only dwarfed by the Texans passing on Vince Young AND Reggie Bush...
Parker, Donte Ellis, Bdidy and my god Kobe, they are pretty good. Rafer could hang with his man a little bit and got the slapping going, but get blown by about half of the time too. He is trying, the talent and physical just not there. Outside Yao and Tmac, the rest of team are just not that good.
i agree with you ! what's wrong with him? he can't pass the ball at right time. not strong enough,bad defeat.terrible shoot. i can't use a word to describle him.
Plenty of blame to go around in a very high TO game. But it's funny the idiots here all latch on to the same whipping boys all the time. Like Luther Head's stupid foul on Kwame Brown and his turnovers are not a factor.
two words Mike James. Rafer is what he is. He is trying. CD told Mike James he will get back to him in 15 minutes when Mike requsted no trade clause, and that got Mike made and Minny said yes right off the bat when Mike asked, so there you go. The next day on radio CD was saying that he couldnt believe Mike took less money from Minny, he still didnt get it.
You know why the 1st half went so well?????? Rafer was invisible, a non factor, just the way it always should be.
Now laker only got 1pt out of that poession and burnt a little time off the clock. Had head not foul, who knows. So the outcome wasnt all that bad. But still stupid stupid. What I dont like is Head's non-chalant facial expression. You really cant tell he is fired up or nervous. Often time it's the anxiety in his head.
plan and simple rafer lost this game for the team, i dont know he can look the team in the eye and think any differently. i dont get why jvg just forget about it and have luther play pg and let vspan or bonzi play sg. i was always a rafer back for about 30 mins a game but now he is only good if he is a BACKUP pg. jvg made a poor decision in keeping him in
Why does Rox always win the first quarter and lose the fourth quarter? JVG, please think about it. One simple fact is that players are different. In the first quarter, we have Yao, Hayes, Battier, T-Mac and Alston; but in the fourth, we have Yao, Battier, T-Mac, Head and Alston! That's the deadly error! We need more rebounds in the fourth than in the first. We need Hayes or Howard on the court at last when Yao is struggling. And at last, T-Mac can play 1, so we do not need Alston any more. He's a bad 3-shooter!!! In my opinion, Yao, Howard, Battier, T-Mac and Head should be on court in the fourth.
What Rafer said: "No matter how many points Kobe Bryant scored, we killed ourselves by turning the ball over, missing help on defense and missing defensive assignments," Alston said. "The quality of shots we started to take at times was uncharacteristic of us."
What Rafer meant: "No matter how many points Kobe Bryant scored, my sorry ass killed ourselves by turning the ball over, missing help on defense and missing defensive assignments," Alston said. "The quality of shots my sorry ass started to take at times was uncharacteristic of us."
he is talking ****....i don't even want to see him on screen after this game...f**k ...sorry i have to rant..can't help it..
Rafer could make a great coach. He always seems to know what went wrong after the game but persistent in repeating the same mistakes like going away from Yao and take ill advised shots.
