Whoever said that .370 was good? It's really not. I'm talking 36% vs. 40%. That is a pretty big difference.
Yes - that was Kenny's finest hour...6 threes including the one that sent the game into overtime. But he only played 1 good game in like 5. Look it up...he didn't score in game 2 of that series...in fact he did squat the last 3 games, plus he had only one good game in the 7 against the Knicks, (game 7), I love Kenny, but I'd still take Skip
the scary thing is i know about half on the list and the only good pg there better than rafer is sam cassell..lol
If what you say is true...and I agree...then we should all be loving Skip because he's the best we've had, or close. So why so much hate? OK he's not Nash or Kidd or even Terry, but he could be Winston Garland, what kind of a chance would we have then?
Bob Sura is my favorite Rockets PG since the Kenny/Sam combo. But, Rafer is 2nd on my list since the championship years. Rafer does a good job of not turning the ball over (unlike Francis) and he's a pretty good defender. He currently has the 3rd highest Roland ranking on the Rox as well. http://www.82games.com/0607/0607HOU.HTM. I'm surprised he's higher than Battier and surprised how much higher he is than Luther. Clearly, shooting isn't everything. And he'd get benched if he didn't take the wide open threes he shoots every night.
Because we've had Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady for 2 years, and we haven't gotten out of the first round, so people start looking for the weak link. And the first link they see is the most conspicuous one, which is a guy being left open and blowing the shot, or taking it in to the basket and failing to put it in. You don't get a lot of credit in the NBA for not making mistakes. That may not be fair, but that's the way it is. Rafer is a fine, serviceable point guard. He does his job. He isn't particularly talented as a shooter, and as Van Gundy said, he's not a good finisher. And every time we watch him blow one of those shots or finishes, it hurts. We wish we had a PG who could do what Rafer does, plus put the ball in the hole. If we had that guy, our chances of winning each playoff series would go up considerably. I do think most people here are too hard on Rafer, blaming him for losses in which lots of other players and plays went wrong. And maybe Rafer plus finishing or Rafer plus consistency is too much to ask. But we want a championship, so we keep asking. Compared to other people on this board, I'm a Rafer apologist. But let's be honest. The Jazz are going to double our stars and let Rafer take the shots. And every time he does, particularly at the end of a game, I for one am going to close my eyes and pray.
Another big reason why people put a lot of blame on Rafer is because he represents a screwed up trade the Rockets made when he was Mike James's replacement. He made our team worse instead of better. I don't think its Rafer's fault, just the Rockets management doing a bad job in deciding what this team needs-which is defintely not a "pass first PG" but more of a "hit open shots and bring the ball up PG"
blah blah blah ... just enlighten my ignorant mind, do u know any non-rookie pg who averages 20pt 10ast 1TO 3st 50%FG, signed a 4mil per year contract?
Last night Rafer was 5/10 from 3-point land and had a 13-to-1 assist/turnover ratio. I would be interested to see which (if any) Rocket PGs have EVER had a better game in those combined categories. I say those two categories because that's what the PG needs to do in the Rocket's system: hit the 3, distribute the ball and don't turn it over. And this wasn't a throw-away game against and cellar-dewller. The Rockets were fighting for home court and playing a team they have trouble with.
I can't believe there are so many fans still hanging onto Mike James' rear. Have you guys ever looked up his number in Timberwolves this year? Whoever thinks MJ is a better pg for us than rafer is ______. Fill the blank yourself.
I don't think any PG (or any player for that matter) has ever had averages like those, regardless of salary!
You only think that's the role because that's what Rafer does. Rafer attempts more 3's than any other player in Rockets history. 2nd place goes to Vernon Maxwell. He also attempts more 3's than any other JVG coached player. Rafer is the only player to even come close to 500 (He has 520 this season). When he coached the Knicks, John Starks hovered around 400 attempts. The year before JVG took over, Starks attempted 611!!! So PG's jacking up ungodly numbers of 3's isn't typical of the JVG system.
There's no way Rafer would have jacked 500 3s unless JVG gave him the greenlight. That's also in line with we as a team is shooting 2nd most 3s in the league, I have to say it's JVG's game strategy. I say Rafer is doing a semi decent job hitting them Considering how many 3s he has jacked up.
were you honestly expecting rafer to shoot as high as 37% from downtown this year after the abysmal season he had last year? We should be grateful its not like the 05-06 season. Who knows maybe he might get to 40% next year, but baby steps...
This is why we only won two titles. be realistic, if you think we can win championship with this line up, then we don't need to argue anything. however, if we can't win championship with this line up, and if we are the GM, who we will try to trade during the off season?
