I think Morey has been one of the best things that has ever happened to the Rockets. He's made great trades and has picked great talent from the draft. He's done a great job. But one of the things I don't want to ever hear from him again is about how great Rafer is on defense. That is joke within it's self. He doesn't turn over the ball that much but damn he gets burned a lot. He gets killed by soo many PGs. He can never contain Billups, Parker, Nash, Paul, Williams, or any fast PGs. Hell, even the Grizzles' PGs kill him. That's pretty damn bad. I know Nash and CP3 didn't score much in our wins this year but it wasn't from him. You can even talk smack about him trying to the John Stockton stop and pop. He did that like three times in the Nuggets game. This is not a thread about getting a better PG because it's not going to happen. There's no one else to bring in. Kirk Hinrick is hurt. Earl Watson isn't any better than him. We have like close to $5mil in expiring contracts but no one is going to take that right off our hands. The only way is by trading someone in the core. I don't see that happening.
He is good at playing the passing lanes, but he is not a good one on one defender, and he gives up too many wide open shots to talented shooters. Luther and him on the court with JR Smith and Billups was murder to watch...they sagged, and Billups and Smith buried wide open 3pter after 3pter...it was the worst perimeter defense I have ever seen. U G L Y DD
I never really liked Rafer's defense and feel it is overrated. But unfortunately we have nothing better so he gets to play. We might be able to get past the first round with Rafer as the starting PG, but I don't think we will get much further unless he shoots in the high thirties ~38% or if by some miracle in the low forties which is of course highly unlikely.
Rafer is terrible in every stat, but I could not hate him anymore than when he runs the fast break by himself and stop and takes a shot with no ROX rebounder in sight, like he shoots a 40% percent or something. Even with the tear drops that are very close shots they never drop. he is shooting 32% I think hundreds if not thousands of people in this city can shoot better than 32% of wide open shots if they were to get 6 mill in salary.
With our PnR defense being semi-weak, but not horrible some of those open looks are from that. Also, the way our guys help and rotate leads to a slight opening for guys to get shots off. With perimeter defense rules HEAVILY benefiting the offensive player, what can you do? I in the boat saying Rafer's defense is above average. Rafer plays through/around picks better than pretty much any of our other guards. It's a fine line for defending guards in the league. Be aggressive as to not give them clean looks at the bucket, but so much as breathe on them and you are going to get whistled for a foul. I think our guards do a pretty decent job considering how the rules are now. Our guards get to the cup too. Rafer just doesn't finish well. Brooks does. Head when he's not rushing something and committing a turnover. Tracy when he chooses to drive. Then again, you are trying to say we should find a PG that can defend the best of PGs in the league. Show me someone who CAN stop those guys consistently.
This horse has been beaten over and over. I said they shouldve traded rafer and got a backup and start brooks. I still feel that way. What you saw defensively is nothing new. He always gets killed by top notch pg's and his offense isn't good enough to offset them either. Watson is a better pg than rafer and he's a helluva defender and tough as nails. The guy from Indy, Jack wouldve been a good compliment to Brooks imo. Like DD says about Tracy, I'll say about Morey, he's just scared. He's scared to make another move or so because of chemistry disruption I guess. Rafer is not a starting pg on a championship team. Yes he's a low turnover guy, but that's mainly because he gives up the decision making process to someone else. He's a good open court player at times, but he's not a good finisher. For Brooks defensive shortcoming against the big post up pg's which counts 3 or 4 in the league, they have problems staying in front of him. One of my next deals is I'm going to see how many penetrations and penetrating passes Rafer makes.
No... I didn't say find someone... I was stating that Rafer is not as great as Morey makes it seem. It's not about Rafer finishing or anything like that. The issue I have is that you can't stop every PG but you can at least be able to play some defense or be able to score to keep up with them. You can't have CP3 score 30 points and have Rafer score like 8 points. No way man.
Rafer is a very good team defender. He knows how to move his man into the help defense and then quick to recover. The problem comes when the help either isn't there or isn't fast enough to cover the PG in question. He isn't a great one-on-one defender, but he isn't horrible either.
no defense can slow down today's elite PGs. there are just too many elite PGs in NBA. no elite PGs care to play defense. -----a PG's defense = a center's dribble = useless anyway--------- what we need to do is to take advantage of the PG friendly rules and PG's general lacking of defense to score a lot from PG position. . simply, we need FTs from PG.
Team defense is one thing but you have to be able to defend somewhat one-on-one. Rondo sucks at shooting but he can defend. Just like Bullard and others have said before, you can't always get beat off the dribble and expect your bigs to back you up. You put them at a disvantage. Foul trouble and things like that.
Well, he is a good team defender. You can't argue with that. He is also pretty quick and has got quick hands which makes him over the average on the ball defender. But yeah, he has had his problems. As DD said he is giving up too many easy shots. But sometimes you just can't do anything if you play Billups or Davis who are bigger then you. You can't teach size, but I agree. His defense may be a little bit overrated.
The Houston Rockets have a 96.7 defensive rating when Rafer Alston is on the court. The only two Rockets with a lower number are Von Wafer and Shane Battier, and both have played way less minutes. Rafer's defensive efficiency numbers have been consistently outstanding for years, not just on the team but league-wide. This "Rafer is an overrated defender" argument needs to die a horrible death. Yes, he's a bad shooter. Yes, he doesn't finish well around the basket as he should. But he is NOT a bad defender. Sometimes the opposing point guard is just *that* good.
you are talking about 1on1 def or what. rafer actually did fine on def in my opinion. too many leet PGs around, few of em did good jobs on def anyway and i wont expect rafer can hold CP3 lol. rafer is just a role player who fits this team and needs to work on his shooting, thats it.
Overall, Rafer is a solid defensive player. Definitely above average. A lot of people say he gets burned by Chauncey Billpus, Deron Williams,ect....those guys burn everyone. The NBA has made it very difficult in general to be a good individual perimiter defender. That's why there are only a few guards ever mentioned when it's discussed (and the only reason Bruce Bowen has been in the league for so long). People seem to underestimate team defense here a lot (as well as intensity and hustle). I think Rafer's erratic shooting blinds everyone on the board to the other things he does well. That's fine, he's ben brutal shooting the ball, but he does help this team in a lot of other ways.
I only brought up Rafer and his finishing ability (or lack of) to illustrate that it's not just our guys getting burned. It's just how the rules are set up now. Sorry if that wasn't clear. As far as someone like CP3 puttin' down 30, it's ok if Rafer doesn't. As long as our team collectively can outscore their team, who cares how many points a star player or position player gets? Right?
morey says that Rafer is an underrated defender which is true. He is a solid team defender. If a PG has a big scoring day on his, that's ok if he didnt get others involved and we win the game. rafer is the best defender we have at that position by far. I think that's what Morey means. Love Rafer or Hate Rafer, the dude aint going anywhere. He is going to be a Houston Rocket, because we will not be able to find a team that will A. Give up a good PG and B. take rafer and his contract on. Personally, I feel like if Rafer would just stop taking stupid shots, he would be a pretty damn good starter for us. Problem is, he has to take 3 or 4 shots a night that just make u scratch your head.
Rafer's defense is so overrated! I don't think a team with a good defend pg can have the 4th quarter crash problem.
Isnt that why we have added guys like artest(despite what everyone is saying, this guy is a legit 20 PPG if u need him to be), Landry, Scola, BrooksBarry.....Throw in a healthy Yao.
