I think Rafer is a better player without Tmac, his production has deteriorated considerably now that Tmac is back. DD
What are you talking about. Wasn't Rafer already coming down to earth two games before McGrady came back?
HTML: Player G GS MPG FG% 3p% FT% PPG Yao Ming 43 43 37.2 .501 .000 .853 22.1 Tracy McGrady 30 26 34.9 .440 .311 .679 22.0 Rafer Alston 41 41 33.5 .393 .329 .647 11.6 Bonzi Wells 42 7 22.5 .416 .200 .641 9.6 Shane Battier 44 43 35.6 .421 .376 .694 8.5 Luis Scola 44 1 21.1 .495 .000 .615 8.1 Luther Head 41 11 19.2 .420 .357 .821 7.5 Mike James 29 1 17.8 .352 .333 .786 7.3 Carl Landry 11 0 12.4 .690 .000 .619 6.5 Aaron Brooks 23 0 13.3 .435 .302 .895 5.5 Steve Francis 10 3 19.9 .333 .235 .565 5.5 Steve Novak 5 0 9.8 .600 .636 1.00 5.4 Kirk Snyder 9 0 9.0 .464 .222 .545 3.8 Chuck Hayes 44 44 21.9 .508 .000 .273 3.1 Dikembe Mutombo 13 0 8.4 .143 .000 .714 .5 Team Averages 44 0 241.1 .443 .334 .727 95.3 Opponents 44 0 241.1 .439 .364 .747 93.3 Rafer is a cancer, please bench him or trade him. Tmac, please don't shoot 3. Brooks, as a rookie, please shoot more. .
Jesus we're a bad 3pt shooting team. And from what I've seen most of them are wide open, we just suck at it. 31% for TMac is unacceptable. We should fine him for taking a 3pointer in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock. But maybe then he would just dribble it till second 11.
Jerome Solomon, from the Chronicle: As we've seen, you can win games with Alston running the point. In what might be a surprise to some of you, a team could probably win a championship with Alston running the point. The problem is, these Rockets aren't that team. The players know it. Adelman knows it. General manager Daryl Morey knows it. Unfortunately for the Rockets, the rest of the league knows it, too. An upgrade at point guard is essential if the Rockets hope to be playoff players rather than bricklayers this spring.
Somewhat, but for some reason it seems that he plays better when he gets to handle the ball more......now that Tmac is back...he is passing it off to him and then basically becomming a 2 guard...and that is NOT good. D D
My goodness man. That's the truth. That's why I am advocating moving Brooks, McGrady into the starting unit alongside Battier, Yao, and Landry/Chuck. Landry and Chuck should rotate the starting role based on the opponent. When we play teams like the Jazz with a player like Boozer that will just eat Landry up, you gotta have the flexibility to start Chuck. But, point is, Rafer should be playing with the second unit, Rafer, Head, Bonzi, Scola, Chuck. That's a nice veteran mix of offense/defense coming off the bench for you, a good post up threat (Bonzi, Scola), good midrange shooters, a great 3 point shooter (Head), and if Rafer gets hot, we can walk away from other team's second units. If Rafer is not hot, well at least he's out there chucking against other players that aren't as good as the starters and hopefully he can defer to the playmaker role and feed Luther, Scola, and Bonzi. I agree with you, I hate Rafer out there with McGrady in the spot up role. Frankly, I am starting to hate McGrady in the playmaker's role. I know he gets 5-6 assists. But he burns up too much clock, player movement goes down the tubes as everybody starts to spot up, and we wind up with too many desparation buzzer heaves. In my humble opinion, we are fast approaching the summit with this team constructed the way it is, with the players playing the roles that they are playing. Rafer just peeked out, giving us approximately 1 month of decent/acceptable shooting and we were ready to annoint him the franchise Savior. That's how low our expectations have fallen for his shooting performance. I think it is time for either a significant role change or a significant trade. And a significant role change is much easier to accomplish than a significant trade. I think Brooks needs to start and play with McGrady and he needs to be given the ball so he can do something with it while McGrady plays off the ball. That is the significant role change for all three guys, Brooks, McGrady, and Rafer, and for the team as a whole. You can just see it with Brooks. He is simply a superior player to Rafer and is making Rafer obsolete. Can you think of one team in this league that if you took out their point guard combo and plugged in our point guard combo that they would not start Brooks? I can't. Another point on Rafer. As bad a finisher as he is, HE IS A MUCH BETTER PENETRATOR/FINISHER THAN A SPOT UP SHOOTER or even a stop and pop shooter. Rafer and the Rockets are much better off when he takes it in to the paint. Yeah, I hate it when he misses those little tear drop shots, but at least we get a shot at a putback, especially with guys like Bonzi and Chuck/Landry on the floor. When he clanks out that 3 point shot, it just ignites the opponent fast break and typically it's because he's spotted up high and the rest of the team is below the foul line, so we are at an immediate disadvantage getting back. Rafer's stats don't lie. He is much more efficient taking the ball to the rack. He oughta be doing that on the second unit against a more inferior opponent defender and defense, and he should be feeding finishers like Luther, Scola, Bonzi, Landry. On the flip side, who in their right mind doesn't want to see what Brooks could do alongside Yao and McGrady. He along with Novak are the two players that can simply demoralize a team offensively and make them pay for doubling 111. And he can actually play some defense..............and he can run the opponent out of the gym........all by himself. But......Adelman has got to hand him the ball and tell him it's his job, and McGrady has to accept it and let the kid become the creator for this team. McGrady needs to work off the ball with those little curl plays, catching and shooting until the defender starts to overplay him, then go backdoor or use his upfake and take it to the rack. Brooks will get him the ball just fine. But they need to take the shackles off Brooks and let him have his head and space and let him make something happen.
I fully agree. We are spiraling downward with Rafer as the floor general. Short of a trade, it's time to hand it over to Brooks. There are no other options. Forget James and Francis for this role. Ideally, we would have let Brooks develop as a backup at most this season, but we are in dire straits and need to unleash the Mighty Duck now.
If T-Mac is going to initiate the offense and try to be Gilbert Arenas on offense, then what's the point of having Alston in the game at all? Put another scorer in the game.
Yep, it looks like the more he handles the ball the more effective he is.... Which means one of them should go. DD
When T-Mac is back, I'm for having him play the entire fourth quarter, and a lot less throughout the rest of the game. He's a closer and he gets us points when we're stuck in a rut in the half court sets, but we don't run and move when he's in, and that's how we've been successful without him. rafer plays very well without tmac in the lineup
