If you are going to say that, then dont ever say a good word about Aaron Brooks, Steve Francis, or your hero Vspan. In case you didnt notice, this horrible basketball player outplayed all of them by leaps and bounds. Dont give me crap excuses about them being rookies, or injured, or not given the proper chances, Rafer simply was far and away more effective then them, so if he sucks then they really suck. Second your timing of this post makes no sense. Why wait until after he has surgery, until after we are dominated by the Jazz without him, and very competive when he did play against them to make this post. He played great this year and not just during the streak. He was very good for about the last 50 games of the year. Give credit where it is due, cuz surely if he was horrible all season long you would have gladly given him more grief then he gets now. Lastly, why do you constantly dump on Rafer. If you are going to criticize, where is your blame for Adelman. I believe you said he was brought in and JVG booted to guide the Rox to playoff success. If i remember correctly, your problem with JVG was he played too many non scorers, didnt adapt to the Jazz, and was a failure for losing a series when having home court. Isnt that what Adelman just did. Why are you not slamming him? Yes, Yao was injured, but JVG had a still recovering Yao last year and a bench of JL3, Vspan, Hayes, and Head. He didnt have Scola, Landry, Brooks or Jackson like RA did. Let me be clear, I think RA did a great job this year, Im just pointing out how you ignore blaming the guys you like and trash the ones you dont.
So basically you reaffirm what everybody thinks of you, a common insignificant rockets fan who has no real knowledge of the rockets. your like the fan who screams and yells for his team but doesn't know why. and this thread is what everybody thought it was when you couldn't come up with solutions, your basic whinefest and b****ing without any substance to it. boy we don't have enough of those threads. way to represent the 99ers! DD: I talk but I really don't say anything.
I see what you mean. Get a PG who can actually do his job. Rafer runs the offense great but come on...teams refuse to guard him and notice when he has his shot on we always win? What if we get a PG who actually plays the PG so tracy won't have to do rafer's job and score. I don't know if you noticed but even in game 6 before he sprained the ankle he was a mess out there, making mistakes on both ends. That being said i still think that he VITAL to our success, i think he has earned a spot, but not as a started i for one would love for him to come off the bench
You are the one screaming that Rafer is that bad and we need to replace him so you must have a better idea who would be on the list. I don't. When I put "better than Rafer" + "available" + "good chance to get", I can't think of any. There are no untouchable in my book. I would trade Tmac for Kobe or Yao for LBJ if possible. I would also do Battier for Jose.
Let's see CP3 D-Will B-Diddy Tony Longoria Chauncey Billups Gilbert Arenas Allen Iverson Steve Nash Those are the only 8 PG's head and shoulders above Rafer. None of them are possible. To his credit, Rafer does as great a job as anyone can possibly hope for in defending them, especially Iverson and Nash. Now there's 4 PG's at his level right now at the very best. Jason Kidd Andre Miller Jose Calderon Mike Bibby Kidd and Miller's very suspect shooting and reliance on a uptempo, fast-paced game makes them a liability in half-court sets. Bibby and Calderon's very suspect defense offsets the slight offensive percentages we'll get from them. Add to the fact that Bibby has been awful in the playoffs and Calderon was getting torched by the Magic backcourt(possibly worst in the League) So Calderon at best is a wash for Rafer. Really there are no upgrades to Rafer and that should not be a priority. We all saw Rafer's importance to the team. We won 2 of 3 games with him and that loss was a very close one to the league's best home team. Just his presence on the floor makes us an elite team(fully healthy) He is a great floor leader, he doesn't turnover the ball, plays exceptional D, and hits open 3's. Even his floaters has been finding the net lately. An upgrade is not needed here and definitely not possible. We have a much, much more important position to upgrade, and as of now that position is held by Luther Head.
Typical VanGundleberry insignificant V3.0 post....just come in to complain on someone's coat tails. Then claim that they know what everyone thinks... YAWNNNNNNNN ! This thread is about explaining to the Rafer people that think he is not all that bad, that they are mistaken. But, well done, come in, attack the poster for no reason and then whine some more...Your mentor Sam Fisher would be proud. And I have already said on many occasions about whom would be an upgrade. Beno, Steve Blake, Calderon, TJ Ford to name a few. DD
None of these guys are an upgrade. In fact, with the exception of Calderon which is like taking a step sideways, the rest of them are DOWNGRADES.
You sir are simply wrong. They are all upgrades to Rafer......maybe not the same type of upgrade but they all make the team better as a whole. This team would be better with a Kenny Smith style of PG who is a good shooter and decent ball handler, or one that make others better with great passing...either works.... DD
Steve Blake!!?? - I won't even go there. Everything you said lost credibility at this point. Somewhere else I said TJ Ford is built for a high-octane system and very suspect in a half court set. And he's very suspect defensively and is piss-poor from outside (See Kidd, Jason - Dallas Mavericks) Beno - We go nowhere offensively and take a major blow defensively. 0 steps forward, 1 step to the left, 2 steps to the right, and 2 steps backwards.
Cocaine is a hell of a drug!.. Chris Paul Deron Williams Steve nash tony parker Baron Davis Allen Iverson Chanucey Billups Montey Ellis (when at the point) Gilbert Arenas Jason Kidd Then rafer? Ha!...keep going Rajon Rondo Mike Bibby T.J Ford (though stays injuried) Jose Calderon still well those are the players I can think of right now, but no Rafer is not top10, he's middle 15-20 ish
He falls into the Kenny Smith category a PG that is a better shooter than PG...but one that can bring the ball up and shoot well off of Tmac...thus making the team better overall. Much better passer would take a lot of pressure off Tmac to set up teamates, and when Tmac is out of the game can handle all of the playmaking duties...thus...Rockets better. Same as Blake..... We need better shooting from the PG position. It would be great if we can get shooting and assist making.....but I would settle for a guy that is as good as Rafer at ball handling but a better shooter...you know....an average PG. DD
Beno, Blake - They have to fight for a starting job with Rafer. At BEST, they are equal. In 2007, Rafer > Beno/Blake. Calderon - not good chance to get without giving up one of our core. TJ - career 0.301 3P%, 8M a year till 2011. Not worth to get. Try again. btw, A guy as good as Rafer at ball handling (and defense, I assume) and a better shooter is NOT an average PG but a very good PG.
Got to ween the team off the Rafer nipple....once they get someone in that is a competent shooter and let's him get comfortable, people will forget all about the sub 40% shooter from NY city. DD
are you finished editing your lame post? is this your final draft? I know it's fun to poke the stick at the "special" fat kid in class, but I'll spare you this time. Cause the rest of the board can smell your BS from a mile away, one that talks about anal fissures and dingleberries on a constant basis. Steve Blake, lol. That dude is backup at best. Beno is an average pg who the KINGS WANT TO KEEP HIM. TJ Ford, not impressed. Calderon, pipe dream. Any other NOT well thought suggestions? pffftt, Kenny Smith was our Rafer back then for different reasons, we didn't have the internet back then but he was our whipping boy back then and the constant object of whining from callers to the radio stations on the rockets. And everything Rafer was good at was what Kenny sucked, mainly his lack of defense and getting owned by other pgs, not just good ones, but he made average pgs look like allstars. Stop namedropping Kenny cause your not gaining points from real rockets fans, maybe except from tinman, and he doesn't really count.
Try our luck at Juan Carlos Navarro---he is one of the top 3 point shooters. I really hope we can do a trade along these lines with Memphis: Jackson 6 mil Luther Head 1 mil Loren Woods Mike Harris Aaron Brooks 1 mil 2 future first round picks for Mike Miller Navarro one of their second round pick add or subtract to make salaries work come on Memphis we gave you Rudy now give us something in return.
whoa whoa whoa.... I can agree that those other three guys would be an upgrade to some degree but Beno Udrih is not an upgrade. He doesn't make plays. He is not a great shooter. He is not only not good enough to be a starter the Spurs didn't think he was fit to be a 3rd stringer. The guy had a decent season, played alot of minutes, and wasn't asked to do much. He is not the answer. He is not a better player or PG than Rafer. Anyways, there are probably more people here who would agree with DD. I think he just hasn't been very clear on what he consider's THAT BAD. Anyone here has to understand that stats don't lie and Rafer has terrible stats. Stats don't tell the whole story either, though.
Steve Blake has a better assist/TO ration than Rafer (about the same # of assists and turns the ball over much less), shoots 41% from field and 40% from 3pt land. How is that not a sizeable upgrade to Rafer again?
Blake is better than Rafer.....Beno is average but still better than Rafer.......TJ Ford....better than Rafer....Calderon....pipe dream? Perhaps...how is Gasol for Kwame working out these days? Perhaps there were complaints from idiots that didn't understand the importance of being able to hit shots to keep people from doubling Dream.... Real Rockets fans understand that being able to dribble the ball and hand it off at the top of the key to Tmac is not that great of a skill.....or being able to play passing lanes is not really considered great defense. Or Real Rocket fans understand that average PGs are better than below average ones, and sometimes a SLIGHT upgrade can make the team....SOOOOOOO much better. This team needs a better PG...there are two ways to go about it. 1. A playmaking version 2. A good shooting version Either works well, for Rick Adelman and his system....but preferably one that does both well. DD
