The problem with rafer is that he's a pretty terrible midrange shooter. He's shooting his 3's at a decent clip - 35%. But when you ask him to take a simple pull up midrange jumper off he can't make it. And as the original poster said, his tear-drop is usually off. At a time when we are really looking for offense from anywhere other than McGrady, this makes things unnecessarily difficult. The pg should be able to pick and pop several times a game, but with Rafer it's either going to be a spot up 3 pointer or an unlucky tear drop. The real question is whether Lucas's defensive deficiencies outweigh his benefit on offense. And while we're at it, just how much worse is Lucas on defense than Alston? Alston has a pretty terrible rep on this board for letting people blow past him left and right. Granted Lucas will get posted up all the time, but is it that much worse than slow-footed Alston?
Looks like our PG situation is reliant on Rafer-JLIII-VSPAN for rest of the season. JVG has officially ruled out Bobby Sura. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4442952.html UPDATE ON SURA Rockets guard Bob Sura has not yet officially called it quits on his 11-year NBA career. But Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy is no longer expecting the 6-5 guard to return from the multiple knee surgeries that have had him in rehab for the past 20 months. "This is the second full year he's been out," Van Gundy said. "He's tried his very best and to date it just hasn't worked out. Frankly, I don't think it will obviously. But he gave it his best effort." Sura, whose expiring contract pays him $3.84 million for this season, was unavailable for comment. He has not played since the 2005 first-round playoff series against Dallas.
I can't believe the letter "S" is not present in the above sentence. Maybe it can be modified as the follows? The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
I like it when JVG gives the ball to TMac during the last 4-5 minutes of the game and either bench Rafer more and bring in another shooter head. I went to the Nets game and during the critical parts of the 4th quarter, TMac was bringing the ball up as the PG and Head was the SG. Battier moves over to SF and either Hayes or Howard at PF, with Mutumbo at Center. Rafer tends to crumble under the pressure late during the game, especially if he is not fresh - such as the Laker lost in 3 triple OT. I think when Rafer will do alright when others on the floor make their shots or can get into good position to score. When you have to rely on Rafer to create he makes bad decision with passing or shooting. Bottom line, I think RAfer is ok for now. Limit his minutes a little so he can stay fresh. Use Lucas and VSpan to spell him, Lucas for scoring and VSpan when Yao comes back. In crunch time, give the ball to TMac and go for the pick n roll with Yao - this frees up Yao from fronting defense and double/triple team in the post. I wish we had a PG with more composure when things aren't going well but this is what we have to work with. With TMac handling the ball, he can always create or make really tough shots.
http://www.82games.com/0607/0607HOU.HTM Rafer helps this team win and does that while playing chunks of minutes every night. So what if he misses some shots? So does Tracy and every other Rocket out there. We are 20-12 with Rafer Alston and he hasn't missed a game. That's not too bad considering the injury bug.
See Chuck Hayes. I think Rafer is the best option at point guard for us, at least until a trade is made. Span can't seem to get his shot down and JL3 is not ready to be a starter at this early stage of his career. The guy can flat out score the ball though.
To those who suggest VSpan as an alternative for the PG position, I have got to be watching a different Spanoulis than you. I see one who's reckless to a fault and is quite literally a turnover machine. His best game of the season had him turning it over 5 times in slightly over 20 minutes. But of course since Rafer missed a few shots (not like VSpan is any better in that department), suddenly his ability to handle the ball with few TO's and get the ball to Yao well is offset by the new guy on the block who has nearly as many TO's as he does assists.
I don't know if anyone heard JVG at his press conference but he spoke highly of Alston saying he's been struggling with his shot and had a rough first half, but that he came back and had a very good second half.
You have to wonder how much of his 2nd half was due to JL3 playing so darned well and Rafer sitting out most of the 2nd quarter? A little competition is a good thing. Lord knows I am not a big fan of Rafer, and hope like hades that V-Span supplants him at some point, but right now, if it ain't broke...don't fix it. DD
I love how JVG seems to use different psychology with each player through the press. He knows that he needs to keep Rafer's confidence up so he can keep draining those late 3's.
lucas is great but hes undersized and takes way too long to set up the offense. he'll eat up about 10 seconds of the clock just trying to find an open player, but hes still a better shooter and scorer than alston. why did we trade mike james?!?! *sigh*
I'm not a Rafer fan either, but there is no question that he is the most efficient ballhandler and manager of the offense other than TMac. JLIII is improving, but there is no one else the team should really rely on to handle the ball and get them into the offense besides TMac and Alston at this point. He's not shooting well and that was always a concern, but I don't trust JLIII yet and no way I hand the team over to VSpan. As much as I love the guy, Head is not built to play the PG spot with his ball handling skills. That leaves Alston and McGrady.
1) T-Mac 10.2 missed FGs/game 2) Yao 8.6 missed FGs/game 3) Rafer 7.8 missed FGs/game 4) Head 4.9 missed FGs/game 5) Bonzi 4.5 missed FGs/game 6) Battier 4.4 missed FGs/game One of these is players is too high and it's not Yao and T-Mac. There is no way he should be missing that many shots, unless his name is Yao or T-Mac. It's amazing he leads the charge for missed shots by 60-70% more than roleplayers like Head, Bonzi and Battier. He has the lowest FG%.
I think basically Rafer is in the position of no one being a better point guard on the team, but that is not his fault. Rafer's not the gm, it's not his job to sign a point guard who is better than him. Until that point guard arrives, we should try to cut Rafer some slack assuming he can keep his wild shots under better control especially once the big fella is back. I'll take a few wild floaters (a few actually do go in, I have seen it happen), as long as he hits the 3's when it counts and we keep winning the majority of our games.
V-Span is a better PG than Rafer already, but, he has not adapted yet to the NBA game. In time, I think V-Span takes over...he is bigger, tougher, a better competitor and much better passer........ Hopefully they will split time next year...and then by year 3, V-Span is da Man with JL3 the change of pace guy off the bench...ala Earl Boykins. DD
