You know the argument that Rafer is the "pass first" PG that we need around Yao and T-mac would have some more merit if he wasn't so damn shakey at times. Seriously when the game gets tight or the opponent starts to pull away a little, Rafer goes completely off his rocker. Bad decisions, over-dribbling, turnovers. The PG is supposed to pull the offense together when the wheels start coming off, but more often than not, Rafer starts playing out of control under pressure. We need Tracy in the game to calm the team down. Which is kind of sad when you think about it because that was exactly the case with Mike James too. Except that James could have been the 3rd option that we've always wanted, and a much better 2nd option than any of our role players.
Anyone hear Bill Walton today? Something along the lines of, "The Rockets traded Mike James for Rafer Alston, WTF were they thinking". Going back and looking at the old trade thread: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=2009440&postcount=183
In other news, Mike James made some more noise today, proclaiming himself to be a misunderstood pitbull and demanding to be paid more. He won't be going back to Toronto next year. And meanwhile, fans all over the nation (even Raptors fans) generally agree that Mike James is a loud-mouthed chucker. Except for the Rocket fans that won't stop crying over spilt milk.
I absolutely agree with you on Rafer. I guess that 3 week stretch when he was playing like an allstar was just an anomaly. Just like today in the 3rd qtr when Kobe was torching us, Rafer didn't even try to get it to Yao. All he did was became jittery, didn't seem to have control and jacked up poor shots.
Oh, please.. stop that "Alston is a pass-first point guard and is better than James" ... that's just non-sense... I am OK with Alston, he makes some nice plays, but I am a 100% sure that he isn't better than MJ.. he is a better play-maker, but we already have two of them (T-mac and Yao).. all we need is a tuff PG who can hit the open Jumper (a healthy Sura would be good)
Bingo. Alston will put up a double-double next season with TMac back and a 3rd scorer added to the starting lineup. He will be fine offensively. It's his defense that is sorely lacking and turns him into a middle of the pack point guard.
You cant say who exactly got the better end of the deal because both teams got what they wanted Skip- rockets got their starting pg (with the injury to sura) who is a pass first guard, and IS A GOOD BALL HANDLER James- Toronto got younger, and a expiring contract, which is what iam pretty sure they wanted to get in the trade. the truth is when TMAC is healthy Skip is a very good guard, he is a good pass first pg and can take it to the hole consistantly, something James doesnt do alot when he was here, but if sura was healthy i would have rather had James because he was the spark off the bench and combined with jon barry to be the spark of energy for the Rockets.
no, actually skips had alot of success takin it to the hole llately, iam not saying that he is anywhere near as successful as tmac, but right now he is the best guard we have in taking it inside, and i think thats in one field where he is better than james.
Totally disagree. James was tremendous at attacking the rim and finishing in the lane. I agree that Rafer isn't exactly a slouch with his teardrop floater, but there's no way that he penetrates as aggressively as James did. James would constantly go full speed ahead at the basket, whereas Rafer gets caught up in side to side movement a lot.
true, i agree that james would bring more energy than rafer does, but gettin back to topic Skip is a much better fit for the rockets as a STARTING point guard, when the rockets was healthy ( for about 20 games or so) skip did a tremendous job, scoring off open looks and dishing out assists, but like i said if sura was healthy i would rather have james.
I know what you mean. Even with the lowest threshhold, I don't think you should hold up your hope. Do you know how many players average 10 ass per game this season? Hint: only one, and with a high power offense..
It doesn't work that way. With healthy Tmac, usually, Tmac is the playmaker, Rafer is not. Anyway, do you want to bet on that double bouble thing?
