The problem is there are times when we do need offense with Tmac, Yao and Artest all on the floor. I believe that maybe not now, but easily by the end of the season brooks will be playing plenty more minutes that rafer. I do not buy that rafer is playing better, he played well against the suns, but I do not recall another game this season that he didn't brick multiple wide open shots. Brooks can hit an open man, in fact when you watch him he has consistently got other people wide open looks with his ability to drive and pass out. I would rather have him drive and hit an open man than the ball going around the perimeter and ending up at rafer who is wide open only because the opponent knows he cannot shoot. At any rate I think our team need to gel a little bit more and continue to pass the ball. The reason I enjoyed the suns game is because we did not force shots and the ball was shared.
As someone has stated already, AB can't play PG. So it's either Rafer or McGrady, and we want it to be Rafer. So all this talk about AB replacing Rafer isn't going to happen. Only in your dreams maybe. Isn't BB the one who got slammed by virtually everyone by predicting that Rockets will be out of playoffs when Yao went out last season? So much for respect
Yes, I made that prediction and it was actually before Yao went down, so even worse on me. In the end, 16 out of 30 teams make the playoffs. It's not that great of an accomplishment, especially when you lose in the 1st round. Moving on, Rafer can't play PG, either. At least not by NBA standards. Rafer is a black hole in the starting lineup. You can't do much worse. I do think that Brooks would do better than Alston but we would be better off getting somebody better than both and to let Brooks continue in his backup role.
By the way, bugz, the Rockets' point differential actually improved without Yao. A reasonable argument could be made that with Yao and without the second longest winning streak in NBA history (something nobody could have predicted or expected), we wouldn't have made the playoffs.
First of all, there were a lot of effort put into the 22 win streak, but at the same time there was also a lot of luck. We could just have a bad night like against the spurs/portland and lost like five games in these 22, and then we would have been in a ****ty position (17-5 is still very respectible, considering we are 10 games in this season and already 6-4) -- so actually I was one of the very few that did not feel the need to slam you in the end. That being said, I am not too big on the point differential stats. I think it's too much influence on other players in the court. I like Hollinger's PER better, and thus I have to disagree with you saying we place worse with Yao.
Saying 16 out of 30 make the playoffs doesnt do justice to what the Western conference was last year. 5 of the teams that made the playoffs last year in the East were total junk so its not right to say the Rox were simply 16 of 30. The fact that they made it to a home court advantage in the west last year shows how good a season they really had especially with a new coach and major injuries. To think a team that won 48 games playing a West heavy schedule and didnt make the playoffs is just unfair.
Just like with the Yao touch theory, I've got a assignment for you rafer lovers. Next game with a pen and pad take notes. Make a legend and have stuff like penetrating passes which are below the ft line. Penetration, which is penetration below the ft line. Also count how many fast breaks he leads, how many times he starts the offense, how many timeshe passes to tracy to start the offense. He fg's mades and misses are the easy part. Look at the rest of the game that don't show up and tell me his importance.
That is exactly what to look for, but it is a depth of understanding that I believe the casual fan does not understand. And I belive this thread is mistitled, it should be "The insignificance of Rafer Alston" That title makes sense. DD
The way its commonly described is that Rafer helps "organize" the offense, particularly our half court offense. That means he gets us quickly into our sets, makes sure to point out to everyone where they need to be, and gets it started. With Brooks running things, particularly when he has other scoring options like Tracy and Yao on the floor, it feels to me that there's a little more indecision. It takes a little longer for guys to know where they need to be. Things may not run with guys spaced on the floor properly, and it may run late, so we get poorer quality shots and we get them later in the shot clock. These are, I think, the potential issues. So that's what I'd look for. Figuring out a good way to chart that and compare between Rafer and Aaron is a challenge. Any thoughts on how I'd go about it?
much as what was exemplified by the quickest ball movement with purpose that we have seen this season.. in our last victory..? well.. up until the 4th..
Do you think this is Yao's and Rafer's first NBA game? Your suggestion to a regular fan is simply unintelligent, to use a less offending word. There are people paid to do these jobs, so first it's not as easy as taking a pen, and second, we really don't need to repeat the process and you can just grab the existing stats and formulas off. It's probably much better than what you'll come up with anyway.
There are tons of things that happen in the game that aren't just available on ther internet to view. If all the Rockets internal player evaluation reports were available on Rockets.com, then great. But they're not. So, I see nothing wrong in trying to replicate some of that work. It would make for more intelligent and informed discussion.
Numbers don't tell the whole story, especially for a non ball-dominating PG like Alston. With Alston, the offense is more predictable, the guys know where & when he is, the pace tends to be in a constant flow; with Brooks, the pace is much faster, and the offense is less predictable, for both his teammates & opponents. I don't know who will be better to run this team, I guess Brooks has an advantage with his age. But right now, Alston is more dependable. If this is a up & coming team, then I think Brooks is worth the risk to be a starter, but this is a team with a small window to go deep into the playoffs, there is no way the team is willing to take such a risk now.
Being so frickin' predictable may be one of our biggest problems. I think Brooks has a better chance at learning how to do the predictable (handing the ball off to T-Mac, standing on the perimeter) than Alston has of doing the unpredictable (making shots, beating his man off the dribble, penetrating and dishing/finishing, getting to the FT line).
don't expect daoshi to understand that... he still applies a very small mind and very short sight.. of our teams of years past... however inappropriate to the make-up of our team as it currently stands..
That's probably true from a PURE basketball stand, you don't want your opponents to know what you are going to do next, it's better to be unpredictable. But the reality is that NO coach likes the it, I mean at every level. If you follow the game closely, or played the organized game before, you know that unless you are a super-star, or irreplaceable, otherwise, you will sit your ass on the bench forever.
You think a coach that subscribes to reading and reacting to defenses wants his players to be predictable? I think being predictable is exactly want Adelman wants to get away from, at least on the offensive end. If nothing is available on the strong side, he is contstantly urging our players to swing the ball. Trying to force feed the ball play after play and going one-on-one 90% of the time is predictable and makes it easier to defend us. Adelman has acknowledged that he isn't trying to make us look like his former Kings but he still wants players cutting and moving without the ball, reading how defenses react and finding what opens up. That's how you catch teams off guard and get easier looks. It also makes your offense less predictable. Alston is probably the most predictable point guard in the league. He'll do some fancy dribbling now and then on the perimeter and pretend like he's going to penetrate, but nobody buys it... on either team. I'm not trying to compare Rafer to Chris Paul, but what makes Paul so extremely effective is that he is incredibly unpredictable. You rarely know what he's going to do next. He sees open players with the back of his head. Defenses don't know if he is going to take it to the basket or kick it to an open player. You could go on and on about Paul's unpredictability. Getting back to our situation. Obviously, neither of our PGs our in the same realm as Paul but Brooks at least offers a greater level of unpredictability. He can penetrate and break down defenses. He's shown plenty of signs of being able to dish it to the open man after doing so, despite people saying he can't pass well. Sure, he makes more mistakes but most PGs that penetrate and create for others commit more TOs. Like most players, Brooks will improve over time early in his career. He proved the same in high school and at Oregon. As far as doing the predictable stuff, i.e., playing like Rafer, Brooks is more than capable of doing what Alston does on the offensive end as far as bringing the ball up the court, setting up the offense and either handing it off to McGrady on the perimeter or making some other simple pass. On top of that, Brooks is a better shooter and, in time, could do exactly what Rafer does offensively, only better. The bigger question is defense which I also think Brooks can improve at considerably with experience. He may never be quite as good as Rafer, who I think is overrated defensively, but I definitely believe that he can close the gap on that end more than Rafer can when it comes to offensive skills. Brooks is quicker, a better penetrator, a better finisher and a better shooter... and he's only in his 2nd season. Rafer is on the downside of the career and there is no reason to believe he will make significant improvement at this point. I don't think Brooks is the ideal solution but I do think he presents us with a chance to kick this offense into gear, something I don't think Rafer can do. The best case scenario, in my opinion, would be to replace Rafer with a good starting PG and let Brooks continue in his backup role.
I like Alston mentally. However we can not continue to make an excuse saying when he is good we are great and when he is off we are off because this year we are not building, we are looking to have a championship this year. Therefore the most crutial postiion on the court, we can't have consistency. I would rather have someone like Steve Blake or anyone who is not necessarily a star, but someone who is consistent, stable, tough minded, can hit a 3 and play defense. Rafer is not a great shooter, yet shoots more than oru 3 stars a lot of the time. He doesn't open up the court and continues to make questionable decisions too much which doesn't make up for his spotty good plays and quality defense. WE can't win a championship with this guy on our roster. He has 0 trade value, so we need to bring him out with a pick or potential value and get rid of him. My proposal. Rafer/aaron brooks(who i love as a scorer off the bench, but his size does hurt us on defnse and plus he has some value) for Steve Blake/Bayless(Iwish, but they won't give him up) or Sergio Rodriguez
