Rafer's fine most of the time. Has underrated ball handling, defensive and passing ability. Clearly his shooting is his weak point, but generally the team runs better when he is on the floor. During the 22 in a row streak, JVG rightly commented that he was at the level of a top PG as he had his team playing as well as anyone. That said, he has to take some of the blame for the repeatedly stagnant nature of this offense. As PG, he is the coach on the floor and should be an extension of Adelman. There doesn't seem to be much of a connection between the coach and the PG here and the ability to get movement on offense seems to be independent of anything Rafer does or says. I can do without his new found "tough guy" image - not only is it pathetic, but the Ts and ejections hurt the team and have the potential to distract Ron too.
I'm 100% satisfied with Rafer starting and Brooks being his backup. I'd be pissed if Rafer was coming off the bench for Brooks.
I didn't know educating yourself about the game was offensive. No matter if you're new to the game or have watched and played like others. Its always good to be as infromed as possible. The avg fan watches the ball, the student watches backside action away from the ball. Its like watching football. Most people watch the ball, but the results come from the line of scrimmage. All I suggest to those that don't believe some of the stuff I write, do what I ask and you will see what I'm talking about as far as rafer. A poster can actually do it for any player if they want to see how coaches scout players and come up with gameplans or even when they want to sign or trade for a player on another team. Back to the brooks unpredictable nature and rafer's steady nature. Anyone that has followed adelman know he's not a play caller. He's a guy like jackson who like the sets and the variables to dictate the offense. That's really a good way to play, but you have to have the right parts and quick thinkers. JVG was more of a micro manager which is what I think has crippled the game. Although its coming back some, jvg,riley,carisle,brown, those guys like to be so in control, they want to call every play like in football. That's why most of their teams are lower scoring teams. Basketball is and should be fluid. Have your sets and the offense is flexible enough to take advantage of the way defenses play you. Rafer handicaps your team offensively because he's not going to penetrate. He's not going to make penetrating passes, and he's a terrible shooter. Now Adelman had a guy Like J.Will who was similar, but at least williams was a really good penetrator. Adelman used Jackson in the 4th a lot because he was a better defender and,more consistent shooter and more reliable. After a couple of years of that williams experiment, they traded for Bibby. Bibby was the kind of pg he likes. He can penetrate, he can shoot and play without the ball, and just a more consistent player. Brooks isn't Bibby, but I can see where adelman is really starting to gain trust in him. I'm not anti rafer, I just think he a good backup on a ring team. When teams don't even guard you on the perimeter, that says something. The whole organization thing is another problem. For a sets coach, why can't the players understand where to go? Tracy is one of the smartest basketball players in the game and runs most of the offense anyway, you tell me rafer sets up players more than tracy? Like my coach said the moment I got to college, be a student , not a fan. Maybe i'll do like I did with the "yao needs more shots" posters and do a thread. Of course some will say get a life or I'm condescending or whatever else, but to help educate the newer fans and the old senile ones, it might be needed.
Rafer is still OK but his recent inconsistency i.e. a few poor games in between good ones maybe the fact that his age is showing. We need his game to be consistently good to go all the way. I hope we need to sit Rafer when he is having a poor night.
Brooks is a scorer. If he starts there will be less opportunities for him to score. There are more scoring opportunities off the bench. If Rafer is in there with T-Mac, Artest, and Yao, then he won't see many attempts. Aaron Brooks comes off the bench to a green light. We need scoring off the bench, and that's what he does. Do you want Rafer to be depended on for scoring off the bench!? However, I'm fine with Brooks finishing games and playing more minutes.
I mean of all the teams the rox have had that would win 50 games, Rafer is the worse. I mean Matt Maloney was money and all he did was get the ball up and play off the big 3. Maloney could at least knock down shots. If you can't knock down butt naked shots and you're not going to break the defense down, what good is he.
Maloney lived the american dream. He played with 3 hof, got paid 3m per for 7 yrs eventhough he had 2 yrs of work and he looks like one of the Baldwin Boys. No need to ever feel bad for that guy. He could knock down butt naked shots. It was more of a surprise when he missed than when he made it. Rafer is the other way around.
I really felt like AB should have shot a midrange jumper there. He's good at them. Doesn't matter. Game shouldn't have been close. I get frustrated with Tmac too, and I a big fan of his. Although it's not much, I feel that at least we are talking about 1-15/16, and 2-12 shooting nights, rather than 2-20+ shots. He seems to take fewer shots when he's off. I'm glad for that. I really wish he could be more consistent, I mean even if he could just give us an semi-efficient 14-15 points a night that would be great.
Come on, that's Brooks vs. backups. That's Rafer vs. the starters of the league. I think Brooks is awesome, but those numbers are not with all things equal. Stats rarely are.
thats exactly why we need rafer whatever hsppene to the rafer that was in game 22 of the streak against the lakers...
Nice...a post that makes sense. Rafer is the epitomy of a mediocre NBA point guard. You usually know what you're getting with rafer, and every eight games or so he'll be hot. But, the at the current team situation, Rafer is far and none the best option we have at the position. He runs the offense well when he's in the game. I love Brooks, and Brooks has future 6th man talent written all over him. Think Bobby Jackson 2003. However, this team would be unsuccessful over the course of the season and playoffs with Brooks starting at point.
wow you really try hard The Rockets need their starting PG to put the ball in T-Mac & Yao's hands so they can create the offense. The offense should go through one of the big two. All of the Rockets starters except Rafer and sometimes Scola run in transition. Whenever Rafer goes for the break, he is always the only one. You can't fault him for that.
