Although I agree with some of your assessment, your bias is too big to have an open mind in this discussion
I agree with this 95%. I don't think we are getting "close to handing the reigns over ". Brooks still needs to get his 10-20 mpg with the 2nd team to improve his play making decisions and that includes some pt with Alston also in the line up.
I have one word for this thread... Duh Unbelievable that some people are just now realizing this, or even worse still denying it. It's been proven time and time again. This team is terrible without Rafer. It was so painfully obvious last night that you are only lying to yourself if you disagree. I propose that the response for anyone who says Rafer should be benched is just simply "Spurs 11/14/08," and then be done arguing. It's empirical evidence that leaves no room for debate.
Of course I have a bias, I have watched the guy toss up more bricks in 4 years than any PG the Rockets have ever had. Yes he can dribble, and make the safe pass.....well so fricken what......the world is full of people who can do that. This team is too good to have their fortunes lie in the hands of a CAREER....CA-FRICKEN-REER....sub 40 percent shooter. If Brooks sucks it up and shoots under 40% for the year, I will be one of the first to say....run him out....but he is already shooting better than that. Did Brooks struggle a bit last night? Yes he did, but the team was winning with him running the show, then TMac took over and gave it away. Rafer Alston is a coaches crutch, a guy who will do what is asked, but is not capable of anything more. Give AB a chance.....he is already more skilled than Rafer. And that is not bias...it is just cold hard facts. You can not judge Brooks abillity to lead this team base upon his very first time running it. Especially when Tmac took over and did his team killer thing. DD
Excluding 05-06 SEASON, this team never ceases to amaze me with their: Suckage (during the beginning of the season) Injuries (somewhere during the season) Ownage (after midseason) Let them build some chemistry. You didn't think an offense with Yao, Tracy, Ron, and Scola was gonna happen overnight did you? The good/bad part is the Rockets can't resort to JVG offense with Battier out and Ron here. At least we see flashes of Adelman's offense sometimes.
See...Rafer is a crutch.....Tmac loves the guy. I would trade Rafer and make Tmac sink or swim.....you got to take away crutches....especially when the team can walk on their own, they just don't know it because they have been wearing their Rafer "Forest Gump" Alston PG for 4+ years. DD
What? I defended Brooks in every thread I've been in. In fact, I predicted that if he had a bad game people would do the usual knee jerk reaction that we always see. I like AB, but he is not yet a starting pg and that isn't his role on this team. We all know Rafer's faults. Few want to acknowledge his value. It's easy to discredit him, but sometimes stats don't tell the whole story. The UTah series did though, so did last night and numerous other games. In the NBA it's a matter of respect. Rafer can control our team, get us into the offense, and bark orders to our upper tier player. Brooks just isn't there yet. It's not his fault (like I mentioned), it's just reality. In closing, we need AB as a spark off the bench. He is most productive that way. He can play his game as he learns and adjusts. Like I said, I'm glad we have him and I think he has a bright future. He's just not a starter yet. In time that will come. Our team finishes with whoever is playing the better overall game IMO. If you think Rafer is a "coaches crutch" you're way off base. Hes a solid floor general. If you want to criticize him for his faults (which is certainly fair), give him credit for what he does well. I know you are a long time Rockets fan. You know exactly what I'm saying. Certain guys (Kenny Smith, Mad max,ect...) just have a certain value on teams. rafer is like that here
no it's not, it's your opinion. AB is not a better point gaurd than Rafer Alston, not yet, not for this team. There are things AB does better than Rafer, no doubt, but not enough to warrant him starting over Rafer.
Yeah, shooting is so overated, who needs to put the ball in the basket anyway??????????????? Are you guys kidding me? Seriously? You do know why NBA teams leave Rafer wide open and double everyone else on the floor, right? Because they know he sucks as a shooter.....and of course in those 20% of the games where he shoots decently the Rockets win going away. Now, imagine if you had a PG that could take advantage in oh say 60% of those games......the team would be a juggernaut. Rafer Alston is one heaping pile of dung on the basketball court. DD
The team was down FOURTEEN POINTS to Utah when he went out with injury, that is a fact that gets ignored by the Rafer Apologists....Yao being out was more important than Rafer being out. Yes, Rafer can dribble well and run an offense, I contend....that is NOT enough. Brooks ran the team fine last night, he was a facilitator and attacking all night.... Tmac took the ball out of AB's hands and THAT was the game right there, you let AB take it down the stretch and the team wins...PERIOD.... Sometimes teams get too used to playing with a certain player, and they get comfortable. If Rafer missed a significant amount of time, this team would find out what it is like to be weened out of mediocrity, Rafer Alston is NOT part of the solution, he IS part of the problem. DD
Rafer wouldn't have made a difference? Wow... how clueless can someone get? The only guy here with overblowitis is YOU. No one is confusing Alston to be some star player, but he's a critical role player to this team. If you can't even acknowledge that, then you're ignoring the facts. And I love that logic that D-Will scoring on Rafer suddenly makes Rafer a bad defender. Nope. If we had any defense at the PG position we win this game. And Brooks supposedly being our best player says A LOT more about how T-Mac, Yao, Artest, and Scola performed more than it says about AB.
DD, the importance of rafer reminds me of the elections. There were people talking about obama being a muslim, which I didn't know was against the law. People talking about how doesn't even have a birth certificate, which he did. The topper was when the old lady called him a "arab" as if it was something wrong with that. Poster have read into how great the offense is when rafer runs it. If running a offense is getting the ball to half court and giving it to tracy, then pg play is at a all time low. If his "leadership" is missed, how did he display that with the off court charges and on court reaction to barnes. Then to back it up, we use 1 game as a litmus as to how great defensively he is. I guess no one remembers how mike james tore him a new a-hole when the rox went to play. What about miller,paul,fisher,ridnour and other pgs that has had their way. Hell, kyle lowry killed rafer early in the season. Then no one wants to remember the last 10 games last yr when brooks,jackson and the team played well. Just like post election people still think barack is a arab or muslim, people will continue to overblow rafer.
no, but you are coming off as if it is the ONLY thing. Besides, Brooks is not head and shoulders above Rafer. Take off your rose colored glasses.
UNBELIEVABLE! How can you keep ignoring Game 1 and Game 2 when Alston didn't play a minute!? The Jazz could of blown us in Game 6 even if everyone was healthy. You can't expect to win multiple games @ Utah. It's one of the hardest places to play for a reason. Had we just won one of those home games, we force a Game 7.
Leeb, you are....100% correct. It boggles my mind that people are watching the same game I am and watching this guy toss brick after brick .......when WIDE OPEN....because the other team doesn't even bother guarding them. Heck in a pickup game, Rafer is the last guy picked and no one bothers to guard him, you know why? Because he sucks. DD
Lol , bro.. No point in continuing this obviously. Blame it all on TMac. he played like ****, but Brooks was 6-17 as well. It sucks that you are making me criticize AB when it was not my intent. You just are blind to reality when it comes to your favorite players. That's fine. I can agree to disagree
Having Rafer is no guarantee the team would have won either of those games, now is it? Rafer is valuable only in that he is a crutch that Tmac likes and is comfortable with...you know why? Because Rafer won't take Tmac's precious little ball away from him. Rafer is a bigger problem than most casual fans like you realize. DD
