First let me say that Rafer's improved shooting is much appreciated. Having said that I think we can get a lot more out of our offense...AND defense with two changes. Move Tracy to the point and start Luther head at the off guard. Tracy is plain and simple the best play-maker on the team. He takes care of the ball just as good as Rafer and I think he is a better passer plus he is a lot more dangerous driving to the basket and dishing off to Yao or back to the perimeter than Rafer. Luther head while not the better of the two point guards between he and Rafer IS a better basketball player. Luther plays better defense, shoots better from behind the arc and drives to the basket a lot better. Luther could cover the opposing teams point guards better than Rafer has done up to this point and and he gives the team a better scoring option than Rafer on the offensive end. The big plus is that we get T-Mac running the offense on a more full time basis and we can better define Shanes position on the team as the full time starter at small forward. Rafer is a better point than Luther and runs the team better than Luther so when our starting point guard comes out we replace him with Rafer instead of Luther which should keep the offense running smoother when the second unit is in. Another plus is that I think Rafers outside shooting and good passing better complements Kirk Snyders game (which is driving to the basket...not outside shooting) with the second unit than than either Luther Head (who is not a very good passer) or T-Mac (who has not been a good outside shooter this season). If Bonzi ever makes it back on the court the same can be said about Rafer complimenting his game IMO. Just my 2 cents.
Unless Rafer is injured, I can't see JVG ever taking him out of the starting line-up. This could be good or bad, just know it won't happen as long as JVG is coach.
First, the likelihood of that happening is 0%. Rafer isn't leading the team in minutes per game because everyone else is in foul trouble. JVG is looking to find a backup point guard, the last thing he wants to do is put his only real one on the bench. Second, I just don't think it's that great of an idea. Why not just have Rafer continue to start and just lower his minutes by bringing in Luther to replace him earlier, but with T-Mac running the point, as suggested? I wouldn't be completely oppossed to seeing some V-Span either.
This is actually a pretty good argument, but I disagree with the idea of not starting Rafer for one reason: He is our primary tempo guy. I realize T-Mac is the better playmaker, but Rafer is still by far our best ball handler and he, more than anyone else on the team is the guy we need to help push the tempo, get the ball up the court in a hurry, set up the offense and get shots early in the shot clock. We need to be able to have fast starts in games, and T-Mac, as good as he is at creating shots, is much better in half court sets. Rafer's playmaking is also somewhat underrated -- he's not nearly as dangerous driving to the hoop, but he plays the "floor general" role extremely well. Again ... decent idea (and I particularly like the idea of keeping Rafer on the court together with Snyder), but I'd still rather have Rafer starting games and doing what he's doing right now.
rafer needs to start period.. he needs to set the tempo by getting the ball to yao early in the game so yao can get into his rhythm.. you think yao will have this good of a start this season if rafer wasn't starting?
Strategically I like the idea of keeping Rafer there as a starter and doing as someone else suggested, getting Luther more minutes on the court with T-Mac at the point. The only problem with this scenerio is defense. Doesn't that defensively cause us match up problems?
Head may be our best (clutch) 3 pt shooter, but he's not a very good defender. Alston defended quick pgs like terry, parker pretty well. If a big strong pg like billups abuses him, it's not a bad idea to put a big guard like synder/wells guarding him and let tmac run the offense.
So... the Rockets builds big leads to start the game but have problems in the 4th quarter and the solution is to tweak what they do to start the game?
TMac would be EXHAUSTED by the 4th quarter if he is the starting PG. Do we want our best playmaker worn down when we need him the most? TMac already plays point-forward often. I don't see how designating him at PG gives us an advantage.
You are right of course but I think it will take a while for Tracy and Jvg etc. to come to this realization.Tracy must have the chance[but not at Yao's expence] to see if his game can respond to his physical and mental setbacks of last season. A time will be reached when he realizes that about 24pts a game is now his norm and that his future basketball career could be reshaped as the top Point Guard [Playmaker]in the NBA. Of course if he is able to move upto 28 pts per game then such a development would be on hold: In the game against the Spurs,at the start the Rockets went away from their recent playmaking to seeing Tracy trying to be the main scorer. If Yao is to be the focus and Alston can't get the ball to Yao then Tracy should reverse rolls with Alston, inorder to have good playmaking.
Rafer would be a great backup, but we still need a traditional quick PG to guard fast 1's. Luther is really too slow to guard quick 1's, and it seems that each season we get a few more 1's with quickness in the NBA. T-Mac is a great playmaker...obviously our best, but switching Luther to guard a starting 1 would kill us defensively. Offensively, it seems like a decent idea
Rafer got benched early in the 4th vs the Heat. Head finished the game. Rafer had an atrocious end to the 3rd quarter in the Spurs game. I wrote a very detailed recap of the collapse here: at the bottom of the page http://bbs.clutchfans.com/showthread.php?t=120221&page=64&pp=20 There were 5 defensive mistakes by the Rockets and 3 offensive mistakes during that 13-0 run in the last 2 and half minutes of the 3rd quarter. Rafer accounted for all 3 offensive mistakes (major mistakes too) and 3 of the 5 defensive mistakes during the run. JVG was livid at Rafer. What sucks is that he inserted Head for the 4th and Head sucked it up too. Rafer will be the starter, but Head has been getting more crunch time minutes lately. Head has played: -the entire 4th quarter of the Spurs game -the last 9:36 of the Heat game (and Rafer didn't) -the entire 4th quarter of the Knicks game -the entire 4th quarter of the Bucks game -the entire 4th quarter of the Grizzlies game -8 minutes of the 4th quarter of the Hornets game (sat the middle 4 mins) -Mavs game a blowout so I didn't care to look -1st 2 minutes of the 4th in the Jazz game So look at that pattern. Only the first game of the season, the loss to the Jazz, did JVG not play Head to finish the game. And during the last 5 games, Head has played the entire 4th quarter in 4, and the last 9:36 in the other. Rafer plays about half the 4 quarter. He rotates with Snyder and Battier. It all depends if JVG wants to go small ball or not. But it is evident that ever since the first loss to the Jazz, Head has pretty much been guaranteed one spot in the back court in the 4th quarter. Now head hasn't been spectacular. He's crapped out many times like Rafer. But as stated in another post, Head is the better option in my opinion (if you have only 1 small guard in the game) to play with Yao and T-Mac because Head's release is faster, his shot is slightly more reliable, he's a slightly better defender, a better finisher at the hoop, and doesn't try to take over the offense at times with stupid forced shots. Let's clear this myth here. Rafer is not a great ballplayer. He isn't this perfect guy who doesn't force shots...the anti Mike James as some would put it. Watch closely. Rafer takes at least 3 terrible shots every game. It's not terrible because he makes or misses them; it's terrible because he ignores his teamates and tries to carry the offense on his own. This was very evident last game during the 13-0 run. Beno was schooling him on one end and Rafer took it upon himself to try to be the hero and ignore all his teamates and score on Beno on the other end...Rafer failed miserably and was integral to the collapse...not only his fault, but he was a major part of it...read my recap link, it's good stuff. Anyhow, Head isn't a savior. He sucks too imo. He's just better than Rafer for the Rockets in the 4th with TMac doing the main ball handling. And JVG agrees with me. It's NOT Rafer and maybe Head playing the 4th now. It's Head for sure, and maybe Rafer depending on what matchups JVG likes.
