I wouldn't make this move. First, I'm not as big a fan of Harrington as a lot of people seem to be. Second, when our depth as as poor as it is now, I just don't see how we can afford to give up two key rotation guys for one. I'd be happy to see Swift gone, but at the very least we need Rafer here as a back up. Our depth is so lousy we can't afford to just throw in anybody on our roster that even remotely resembles an NBA quality player.
While this isn't ideal, this team needs players. Al Harrington can play. I'd prefer a guy with a consistent outside shot, but I would jump on this deal.
I think we should give Stro some more time next season. Maybe he could play better if Yao & T-Mac are all in healthy condition. He has the potential still.
I'd do it, but you would have to make sure that you have a quality one coming in. Mike James could be just that. In other words, the order in which you make moves is important during the offseason.
u must be kidding me.. improve his 3 ?? omg.. talking about improving EVERYTHING in his game.. Rafer for James was just sad (sorry to bring that up again)... Rafer sux.. Rafer cant shoot, cant handle (can dribble between his legs, alright, but too many TO's), cant do anything... we dont need a playmaker who can create off the dribble, we need a "Jason Terry" type of player (even though he is the second player on my HATE list, right after Kobe)... we need a shooter who can bring the ball up the court without turning it over or dribbling off his foot, give it to T-mac or Yao, stand behind the 3 point line or cut to the basket, receive a pass, swish it or finish strong... sounds a lot like our champion rockets role players in Hakeem's team... that's why Sura is perfect for this team.. MIke james would be great (BUT TOO BAD WE TRADED HIM, sorry again)... hope we get him back... great Questions, but I dont know the answer.. . . . maybe they got the knicks's president of B-ball operations/ GM..
I think y'all have been blinded by this season's failure and Mike James' blasting off in Toronto. Rafer did extremely well when both T-Mac and Yao were healthy.
horrible idea. we need rafer's 6.7 assists, and next year, we need him to hit 3s. if he hits around 40% from 3, we are gonna be a hella good team.
I don't really like this trade beacuse Rafer is a good point guard, he barely got to play with T-mac and Yao on the court together, I bet he would do phenominal with them. He averaged a career high in assists without them, imagine how well he will with them together. T-mac said that he'll make Swift an all-star which I doubt, but I know T-mac can make him better. I'd rather have Mike James be a spark off the bench rather than a starter, beacuse I think we need more of a traditional point guard than a scoring one.
Extremely well? I would counter offer that Alston was adequate at the very best. To use your phrase "blinded"...by the Rockets going 10-4 when all were healthy...but ignoring the fact that the combined opponents record of the 10 teams was 204-259..seasonally adjusted to 36-46. Or blinded again by Alston averaging 10.4 ppg, 7.9 apg, 3.8 rpg, 2.6 to, 1.8 stl, .379 FG%, .341 3P%...and being outplayed by every other PG he went up against in those 10 wins. The gorey game by game details are in my post here... http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=111317&page=4&pp=20&highlight=alston+fisher+james
GATER, rafer's 8 apg you mentioned were key. Our third scorer can be a PF who can hit the 3. We need a PG who can distribute. Rafer does that. MJ distributes to himself at the cost of a stagnant offense.
If you gaze through those statistics just a little bit, you can see that the team performed best when Yao and TMac were playing and DWes was hitting his shots. That is to say, Wesley was the 3rd scoring option and he was actually hot. Strangely enough, those are the games when Rafer is throwing double digit assists. I really think Van Gundy has got it figured out. He says we need both, a distributor and a playmaker. If we add James to Rafer and what we already have, and then another scoring option at the 2 guard that is longer than Wesley, I think we've got our scoring. Then if we can figure out some way to upgrade the PF spot, get a shooting PF in the 2nd round, that is a pretty sound team offensively and Rafer will look like a whirling dervish assist machine when he is surrounded with shooters that open up the floor. I'm sorry, but you stick Mike James on last year's team and we win a couple more games and we are all upset because he chucks up shots, his shooting perentage is low and now he is a free agent that we can't re-sign and we didn't get any value for in trade. Mike James running around dribbling the basketball surrounded by Bogans, Howard, Bowen, Frahm, Swift, Wesley, and whatever other pieces parts we were playing would have been just as big a disaster as what we had. I like Mike James and I want him back. I think he should be our No. 1 target with our MLE or work some kind of S&T to get him. I think the ideal scenario is both a very good distributor and a very good playmaker at the point position on this team. We still need Rafer or a Rafer type player whose PRIMARY focus is distributing the basketball. Put a 3rd scorer on this team and Rafer averages 10 assists a game or at least comes very close to 10.
Simply put, Swift and Rafer are career backups at best. If we plan on having a playoff run, Rafer's lack of a 3 pt shot will be exposed. We also would have an even bigger hole in the back court with this trade. Also Harrington=Swift Lite...
And if my aunt had balls, she would be my uncle. No seriously, though. I like Rafer's playmaking, but I think he showed this year that we cannot consistently rely on his jump-shooting. We need a pure shooter next to him to make the team work IMO.
How does Rafer not have any handles? He's a legend in the And 1 and he dosen't even turn it over that much. He's in the top 20 for Ast/To, I like Rafer so I don't know what you're talking about him sucking.
