I like both players but the only thing that worries me is when Skip was a free agent a couples seasons ago we tried to get him then and he was not interested in playing here, maybe it was just a money thing. As long as he plays average defense, passes well, and hits the open 3 we should be alright.
Here is an article from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel from when he was playing under Stan Van Gundy. Van Gundy loved his playmaking skills. ------------------------------------------------------- Posted on Sun, Nov. 30, 2003 Heat's Alston eager to take charge - sometimes perhaps too much BY IRA WINDERMAN South Florida Sun-Sentinel MIAMI - (KRT) - He's the last man you would expect to go John Stockton on you. This is, after all, a player still featured midday on replays of ESPN2's Street Ball: The And 1 Mix Tape Tour. In the world of no-look, no-travel and no-way passes, Flash, Headache, High Octane, Hot Sauce and Main Event no longer would recognize their former running buddy. Heat point guard Rafer Alston has gone mainstream. "He's the most pure point guard we have," coach Stan Van Gundy said. How pure? Friday, in Atlanta, while Street Ball replays were airing, Van Gundy and Alston were huddled in their hotel watching game tapes, deciding how to split up play-calling responsibilities. It seems the kid with the out-of-control rep had become a bit too control-hungry for Van Gundy, had gone a bit too Stockton. Given the most significant role in his five seasons in the NBA, Alston has grabbed the opportunity. He hit the decisive shot in Saturday's 78-66 victory over Toronto and has emerged as the team's take-charge presence at the point while starter Dwyane Wade plays through his rookie struggles. Initially, the goal was for Alston to play as a high-octane specialist. But with Wade so raw and 35-year-old Bimbo Coles getting on in years, Alston has emerged as the team's crunch-time catalyst. With a 3.44-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, ninth best in the NBA, Skip To My Lou no longer is viewed as kid's stuff. For the most part, he has proven as vanilla as Mark Jackson. "He's not a guy who makes a lot of mistakes," Van Gundy said. "He really, at times, almost tries to play too under control. He's so focused on it, I think, because he's gotten the reputation coming out of the And 1 stuff. "He almost overcompensates. But it's made him a pretty good, solid guy who takes only good, open shots. I feel pretty confident with him on the floor." Still, Friday proved to be a day for getting that confidence under control. More and more, Alston has been calling his own plays, skillfully reading situations when he can isolate guard Eddie Jones and forward Lamar Odom on one side of the court for a two-man game. The problem has been that while Alston heads down court calling one play, Van Gundy often is signaling another from the bench. "He and I talked the other day," Van Gundy said. "We met and watched some film in Atlanta and I think we're a little better. If it's on an offensive rebound or something, where he's gonna call something quick, I'm gonna let him go a little on that, because he has made pretty good calls. But if it's after a made basket, then you know, he's got to wait and let me make a call. "Sometimes that's really good, and other times we're running into each other and confusing people." For Alston, the relationship with Van Gundy has required an adjustment. Under George Karl in Milwaukee and Lenny Wilkens in Toronto, the 6-2 whippet was granted greater latitude to set the offense. "Stan calls more on the run," he said. "Off a turnover, sometimes he'll call a play, so I've got to get a little more accustomed to that. "Sometimes it's hard to make that adjustment; sometimes it's easy. I'm going down there and I already have a play in my head." That has proven to be the greatest revelation about Alston, that the 27-year-old is a student of the game, more than a novelty act. "If he wanted to be in this league, I think he understood that he had to fine-tune his game to fit the nature of the NBA game," said Raptors guard Vince Carter, a teammate last season in Toronto. With 55 assists, Alston is only 11 off the team lead. Yet his 16 turnovers rank only sixth on the team. While he won't be fitted for Stockton-style short shorts anytime soon, he more and more is wearing the pants in the offense when games are on the line. "He's smart. He recognizes mismatches. He knows who we want the ball to go to," Van Gundy said. "He's an intelligent guy. He thinks the game out there. He's not just out there running up and down." ---
he WAS a chucker...because Toronto didn't have anybody to chuck it.....i don't really blame the guy.....a player named Vince Carter was giving the other team our plays...so what would you expect, except disarray... actually the more I think of it the more I like this trade…..Alston hits open shots well….its when he tries to shoot with players in his face when he gets into trouble….in Houston there are too many players that require double teaming that someone will always be open….also Rafer is an excellent assist guy….i expect at least 7-10 assists a game from this guy this year….so get him on your fantasy team.
2 years ago, when Heat played Hornets in the EC playoffs, Alston hit David Wesley at the groin area and was ejected immediately ... Forgive him for the team's sake Wesley...plz
I love, LOVE this move. I liked James but he would get Francis-itis every once in a while. Just look at Alston's numbers from last season. 6.4 assists and 1.5 steals a game on crappy-arse team. And, let's forget about his problems in Toronto. Everyone had a problem with Sam Mitchell and Alston has come out and said he was sorry and regretfull for how it played out. Let's not forget how well he was under SVG. Seriously, with the great signing of Swift, this could be THE move of the offseason simply because it gives the team some speed and athletic ability in the backcourt to help match up with the good PGs in the West (Parker, Nash, etc.) LOVE THIS MOVE! WAY TO GO CD/JVG!!!
No, I'm serious. Haven't you seen streetball on ESPN? Every single one of those guys could be a star in the league if someone would just give them a chance. Sure, they're undersized, lack fundamentals, play absolutely no defense, and aren't as athletic as NBA players but they could do it. "Oh, a sarcasm detector, that's a REAL useful invention." - Comic Book Guy
HELLL FREAKING YESSSSSSSSSSSS HAHAHHAHAhAHAHAHAHAH YOU ALL MIKE JAMES FANS,.. AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH AHHAHAHA I LOVE THE ROCKETS ****KKK YAAAA BABY MADE MY DAY GO HOME MIKEY
First putting Howard and Anderson together and now this. Probably not a big deal, it's still kind of funny.
Sounds like he should fit right in to JVG's more freeflowing offense. If he were on the team at the beginning of last year, he probably would have sucked along with everybody else.
no one has said that but I was about to...just skimming through the trade to see what everyone is saying. Im on the fence with alston though...only watching and seeing will tell.
I like this move. If Skip can average 6.4 assists on a dog team while fighting with his coach, he could average 9 assists here. This guy is a true PG and an experienced starter, two qualities that no one else on our roster has together. I don't see the Rockets having any holes now. Where's our weak spot now? Hard to say. Also, Skip's attitude problems don't concern me. T-Mac's attitude was questioned too, but players are just human - they respond poorly to hopeless situations, just like most people do. You can see a lot of similarities between the Magic and the Raptors - poor management, no help, etc. If there's only one thing in sports that's true, it's that winning cures all.
This was an solid move. Mike James helped recruit Stromile Swift, if I recall correctly, so I'm sure he's chafing a bit around the anus right now; "thanks for helping out on the Stro thing, now go freeze your butt off with one of the worst teams in the league". But MJ was talking too much, and seemed a little full of himself and the contract he wants. Not to mention we just had too many shooting guards on this team. Let's face it: MJ is a shooting guard, and a short one at that. 6'2" shooting guards who p!$$ off Tracy McGrady are not long for this team. Let's give Rafer Alston the benefit of the doubt. He can run the break, pass, doesn't turn the ball over too much, he gets 1.5 steals a game, and he'd be thrilled to death to get away from that poisonous environment. He's young, he's talented; maybe he is a little high-strung but playing for a legitimate contender, and alongside Tracy and Yao and Stro.... We can't have Mike James as a floor general. I wish him well, and it's too bad, because his wife's family lives in Houston (I think?) But they needed a point guard. 1) Rafer Alston, Luther Head, Moochie Norris 2) Derek Anderson, Jon Barry, David Wesley 3) Tracy McGrady, Ryan Bowen 4) Stromile Swift, Juwan Howard 5) Yao Ming, Dikembe Mutombo Injured list: Bob Sura And think of the possibilities. The guard spots are largely interchangeable, but we do have a real point now (he's no Jason Kidd, but who is?) Stro can slide to the 5 or even the 3 depending on matchups (I'm referring mainly to defensive assignments, but hey, he's only 225 pounds; he can certainly take the wind out of the sails of a Rashard Lewis). Finally, relieving that glut of shooting guards.
I guess me yelling thru the asg(charity) at every one that MIKE JAMES NEEDS TO BE TRADED finally got thru to someone. and plus, WE GOT SKIPPPPPPPYYYYYYYYY TO MMEEEE LOUUUUUUUUU
I agree with the general sentiment but I don't think the degree of difference between James and Alston is much in those areas, as I'll get to. The last year supposedly is a team option. It is a long contract, but not bad value at all for a starting caliber PG--if Alston fits. Let me add a few more what I think are particularly relevant numbers: LAST YEAR AP48: James 6.8, Alston 9.1, PP48: James 22.5, Alston 20.1, SPG: James 1.68, Alston 2.08 PPS: James 1.16, Alston, 1.17 CAREER FT James .76, Alston .73 ON/OFF POINT DIFFERENTIAL James (Hou 04-05):+9.6 James (Mil 04-05): +3.3 James (Det 04-05): -2.1 James (Bos 04-05): +2.4 Alston (Tor 04-05): -1.4 Alston (Mia 03-04): +2.1 I pretty much see it this way. Talentwise and skill wise, these players are very, very similar. Alston is 1 year younger, that can't hurt. Small edge to Alston in handling and distribution, edge to James in being a more physical defender (maybe Head can grow into this). Overall, though their talents are close, if it improves chemistry and distribution, it is a gain. If Alston fits in as a starter, his contract is good. I would be more concerned if Alston had not played for SVG/Riley, but he has, so JVG should know what he is doing here. Interesting, both Alston and James has been on my short list of reasonable targets last offseason (the other was Arroyo, thankfully that did not happen)--way ahead of Sura (though Bobby surprised me), or Ward or Fisher or some other names thrown around. Alston got that big offer (at the time we thought so) from Toronto and it took him off the board. And again these two came to my mind as our trade deadline approached last year when we got James, who helped us play some of our best ball last year. Overall, welcome aboard Alston, and good luck to James. Hopefully this will end the animosity here towards James for those that don't realize he had the 2nd best point differential on our whole team and was a major reason we pushed the Dallas series as far as we did. James was very valuable to us, but potentially Alston can do these things and maybe a little more--and perhaps is more suited for a starters role. Just hope the Toronto behavior is past, a product of that situation, and he has grown from it. I am guessing now the starters have to be Alston and DA (assume Sura is not ready). Alston and DW (like pairing MJ with DW) seem too undersized. Or perhaps DA and DW start, with Alston being 6th man and 1st sub as I would have done with James. If Sura comes back we still have a problem with PT, we still have 5 guards who deserve minutes.
I feel more comfortable with skip starting than MJ. If you think about it, the second Sura went down, we were in trouble. I think this is a good move and hope Sura heals fast.
