Wha??? We have the 4th best record in the NBA right now. Do you even watch these games? That is one of the most ridiculous statements I've ever read on this board. Clearly, the guy is contributing, or else our record wouldn't be the way it is. Name some games he has "lost" for us, since we would win so much more. Are you even a Rockets fan? Seriously. It's one thing to criticize, but what you're doing is something on an entirely different level. The Rockets would win more??? We are 12 games above .500. Without Yao Ming. I don't know how people that ignorant even know how to use computers.
You don't undertsand what the Rockets need in a PG is do you. We want someone to 1) efficiently bring the ball up the court. 2) hand it off to Tmac or Yao in position (in absence of Yao/TM, JH or Bonzi). 3) park at the 3 points line and hit a high percentage 4) play defense Chucky Atkins is just fine at everything but #4 and is much better than JL3 or VS is now and probably better than they ever will be. And the comment about his frequent careless TOs and bonehead plays is just ludicrous. This suggests the poster above just watch a couple of plays and jumped to gross conclusions. Atkins has a far superior A/TO rate than either Alston or Tmac (our two leaders in this) and his shot selection is better than them as well (much higher points per shot, higher FG%, 3% and FT%). If Atkins is a bonehead, we have a roster FULL of bigger boneheads. And Rafer is very underappreciated around here. He has his flaws and I want some help brought in, but with the current roster we are in deep **** without him. Rafer, like Atkins, is so far superior to our other PGs. And Head is not a real PG and can only play there with Tmac to help, we can't have Tmac paired with Head all game long with Rafer out. Any injury to Tmac (obviously) or Rafer (our only other legit floor leader) and we are screwed at the moment.
hopefully that won't happen until YAO is back and if it did happen, then Tmac can be the PG and we would play Bonzi and Battier in the other 2 positions, man that would be a awesome team.
I'd be looking at Atkins, Stoudamire, A. Johnson or Boykins with the TE, perhaps Ridnour if possible (or Dre Miller as a bigger lonshot). Hudson looks washed up (can barely crack the rotation in Minny and was mostly an undersized 2 at his best). Based on Dickau's last two years we might as well roll with JL3 or VSpan over him. Of the rest probably available PGs I suppose Diener would be the best. Diener (can shoot and hopefully bring the ball up), Damon Jones (older version of Diener), Watson (bad overall shooter and can't shoot the 3), Duhon (ditto), Jasikevicius (can shoot OK and maybe bring the ball up), Bobby Jackson (kinda washed up, more of a SG), McInnis (kinda washed up, problem guy), etc. The trade kicker kicks of off Mike James even if that ever could be a possibility. If we got desperate (Rafer went down) I am sure Phx would pay us to take Marcus Banks or Sac with Jason Hart (played real sucky for 2 years there).
Watson can't shoot but at least he's an ace defender. I wouldn't mind him. Stupid James and his stupid trade kicker. It's going to end up kicking himself in the ass.
Move tracy to the point, play him at it at least 35 minutes a night. Let JL3 play the other 13 minutes and let Luther and Kirk Snyder split time at the 2. I think Reefer has been taking too much of a beating this year by the fans and the media. Other than his shooting percentage, he's been playing pretty well I think. His D has been good and he does a pretty good job of protecting and distributing the ball. JVG would bench him if he didn't shoot those 3 pointers when nobody is guarding him like the 76ers tried in the game last night. What would we do if Deke broke his ankle today?
12/6 @Min L 90-84 40 6-16 .375 12/14 @Gsw L 109-107 46 6-15 .400 12/15 @Lal L 112-101 49 8-22 .364 12/23 Lac L 98-93 39 8-20 .400 12/26 @Ind L 81-76 34 4-11 .364 1/7 @Min L 103-99 31 4-17 .235 1/20 Den L 121-113 40 5-18 .278 That's 7 close games right there where we lost cause of rafer's atrocious shooting. However, I fully expect the rafer lovers to ignore that. He is shooting a horrendous 37& on the year. We are winning games cause tmac is playing like that old tmac, not because of anything rafer is doing.
Luffy1, seriously man, what part of "Rafer is shooting better and turning the ball over less than JL3 and VSpan" do you not understand? Not to mention he plays defense better. Look at our fricken alternates, it isn't like we are caging Steve Nash or Chancey Billips out of loyalty to Rafer Alston. I would be OK with Watson or Banks (if we made Phx thrown in an asset) if Rafer got injured. But otherwise I'd just rather do the Alston/Head (as back-up with Tmac helping) rotation at the 1. I really don't want actually a less efficient shooter than Rafer Alston brought in for PG help, and that is exactly what Watson and Banks are. Duhon I could go for, at least he is about comparable to Rafer in shooting--no deadeye but enough to keep you a little honest and not completely ignoring them on the perimeter.
12/6 Rafer and Luther for lead us in scoring. Rafer had 6rb, 5ast,2 stl, 2to - so sure we didn't lose with Yao going 5/19 with 7to and T-mac 5/21 with 5to? 12/14 No T-mac, Rafer with 6rb, 8ast, 2stl, ZERO to - lose by 2 12/15 No T-mac, Rafer with 6rb, 10ast, 7to - Double OT loss 12/23 No T-mac, Yao plays for 6 min, Rafer with 4rb, 6ast, 1stl, 4to 12/26 No Yao, Rafer with 3rb, 3ast, 5stl, 1blk, 3to ...etc To blame all of those losses on Rafer is ridiculous. I'm not making excuses for his poor fg%, but he does a lot of things for us that some of you Rafer haters take for granted like ball handling and defense. A lot of times, the other teams' PG have a poor night because of Rafer. Rafer also gets his fair share of rebounds, assists, and steals. I swear, some of you expect us to go 82-0... We win and lose as a team
And the rafer excuses never end. I''m surprised you didn't throw out the...but tmac and jvg tell me to keep shooting. Well rafer, if they told you to jump off a bridge, would you do that also? They aren't going to tell him he sucks and he should stop shooting cause they expect him to figure that out himself and to shoot less on his own. Until rafer consistently starts lowering his fga, then his atrocious shooting won't be balanced out by anything else he does well.
Great post, and I wholeheartedly agree. And Luffy, what are you talking about? Coach is telling him to shoot because he wants him to figure out he sucks at shooting on his own? Wow. Are any of your posts based on logic? Games are won and lost as a team. Rafer was not the only one shooting terribly in those games, as the previous poster pointed out. There is a lot that he does that is far more valuable than his shooting percentage, such as his ball handling, his low turnovers, and his good decision making. Do I think the guy is perfect? By no means. But we would be doing far worse without Rafer running our team at the point, I'm certainly convinced of that much. You post a few games and you think that Rafer blew those games by himself because he took a lot of shots? That's hardly how it works. And I hope you're kidding with the "jump off a bridge" quote, because that is just absurd. It's basketball: you do what your coach tells you. But I guess that probably won't compute well with you either, apparently. This just goes to show: just because someone's home is wired, it doesn't mean that their head is.
Did ALston ever get injuried? THe way he plays will not makes him injury easiy . ( no contact, teardrop, 3 point shot)
If popovich can tell parker to shoot less, I don't think it's too much to ask JVG to tell rafer to shoot less. However, that is the difference in coaching levels b/w the two. It's not even close right now.
If popovich can tell parker to shoot less, I don't think it's too much to ask JVG to tell rafer to shoot less. However, that is the difference in coaching levels b/w the two. It's not even close right now. rockets cant afford for alston NOT to shoot the ball when he is open. Not taking an open shot is worse than missing an open shot. He HAS to shoot that for the rockets to be successful. not even close? look at the team records...fairly close
What an incredibly smart and civilized comment to say, what if you where on the plane too, then it wouldnt hurt as much!!
