Talk about placing the cart before the horse, but if we get Mike James and Fred Jones, I suspect we're dealing Rafer if possible. That is even more likely if we hang on to Luther Head. All of this begs the question, what is his trade value? He signed a 6 yr/$26.5MM deal in 2004. He's overpriced for a backup PG but reasonably priced for a starting PG, but he's not quality starting PG. What places might be interested? Discuss please. Minny? Boston? GSW?
I don't think they intend to trade Rafer. They've talked about having three point guards, and I fully expect that Mike James would spend most of his time at shooting guard anyway.
He's not a quality starting PG? We had our best pure point play in years with him out there. He is not the scorer that Francis or James is but he shouldn't have to be. I'm surprised he was able to get any assists at all with the team we were able to put on the floor last season. I don't think there is a better pure point available to us at this time and I believe his trade value is, at the very least, equal to his contract. I am excited to see what he can do with T-Mac, Yao and, to a lesser extent, Battier/Novak - that is a lot of driving room there, buddy.
Ok, objectively it's very difficult for me to assign Rafer any significant positive value. I think most GM's in the league would never pursue him as a starter. Put up a comparison of all the PG's in the league and I would rank Rafer as tied for maybe the last five. Add to that that point guard free agents are the most superfluous and that there's a constant growing surge of young athletic guards, I just can't say it's positive.
Rafer Alston is going nowhere. He fills a need that no one else on the Rockets (including Mike James) can fill, as a pure PG to set up the offense and get Yao and Tracy the ball in optimum scoring position. It was amazing how easily Yao scored in the paint while playing with Rafer. And it wasn't just Yao's emergence individually. Rafter got the ball to Yao in better position than any player I have ever seen play with Yao. At the time of the trade for Rafer, with Sura going down long-term due to injury, Alston was the type of player the Rockets needed most. Unfortunately, the Rockets didn't count on extensive injuries to their two stars, at which time they wished they could have a scorer like James. That being said, Rafer is widely regarded within the Rockets organization as a valuable piece of the puzzle. He will not be traded unless it's for an All-Star caliber player. Having both Rafer and James is going to make the Rockets a much better team than people realize.
I don't understand why people have turned so quickly on Skip. He's not a scoring machine and needs to improve in a good number of areas (especially his 3 pt %), but it's only been a year. I don't want to be a team that brings in FA's for a year, see how they do in that short amount of time, and then ship them off if they don't exceed expectations. his AST:TO ratio is pretty solid and i think he'll get better (defensively as well). yes, mike james had a ridiculous year and i'll be more than happy to see him back for the MLE, but i don't think it's necessary to just ship rafer off. mike james is a pure scorer while skip is a pure PG. their APG are comparable, but i'm sure anyone who has watched mike james play knows that he's rather shoot than pass. so, bring him on as our 3rd option, but don't ship off our best (and possibly only) true PG. i would take rafer over fred jones ANY day. i honestly think alston will prove himself this upcoming season. i'm all for hyping the mike james bandwagon, but i think the rafer bashing is unnecessary. IMO, it'd be awesome to have both of them.
I'll be sad if we trade Rafer. I don't think people understand the impact he had on the team because of his injury time coupled with Yao and Tmac's injuries. He's a key part of the team, at least in the next couple years.
I don't think you have anything to worry about. He played a huge part in Yao's improvement, and the team understands that. He may get told not to shoot, ever, but he won't be traded.
I dont have the stats but Rafer was in the top 15 for 4-5 statisical categories last year for point guards in i believe rebounding, assists, points, and assist/to ratio
If the Rockets acquire James why would they want to trade away Rafer unless it was for another point guard. Rockets pg depth was so bad last season Wesley had to play there.
Aside from his shooting, which about 80% of the team had a problem with, Rafer did very well last year in my opinion, I liked the way he ran the offense esp when Yao and Tmac were out there.
Gotcha. So basically there is nothing that suggests we are targeting him but because he is a 2 people are assuming we are?
For years we had people complaining that our pg was only getting 5 or so assists per game while scoring in double figures, and now we've got a guy that was consistently getting 8 or so assists per game when healthy and now we're pissed he's not a scorer. If you're not Magic Johnson, you just can't get a break around here. Rafer pushes the ball and can pass, and that's why he was traded for. I'm fairly certain that the Rockets aren't looking to trade him. I'm damn sure JVG doesn't want to have to play guys like David Wesley and John Lucas III at point this year.
Exactly, the guy can make great passes and feeds to the interior. He pushed the ball up the floor which is something we've really lacked. Yes he missed a ton but when Yao and McGrady are both out, Rafer had to take more shots than he probably should have since no one else on that team could score. When we had Yao and McGrady on the floor together he was getting 10+ assists while getting 1 or 2 turnovers which is a pretty sick assist to turnover ratio. The guy isn't particularly quick in terms of penetration but he has great handles so he won't cough up the ball too much. Give him a full year with Yao and McGrady before you label him one of the worst point guards in the league. For a team which has suffered through some god awful point guards, we're pretty quick to judge on this one.
