rafer needs to drive to the hoop more.... the used to have a nice little floater, but for some reason he gave that up. he was successful with it last year, but maybe he wants to get confidence in his 3pt shot before he can counter it with his floater.
The Concept Of Rafer Alston Is Rafer Alston a lousy at hitting open shots? YES Does he have an ugly FG%? YES Does he regularly take il-advised contested shots? NO Will elite PGs from contender teams burn Rafer with PnRs? YES Will elite PGs from contender teams burn EVERY team with PnRs? YES Was Utah's Stockton-to-Malone (Deron-to-Carlos) PnRs ever stoppable? NO Can Rafer Alston run a fast break efficiently? YES Does Rafer Alston create many pick-pocket situations that is then turned into a fast break? YES Is Rafer Alston a good/smart defender for the Houston Rockets? YES Is he a tenacious and strong defender like Jason Kidd? NO Can we replace Alston with Jason Kidd? NO Are perimeter stoppers like Earl Watson, Trenton Hassell pure PGs? NO Can we therefore upgrade our PG position defensively? NO Is he a pure PG that runs Adelman's offense better then all our other PGs? YES Can he control the team's tempo and handle the ball efficiently? YES Does he know the sweet spots of all his teammates? YES Is he more talented then James, Francis, Brooks individually? NO Is Rafer Alston a liability on offense (shooting)? YES Is his shooting a very big issue right now when were 6+1 with good +/- figures when he is on the court? NO Will it be an issue heading into the playoffs? YES So if his shooting woes continue, should we replace him? YES Is there any realistic and better options, through trade, we can replace him with? Probably NOT Can Steve Francis or Aaron Brooks replace him? NOT AS OF NOW Should we though, continue to look for upgrades at PG? DEFINATELY Is Rafer Alston a championship caliber PG? It is debatable And the gameble that might be taken is not in our control. Is he usually the primary scapegoat to the Rocket's shortcomings? YES Does he deserve the amount of hate and blaming he gets? NO Is he a fine, sensible and hard-working character? YES Should Rafer Hater's continue to post hate on him in this thread and only this thread? YES Do people that defend Rafer Alston, Rafer huggers, Skip-To-My-Lou fans? NO Are they just more patient and reasonable fans? YES Is Rafer bashing useful? NO Do I have too much time on my hands? YES _ Blues
If anyone hates Rafer, it is for the team, nothing is wrong, the true Rox fans will support it. Rafer earns $5M, and shoots 22% at three, and 33% at two. A big question is for a Rafer lover, what is the ponit for labeling anyone for a hater when you are a pure lover? Yes, the team is winning right now, but it will be a problem soon or late.
As long as a player dones the Houston Rockets uniform, there should be nothing but support for this player regardless of how badly he plays, that is the spirit of a true fan, in my opinion. Rafer "lovers" defend Rafer with facts and clearly understand his limitations. Rafer "haters" will harrass him after every miss shot and exagerrate his scrubiness by 100 folds. The words "lovers" and "haters" are used too extreme. No fan enjoys seeing Rafer missing those open shots no matter how handsome they think Rafer is or how in awe they are of his AND1 skills, there is no such thing as a Rafer "lover". Rafer "apologists" might be a better term in which people will continue to defend Rafer, but I am pretty sure they are not oblivious to his shortcomings on the basketball court. On the other hand, a Rafer "hater" is a stereotypical impatient fan who blames Rafer for all or most of Rocket's shortcomings, look for every chance and every bad play he makes to insult him and then continue to create a thread about it and exagerrate it. _ Blues
WOW, that statement can get you crucified on this site buddy. I don't really care for it, but that tear drop i think is a pretty hated shot from the majority of the guys who dont like Rafer.
Cause Francis might have played like crap in practice cause he's like Iverson. "It's practice man, practice"! It actually may take the real NBA game to bring out the warrior in him.
skip's open shots are hit or miss just like mike james...mike james was kinda slumping...that's why team's have "shooting guard" ie kobe bryant, tmac...etc...these dude's don't slump...elite point guards like steve nash, deron williams, tony parker are not ordinary
if he can execute it like parker does, i will be happy.. rafer just needs to concentrate on keeping his shoulders square when tossing up his floater, i think with that adjustment alston can be an effective finisher... brings me to my next point, yao should follow through alittle bit more on his free throws, if he did that, he would be siccccck from the charity stripe.
Labyrinth Blues, i love how you seemed to pull out a few of Rafer's shortcomings in such a way that you made it sound like "well, he is human and bound for errors like all of us". And then on the other hand, you magnified all his FEW good attributes. Is Rafer a good pg for a young team yes Is Rafer a good pg for a contender that needs a pg with both an attacking mentality and good defense, although more offense no Would fan be calling for Rafer's head if he was playing good and the Rox were 1-5 Definitely not Can we manage Rafer for the regular season sure, why not Can he lead a team past the 2nd round of playoffsHell no I dont mind Rafer messing up during regular season, as long as we make it to the playoff. The problem is that if we wait too long to replace him with someone else, it would take the new pg some time to get comfortable playing with the other starters. The playoffs is not a time to start experimenting with your lineup (Dallas last year), but i'm sure Adelman knows this and will do what's best for the team since it's his job and not mine. Does Rafer deserve all the hate and bashing he is receiving Yes (He makes 5.1 mil, he can afford to get ear muffs to block out the hate cries
<br> WOW.........a joke if i ever heard it <br> I think there should be a ban on tremenduously stupid comments <br> sig material right there
Many championship teams in the past have won with pure role playing PGs. Whether Rafer is championship eligible is a question mark and as you have said: This is not your decision to make and nothing you post on an internet forum will change anything. I'm glad you understand. RAFER BASHING is USELESS. He is actually relatively cheap comparatively to other pure PGs, e.g Steve Blake. He doesn't cost a fortune to keep, is our best starting PG as of now. Nobody deserves to be hated for trying their best. Bashing is unavoidable, it's the quality and amount of bashing that annoys me. When you bash him with good arguements on a continuem Rafer bashing thread, thats fine, discussion time. When you crucify him with lame jokes and name calling, it just shows how ignorant Rafer haters are.
I know exactly what Adelmans thinking. He wants to keep Alston as the starter the entire season and then come time for playoffs, replace him, because he remembers what happened last year. LMFAO
<br> Seriously mr. boy scout calm down..........we can criticize rafer as much as we want to. What you call bashing uselessly......I call venting. We aren't bashing without due cause. Anyways, who are you to tell fans we can't rant about our players?? without us they wouldn't be here <br> Again what you fail to understand is EVERYTHING posted on an internet forum is useless in the real world....Your so called "highly intellectual" posts aren't any better than those who put it into simpler terms or even the rafer haters. Have you ever stopped and thought for one second WHY WE HATE RAFER?!?!?!?!?
What do people mean when they say Rafer is a "pure point guard" or "runs the offense well"? A pure point guard can penetrate and create for himself and his teammates, which Skip can't do. Can a pure point guard shoot better than 20% from the field(most of them on wide-open shots)? How about being a decent perimeter defender? How about not turning the ball over during crunch time or making good decisions in general...neither of which are qualities Rafer Alston possesses as a basketball player. He chokes under pressure. Here is how Rafer "runs the offense well": Chuck Hayes inbounds the ball to Rafer; Rafer takes two dribbles in the back court; Alston then passes it to T-Mac who brings it up the court and sets up the offense. This goes on for most of the time when Rafer is in the game. What purpose does he serve? It's like playing 4 on 5 for the Rockets. We win in spite of Rafer and his liabilities in the regular season, but once you hit elite competition in the playoffs, Rafer Alston is just unacceptable and will make you lose. 20 mins of Rafer per game is 20 mins too many. Defenders/supporters of Rafer need to come to the realization that he has not been able to make a successful transition from street ball to organized basketball. Despite many attempts with many teams, the Rafer Alston NBA experiment has been a failure. In the best interest of the Rockets, it's time to move on.
People take my posts more seriously then your posts. I am not a boy scout, I am a lady. I can't tell anyone to do anything they want to do or don't want to do, I can only suggest the better approach to dealing with problematic situations. Venting is fine, do it in one thread and don't let it bother other people. Again, you can do whatever you want, I'm only asking for common courtesy and abit of reasoning when you throw so much undeserved hate at a man who loves Houston and never turned his back on the Rockets. I present my posts in an intellectual way because I respect the intelligence of the forum and I am well aware it does nothing in the real world, it does not stop me from voicing my opinion, which holds much more intellectual and respectful significance then your posts. I understand why Rafer is hated, I cringe at the very problems he presents and the missed open looks, but I feel no reason to "hate" him. Rafer is a problem we have at our PG position, throwing hate at him does not improve our PG situation. Everyone is aware of his deficiancies, not everyone is aware of his beneficial attributes. That is the difference between a Rafer hater and a fan who feels the need to defend Rafer for the credits he deserves. I understand Rafer hate, I cannot agree with it because it's just too shallow and impulsive. _ Blues
