Considering the trend towards combo guards in the NBA, it's really hard to pinpoint who really are PG and who aren't. And quite frankly, it doesn't matter where Alston ranks. Although I'd put him in the middle of the pack, about where I'd put Sura at if here were healthy. More important for the Rockets is the fact that Alston is a solid good fit for the team. He has very solid passing ability, which is always good considering our lineup. He can hit the 3, which is a must for this team. And he doesn't turn the ball over much, which JVG absolutely loves. Alston's deficiencies lies in defense and 2-point FG%. Defense can be covered up if Swift and Yao can guard the paint. His low FG% within the arc likely means he can't score in traffic. Not terribly important. But it kind of sucks to only have one player on the roster(T-Mac) that can take advantage of the new hand-check rules.
Steve Nash Mike Bibby Jason Kidd Chauncey Billups Tony Parker Gilbert Arenas Stephon Marbury Andre Miller Jason Terry Brevin Knight Kirk Hinrich Damon Stoudamire Healthy Bob Sura 14) Rafer Alston These are all assist guys that play point guard and they all score. Damon Stoudamire/Hinrich might be close to Rafer stat wise, but everyone else is definitely better by the numbers. I think 12th/13th/14th ranked pg in the league is not to far from the truth.
I'm not an expert, but it seems like he falls somewhere between 12-20, and on paper and stats probably won't excel beyond that. He has gotten better every year, and this might be his year to bust out, but we want him to bust out as a team player, not a star. We already have stars in TMac, then Yao, and perhaps Swift ... we need him to pass first, not make big stats, not dribble us to death, lose time on the clock, or create his own shot. We need him to protect the ball, while he gets it quickly upcourt. We need him to make pinpoint passes into Yao. It would be nice if he was strong in defense, but our team defense can help cover that, and he is very athletic, so he can keep up with many of the faster guards in the league, if he makes that a priority, rather than building his own stats. When TMac and Yao are double-teamed, he needs to be able to pop a quick 3. He needs to get points in the flow of the game, NOT be THE MAN. Its great that he's healthy, athletic and fairly young. It's great that he's passionate, if he can keep a cool head in competition. I wish he had better court vision, or could throw the ball in better, but, he's a huge upgrade over anyone else we had available. Let's hope he doesn't become too great a fantasy player ... just a great team player. He does seem to fit ... one more impressive move by JVG.
Sometimes the best player is not the best fit. Would anybody argue that Francis and Mobley aren't better players than Sura, Wesley and Berry? I think it's easy to look at those players and know who the best players are but at the same time I don't think Francis and Mobley are as good a fit for our team as Sura, Wesley and Berry. I think the same could apply to Skip when compared to the other point guards in the league. So many of the other top point guards are also asked to be one of the primary scorer's on their team but that is not what the Rockets need. Skip is just as good if not better than most at: - protecting the rock - making good crisp clean passes - getting the ball up the court early in the shot clock - ...and getting the ball to his teammates while they are in the best possible position to succede. Other point guards that may be viewed as better because of their ability to score may not do the little things that help the rest of the team succede as well as Skip.
I likes Skip, but top 15? In no particular order... Baron Davis, Kirk Hinrich, Gilbert Arenas, Jason Kidd, Jamal Tinsley, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Steve Nash, Andre Miller, Joe Johnson, Steve Francis, Sam Cassell, Luke Ridnour, Tony Parker, Jason Terry, Allen Iverson, Mike Bibby, Chris Paul, Stephon Marbury, Jason Williams, Chauncey Billups... That's 21 guys that are arguably better or right there with Skip, still the Rockets got a real good one, he's really all they need to compete with anyone.
Skip maybe a better point guard than a guy like Francis but he isn't an overall better player. Its hard to rank point guards because probably more than any other position, their duties are well-defined and exclusive from any other position on the team. So while other players you can just look at overall stats, team success, and one players rebounding and Defense may cancel out another's offense, you have to take into consideration with point guards things such as running the team and taking care of the ball on top of the other considerations in most player rankings. So while a guy like Steve can put up points and do some other things for you that Rafer never could, the fact that Rafer sets the offense up well and takes care of the ball forces you take him into consideration of top pg's. Even though he may not have the best stats and he hasn't played on good teams and he maybe an overall slightly below average player, he really handles pg duties very well.
PGs I'd take over Rafer Alston (all other things - i.e., $$ - being equal): Allen Iverson Steve Nash Jason Kidd Steve Franchise Starbury Gilbert Arenas Chauncey Billups Baron Davis Mike Bibby Andre Miller Jason Terry (?) Tony Parker *If Wade & Joe Johnson count as PGs, so does LeBron James. In which case, I add all 3 to this list.
1)kidd-when healthy 2)Nash 3) AI 4)Bibby 5)Baron Davis 6)steve francis 7)Billups 8)Sam Cassell 9)Gilbert Arenas 10) Kirk Hinrich 11)Jason Terry 12) Jamal Tinsley 13) Starbury 14) Brevin Knight 15) Marco Jaric 16)Tony Parker 17) Damon Stoudamire 18) Andre Miller 19) Carlos Arroyo 20) Antonio Daniels 21) Rafer Alston (The numbers he posted up were on a junk team lke Toronto. He needs to prove it on this team that he can be on the list of top 15 or top 10's)
Wait a sec! I agree with you Skip must prove himself, but his numbers are less valid on a "junk team" than Brevin Knight (Bobcats) and Jaric (Clippers)? I'll go out on a limb and say Skip is definitely better than Brevin Knight.
he may not be a top teir PG but he is a steal for mike james soley. you have to remember the raptors are the same team that traded vince carter for nothing, and drafted charlie villanueva to play center.....the raptors break all convention when it comes to building a team. hell we probably could have traded a 2nd round pick and a bottle of grey goose for skip, but we just didn't offer it.
Wow. This thread leaps off the homerism scale. The only team Rafer's been successful with as a starter has been Rucker's and 1 team. Period. Buried as a backup in Mil. Goes to Tor as a back up to Alvin Williams & Co. Has a surprisingly effective yr as a back up in Miami behind Wade (because Odom really facilitated the ball), which he parlays into his one and only starting role in Tor (which he then f-ed up). Come on now. I think he'll help us out, but Toronto wouldn't give up a "top 15" PG for Mike James. No one would. Evan
Have you seen the PGs in the league. There's a lot of crappy PGs that are starting on some bad teams. "Top 15" is only about half of the league. And most people are putting RA right around 14-15. That's an average starting PG. Skip has got to be least an average starting PG.
Yeah, I put him above Rafer in my list, but added a little question mark, 'cause I wasn't 100% convinced. Terry did tear us a new one in the playoffs. If Rafer can put him in his place, I'd be thrilled.
I totally agree with your viewpoint. Alston dished out 6.4 assists on a much inferior Toronto team... that ranked him 11th in the NBA last year! This year in a much better Rockets team he should be able to improve on his 6.4 assists per game. I envision him having a 12pts and 9 assists season.
All right. Just for kicks, let's say that you're right. Let's examine this list for PGs that we could have gotten that would fit here. 1. Kidd-too much salary, on the downside of his career, coming off major injury, -NOT A FIT......unless we want to dismantle what we are building 2. Nash-Not available 3. AI-not a fit, like Francis, and not available 4. Bibby-definitely a fit, not available 5. Baron-don't really think he would be a fit, too much money, not available 6. Francis-been there done that, not a fit, not available, not possible 7. Billups-not available 8. Sam Cassell-maybe a fit, could have gotten him possibly 9. Gilbert Arenas-see #3 and #7 10. Kirk Hinrich-not available, except in a blockbuster with Eddy for Yao..NO 11. Jason Terry-not available 12. Jamal Tinsley-probably a good fit, wonder what it would have taken to get him? 13. Starbury-NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER 14. Brevin Knight-okay, you really think he is better than Rafer??? 15. Marco Jaric-available, not sure if he was a fit, no quickness 16. Tony Parker-not available 17. Damon Stoudamire-tried to get him, couldn't make it happen 18. Andre Miller-not available except in a blockbuster 19. Carlos Arroyo-had problems with Jerry and struggled under LB, not a fit 20. Antonio Daniels-possibly, but we wouldn't have gotten Stromile if we had signed him to the MLE So, if indeed all these PGs are better than Rafer there are only 4 that would have had the possible of fitting and were available: Cassell, Knight, Jaric, and Daniels. There may be a couple others on the list that were available like Damon Stoudamire but at what price? We would have to go into lux tax land and handicap ourselves for the future by taking back bad contracts or we would have to give up our core. That makes them not gettable. The only question would be if Stromile and Rafer don't work out, then we could use hindsight to see if we would have been better with Antonio Daniels for the MLE, if he would have come here for that. That's a lot of ifs. Frankly, we probably have the best PG for our team that was possible for us to obtain, based on this biased list. LOL, I can't imagine more than 5 people on this planet that would put Brevin Knight above Rafer: Brevin, his brother Brandon, his mom and dad, and tycoonchip. If Rafer keeps his head screwed on straight and doesn't suffer major injury, we will probably be able to see that he is a top 15 PG in this league and we will be arguing about whether he is top 10. He probably will be the third most important player on this team.
let's edit the list and make it "who would make the Rockets a better TEAM than Rafer?" It would be a pretty short list..
