Ok, so he's not perfect. What else is new? What about the numerous other entry passes he does make well...well enough for Yao to compliment the guy? Oh, nevermind, we don't give props around here, we just complain. My fault. Wanna talk TO's? McGrady's SEVEN enough for you? My point is this. We can't have 5 all-stars starting for us. We are lucky enough to have two. Although they can't seem to be healthy at the same time :\ We have what we have. And what we have, is a team that can still win. Turning the ball over 20 or so times isn't going to get the job done. Missing open looks more than they should (you can't make em all) isn't going to get the job done. So blame the team as a whole, it's never one player's fault. Rafer is an acceptable starting PG. Of course, I realize this is just my opinion, albeit an unpopular one apparently.
whoever said we need to have 5 all stars?? my only requirements from him are to have a decent ass to TO ratio, which i believe now is only 1.9:1., he needs to be able to hit 39% from 3pt land, and give the ball up early to set up the offense. mcgrady had 7 TO? wow, if i didn't know better, i would think it was his first game since a long layoff?
Rafer thinks he is T-Mac. He is penetrating and missing these tear drop shots early in the clock without even thinking about other players. Why can't he stop doing it? He is 30th in FG% for starting PGs. He doesn't need to be an all-star, but he just be average? We need that to go up to 10-20th.
No - we dont need an all star PG. Turnovers were there on both sides- we made 4 more of those. We really were banking on those 3 pointers- in the 4th when we got the score within 4 points. Both Battier and Tmac clanked and Luther misfired today. This is NOT about 1 game- it is now a trend. Rafer is good for 25 minutes- the problem is we dont know which Rafer will show up! Often he gets into Rucker park basketball with some of the PG's he faces. The question to ask would be is Rafer our only choice? Can we not expect better- Put Andre Miller in and see the difference ( just an example)
Just wanted to give this thread five stars, so I had to reply. Nothing to add except "F*** all you Raferhaters".
I still can't figure out the fascination with Mike James His season thus far has been poorer than Alston's. Same goes for V-Span. The team USA game was a fluke. He was like 1-12 in his next game and has never looked like a reasonable PG option for the Rockets for more than a 1-minute interval -- he's got a long way to go. I'm far frp, a huge Alston fan, but I think he's adequate, and IMO that is all we can expect at the salary level we are paying. There are many better options than Alston out there, but we have too much money invested in Yao/T-Mac to logically attain any of them. The only player I've been worried about this season is T-Mac, simply because we are paying him to be a superstar and I don't think he has it in him anymore. Sadly, he's still trying to be that superstar, and I fear we'll see a point where that becomes detrimental to the team.
M.James doesn't have a clue how to run an offense, maybe he can shoot the ball but I'd rather have Yao or Tmac taking those shots. we only miss him when Yao and Tmac goes down, but that is not how you build your team. come on ppl....Rafer is a solid PG, sure he is not T.Parker, S.Nash, C.billups, but he is an above average starting PG in this league. Everyone loves a all star PG, but those players come with a price tag that we can't afford.
when does a low shooting pct and low assists to turnover ratio considered as above avg? please see clutchs' thread on rafer vs all other nba pg's
you do realize that A.Miller is getting paid 8.1 mil this year, more than twice as expensive as Rafer (3.85 mil), right?
and you also realize that A.Miller is a career .218 3pt shooter, right? I thought ppl are complaining how bad Rafer shoots
I am a long time defender of SKip. I really like the way the guy plays. but I think Rafer sucks big time with the Rockets because we are not using him in our best interest, that is, we are not utilizing him the right way. the guy can play, he really can. his handles are unbelievable, and he can really take it to the rim. I hate to blame JVG and be labeled as a JVG hater, but I think it's his fault. I didn't like the James-for-Rafer trade because Rafer is not the right player for this team considering the fact that we are a halfcourt team. if we compare James and Skip head-to-head, Skip is obviously a better player, but not for the rockets. I've been watching ESPN classic since this morning because they have a "street ball" marathon. even though I am not a big fan of streetball, I thought it would be kinda fun. well, to my surprise, they kept mentioning Skip to MY LOU. and finally, they had a whole episode just about him. they were showing highlights and stuff, the guy is freakin amazing!! the way he runs the break is just unbelievable. call me crazy, but he makes Steve Nash look like Moochie Norris . his passes are crazy, he is just great. I had to watch the replay 5 times to understand how he made one pass. the guys has some really good handles and an excellent vision of the court. now I understand that Streetball is totally different from the NBA, but court vision is court vision in either one. and looking at his dribble, he rarely "carries" the ball like many and1 players do. now since Yao Ming is out for an extended period of time, I think we should let Rafer run the show. I think Rafer, Tmac, Head, Battier, Bonzi, and even Chuck can make a great fast breaking team. Vspan would help and Novakaine would be good to give us a multi-dimensional style of three pts shooting and driving to the basket. I am sure Rafer can run a "Phoenix style" team just as well as Steve Nash. I really dont want to see him jacking up threes like he usually does. I want him to run the show, drive to the basket, and dish out to teammates. now it all depends on JVG, if he is willing to change his stubborn ways and allow players more freedom, we can successfully do that and we can probably maintain a very good record. now we wont be as good as the Suns, I can tell u that, but with our good defense, we can have an advantage over most teams. here's a little something that I thought would be entertaining for u guys especially after the ugly game we saw yesterday: <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lkdQUUfvtVc"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lkdQUUfvtVc" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
wrong-o boy-o Your statement falls flat since I know DT feels Rafer is at least average. he may even think more of him, but I have no evidence to back it up since DT stays silent waaay too much these days. Im with those that feel his good points are about equal with his bad points....and he is still the best (long term) starting point we have had in ages. I suppose you guys just LOVED Matt M and Scotty Brooks huh? dont even bring up James since you and I both know he would be great starter if we didnt have tmac and yao...but with them, he isnt the best option as a starter.
You get what you pay for. You're playing Rafer mid-level money (actually $4.3 million is even below mid-level) and thus what you have is a mid-level point guard. Expect nothing more, nothing less. His numbers are similar to last year and two years ago when he was in Toronto. Some people are hilarious comparing him to Andre Miller. No kidding Dre is better, and guess what, you have to pay more than double to get him.
I, of course, don't mean this literally, but I suppose I shouldn't speak in hyperboles around here. Assist to turnover ratio: Right now I see it 2.1/1 Well seeing as the majority of Rafer's passes are to the person makin the entry pass there just won't be as many assist opportunites for him. And for the passes where he does set up a shooter, they have to make the basket to register for an assist. BUT...I agree, it should be higher. I see more frustrating turnovers/dumb plays from other players than Rafer usually. His 3pt %: Not great. Not horrible. He is shooting about what...36% Let's see who shot around 36% last year from the arc. Luther Head Chris Duhon Matt Harpring Raymond Felton Antoine Walker Kirk Snyder Nick Van Exel Rasheed Wallace Martell Webster Joe Johnson Eddie Jones Luther at .361 and Eddie at .356 Most of these guys if given an open shot at a 3 in the game, I'd be saying, "oh no..." Rafer takes open 3s for the most part. An open shot is an open shot, esp since they seemed pretty scarce later in the game. TMac and 7 TOs: I know TMac is comin from an injury. I know he'll be rusty, tired, etc. Seven turnovers is seven turnovers from the guy we trust the most on the court. But as someone said, it's about more than one game. So we don't even need to dwell on TMac's poor performance. I know he'll bounce back. Are there better PGs out there? Of course. But, in my eyes, he *can* get the job done. Sometimes he will, sometimes he will stink it up. Again, you take the good with the bad.
Rafer gets bashed because by Western Conference point guard standards he is an average to below average PG and you can't win consistently in said conference with a guard with his deficiencies. But he seems to be a nice guy and all that and I'm sure his mother is very proud of him.
Just trying to understand...I have been watching several "streetball" videos of Rafer Alston, thanks to Youtube, etc., and I am trying to understand what makes a guy a streetball "legend". I guess I am the only one who thinks that that "skip" move looks really gay (not that there is anything wrong with that)...at least it doesn't look like something amazingly spectacular to me. Is it one of those "you'd have to have been there" kind of things where one can only appreciate how great a streetballer is when one has seen him in person? Thanks in advance if someone can take the time to educate me a little bit on this.
