I dont know about u, but I've never seen a guy who can pass the ball better than Skip. the guy got some serious passing skills. his no-looks are amazing. I really dont like the whole streetball "show-off" thing mainly because they murder all of Basketball's basic rules, but passing is something I really value (mainly because I am a PG). and I really like fancy passes (no looks, behind the back...)despite the fact that I am a big old-skool fan.
That's pretty easy actually. 1) A vast majority of this board expects him to be something that he isn't and never was. He's a better player then he's showed so far but he's not the reason we're winning or losing games (in fact, I'd venture to say heif it came down to that he's won more games for us then he's lost). For all the Mike James lovers, he's no better. 2) People have this insane fantasy that VSpan is a good player. I hate to break the bad knews to people but he sucks (really bad). JL didn't take his minutes for no reason. Everyone can cling to the hopes of his performance this summer or his first start with Houston but it's not going to happen. he's a waste. Another mistake by Houston. I don't see any potential for him here. He can get to the basket but he gets in the air with nobody to pass too. He is scrappy but is slow. He's not a good passer or defender. Worthless in my opinion. 3)He's an easy scapegoat. Battier is likeable because he plays hard (so everyone will ignore the fact that that all he can do is hit a corner 3 and play defense). Yao was spectacular before the injury, Hayes is another hustle guy and TMac has too fans that can't acknowledge reality. TMac is still a good player but he's got chronic back problems, lacks work ethic and has poor shot selection. He doesn't attack the basket like he used to and he can't hit the difficult shots he used to make. It's just something you have to come to terms with. That leaves Rafer. He's not having a good season, a lot of fans still hate him because they label him a streetball player ect... That in a nutshell is why fans blame Rafer. It's not JVG's fault VSpan ended up being garbage. He's giving JL minutes now and Yao's hurt. Bonzi couldn't get in shape and TMac wouln't play through pain (he has the same back situatio as Nash but you don't see Nash missing extended time). Sadly, Rafer is one of the best clutch players on our team. For some reason he starts slowly. All I see after every loss is a Rafer sucks or fire JVG thread. It's lame. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but if you think Rafer is the reason we are losing then you honestly don't know baksketball. He's contributed to lossess but he is this boards whipping boy and it gets tiresome to see.
Here is a thead I posted on bbs.hoopchina.com and it was translated by brantonli24. Thanks, some sentences were not translated right, but you can get the idea. Rockets have already found their right formation of guards! Now there is a lot of discussion about Alston, and as a intelligent basketball fan, I must say that Alston is the best fit in the gruop of Rockets guards. 1. Hindsight Reason 1: Alston is, for now, the best passer to Yao (ie, entry passes) of the guards. no matter if it's SF3, Sura, or 'the fake leader' (I think he's talking about Mike James), on this point they can be more accurate than Alston. remember before Alston came everybody wanted a passing pointguard, now the Rockets have found it. Reason 2: Alston is the best ball handler for hte Rockets so far. As an And1 freak, Alston handling the ball holds no worries. From the backcourt to front court, he flows like the clouds and water (typical Chinese sayings ). This sort of guard are hard to come by. 2. Compared to other guards Alston's efficiency is ranked 21st among the point guards. http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketbal...stats/07/18/eff The first ten, are basically the elite point guards, I think nobody would compare Alston to them. If you do, then I'm speechless. In the 11-30 range, Alston is in the middle, not exactly high, but not too low. (I don't understand the next sentence, so somebody better at Chinese than me please translate) 在不考慮其他任何因素的情況下也是拿的出手的。 A lot of people think that the statistics of 'eff' aren't reliable, and to add some more, per, eFG. Alston: eFG 47.8%, PER: 13.3 Opponent, eFG: 45.4%, PER 15.3 Alston http://www.82games.com/0607/06HOU2C.HTM Alstonisn't too far behind from the opponent (behind by 2), and his shooting efficiency is better than the opponent's. That means that Alston is better and getting the ball into the basket but needs to strengthen on controlling the opponent's field goals. Below is Head's stats: Head http://www.82games.com/0607/06HOU3C.HTM An interesting stat is when Head is the point guard, the opponent's shots' efficency rises significantly. I'll shut up if Alston is guarding scrubs. Head, as a point guard, is behind by 7.7 in PER compared to the opponent. This is by no means looking down on Head. 3. Money Alston is 106th in the NBA, getting 3.85 million for salary. His salary isn't that much. 4. Is he a good fit for the Rockets? What's the Rocket's idea offense? Obviously it's the super center and the three pointers. Alston as a three point shooter is passable. The average 3% is 34.7%. Alston's three's are at 36.4%. In the first three quarters, Alston shoots 34%, and 48.1% in the fourth, upping his game in crunch time. 5. Can Alston go up? Alston's current level can't be said as good. As a 30 year old veteran, can he go up? This is very important. The answer is Alston can. In the summer, his 3-point practices have paid off. If he can maintain the level of play with layups and mid-range shots, then he can become a championiship point guard. Notice Parker's mid-range shots and layups (floaters?) are also from practice, Alston has the ability to do this. 6.Is there a better point guard than Alston? Look at the top ten point guards and you can get the answer. But if you htink deeper, you'll know it's a r****d talking dreams (another Chinese saying ) From one side, the salary cap doesn't let every position be filled with All-stars, and on the other hand, even if the rockets have salary space, will they get what they want with a click of fingers? With the above six point, I can say that the Rockets have found the true point guard! (later added) Edit: somebody thinks that Alston's accuracy is absolutely horrible, look at the Rocket's % (eFG) Alston eFG% 47.8% Yao: 52.1% T-Mac: 45.9% Battier: 56.7% Head: 58.7% V-Span, 35.6% Lucas: 47.4% Alston is in the last leg of the team, but he is not the worst, that's t-Mac with 45.9% and V-Span with 35.6%. Also his EFG is better than his opponent's eFG (45.4%)
1 You are mostly off track in point 1. Most people here expect Rafer to be a distributor and passer and to shoot a decent % from the field. We also expect him to play serviceable defense, which we all accept now is impossible. He is NOT a better player than he has showed so far. Instead he is EXACTLY what we see so far. If you disagree, how many games will it be before we see the real Rafer? Your statement about Mike James is on the mark. MJ definitely isn't the answer IMO. He is more talented on both offense and defense than Rafer but brings a completely different set of problems. Most people here have given up the MJ pipedream. 2 Only a few still fantasize about what V-Span can do now. His last few games pretty much gutted his support, with the exception of a few. Even those on the bandwagon admit it will be some time before he is ready. In other words, V-Span love doesn't explain why people complain about Rafer. Before the season, I expect Rafer to be the new Juwan BECAUSE of V-Span. I was correct on what happened but wrong about why. Rafer has earned the disrespect he gets here. 3 Yes, Rafer is an easy scapegoat, but that doesn't mean most of the criticism isn't valid. His shot selection is poor, his defense is horrific, his ast/TO ratio is down, he is one of the worst finishers in the NBA and the only reason his FG% isn't lower is because teams don't bother guarding him much of the time. Rafer isn't the only reason we've lost some games but since he clearly is a below average PG he needs to be replaced. Your comment on Tracy's work ethic is misguided. You don't get that good (and skilled) without a strong work ethic. Also, he is attacking the basket quite a bit. How do you know Tracy's back condition is identical to Nash's? I've seen Nash play with back pain and, believe you me, he ain't the same player. Tracy's back condition is obviously worse and flares up more often and more severely. For the record, I started the season off as a strong Rafer supporter and thought the V-Span hype was ridiculous. But after 27 games, I've seen enough. Rafer is the best PG we have right now and that's a shame. JL3 and V-Span need to get more minutes when Rafer starts the game off on "E".
I'll agree to disagree on Rafer. I have no problem seeing more of Lucas but if I see VSpan on the court again (unless it's garbage time) it will be too soon. Tracy has the same back problem as Nash. You're right, you've seen Nash play through back pain because you see him do it every night. He just has a higher threshold of pain then Tracy. Tracy works hard when he wants to. Do you think it's a coincidence that Yao gets injured and the next game he's back. TMac isn't the hard worker you think he is nor is he the elite player he once was. Tracy's back is only worse because he doesn't have nash's heart ad he doesn't want to play through pain or permanantly injure himself. It's 50% mental.
Rafer sucks! Cant hit the ocean if he fell out of a boat in the 1-3 quarters, then in the 4th something finally clicks. He looks to get his shot off 1st, then set body else up 2nd. He turns the ball over. He has NO "D" what so ever. Start LUTHER!! At least he can shoot
Jason Kidd 11pts, 3rebs 5ast 6st 4TO 1BS Rafer Alston14pts,7rebs,5ast,3st 1TO doesn't look that bad to me... Unless you are willing to pay alot more money, otherwise he is as good as it gets.
Nobody is looking to blame rafer for this past game. I like what he did late in the game against the nets, but if you look at how he played in the past games you can't deny that he's been playing piss poor. Even during the start of tonight's game I was frustrated with him jacking up the three, but he eventually settled down and had a nice game.
Let's compare their numbers for the season. Pts/Rebs/Ast/Stls/TOs: Rafer: 13.5/3.5/5.0/1.5/2.5 Kidd: 13.5/8.5/9.5/1.5/3.0 Huge difference. Kidd is an all around great player who is mentally tough and demands the same from his teammates. Rafer is a weakfish who crumbles when the opposing PG gets physical with him. You won't see Jamal Tinsley back Kidd down and abuse him. Kidd can finish around the basket while Rafer finishes like a paperweight. Oh yeah, he IS a paperweight (175 lbs). The advantage Rafer has on Kidd is a smaller salary.
And that's what it ultimately boils down to ain't it? You think Morey/CD etc. wouldn't love to get Kidd if they can afford it? It would be a no-brainer. Fact is, Rafer makes below average money. And for that amount of money, you have an average starting point guard. Good deal? I would think so. Of course he's gonna have his days, and on other days he's gonna make some boneheaded plays, but hey, it's all part of the game.
I've been a Rafer supporter, even if I don't actually think Rafer's that good of a player. That said, we really can't find a better person to run the Rocket's system for his salary, unless it's on the rookie scale. Personally I think we can win with Alston, as evidenced by our current record. He's good ... when he's playing within limits. Once he tries to surpass those all his weaknesses are exposed. Hence... he's a roleplayer. We still can use our 4.2$ TE to land a solid backup for Rafer. That will make things much more palatable than seeing 40 minutes of brickfest every night.
I'd be satisfied if Rafer was an average starting PG. He is not. Low-budget, below-average starting players like Rafer pull you towards the lottery, not a championship. He is a drag on this team just like our PFs are.
That's a pretty ignorant statement. Did you ask T-Mac if he could play through pain and he said no I can't because I don't want to? Sounds like you've never had a back spasm. In the mean time, shut up and stop questioning his work ethic because you have no idea how he's feeling and how his back is doing. You're comparing his back situation to Steve Nash's? The same guy who only plays half of the game (on offense)? It's a lot easier to play ball when you're not expected to play any D. T-Mac is our best or at least one of our best defenders. Note that he got his back spasm trying to block a shot by Arenas. That's right. He was trying to play defense, unlike that Nash guy. He's trying to give it his all on both sides of the court, and here are these ignorant posters on a forum calling him out because he gets hurt on the job.
We already established that he's around the 17th best starting PG (refer to the rafer vs starting pgs threads)... that seems pretty 'average' to me.
