Give it up. What happened last year is more important than now. Rafer and AB are the exact same players they were last season. Don't you get it? Forget that Rafer was probably the MVP of the Rockets the last 2-3 years because his backup was dog poo and the situation has completely changed now. Even when Rafer is the dog poo, he must finish games because the Rockets won 55 games last season. The past is the future and you are reactionary and illogical not to see it just like Adelman, because he must know best. Why even question him? He's the coach. [/sarcasm]
Um, yeah...his INDIVIDUAL efficiency rating was improved by Yao and McGrady, who happen to have lower efficiency ratings. Huh. Figures. Anyone can improve on Rafer, he can be easily upgraded, then you just rattled off a list of point guards that couldn't do it. Then you say hypothetically, Jason Hart could do a better job without providing any facts at all. Let's face it; your arguments are just theories. Cool, this is a forum, this place exists so we can bounce theories off each other. However, I'm glad Adelman is looking at objective FACTS rather then subjective theories in establishing his gameplan.
Actually you DON'T know that. Adelman plays hunches and is known for being "loyal" to players. It's likely that has more to do with it than anything else.
Jesus... guys, I know you don't read my arguments, but at least PRETEND. I said eventually, Brooks may be the closer over Rafer. Brooks may be a better player then Rafer RIGHT NOW as a matter of fact. I've said this countless times. BUT AS OF RIGHT NOW, who is more proven? Who has played with the starting lineup for a longer time? I'm glad Adelman respects team chemistry. I'm glad Adelman uses past results to justify his present decisions, because he sure as hell didn't become a good coach by dreaming up subjective theories with no numbers or reasons behind them. I AM GLAD THAT ADELMAN PLAYED RAFER BECAUSE HE IS MORE PROVEN AND GOOD RESULTS HAVE USUALLY FOLLOWED, BUT THAT CAN CHANGE AS BROOKS DEVELOPS AND PROVES HIMSELF CAPABLE OF HOLDING THE MANTLE, as Brooks becomes a more known quantity, as of now, I think it's idiocy to change rotations based on subjective feelings on a player and I see no reason to change them based on one or two bad games.
<br> Righttt, because the efficiency ratings aren't affected by the players on the court with you. When he passes the ball to Yao and gets an assist off it, that doesn't increase his eff rating. When he gets a wide open three because of T-Mac's double team, that doesn't help his eff ratings. <br> I didn't say that anyone can upgrade Rafer, I said that it's not hard for another NBA level point guard to play the same role as him. Don't misconstrue my words. What I do believe though is that Aaron Brooks is capable of being an upgrade to him. How is that a theory? It is based on facts from games he has played this year.
NEITHER of them are completely proven, Rafer has proven to be a terrible shooter and getting worse, Brooks is starting to be proven, we know that the team won't go anywhere with Rafer starting, let's give the up and coming guy a shot... WHAT CHEMISTRY? Adelbrain took until January last year to insert Scola in the lineup....Popovich starts a 19 year old Parker because he knows the team will be better at the end of the year because of it.....Adelbrain starting Rafer is stupid. Brooks is 5-1 as a starter, and has outplayed CP3, Chauncey and Devin Harris...he has proven more in those games than Rafer has in 4 years here.... It is time for a change, but will Adelbrain make it? Or will he wait to make the change in January as he did with Scola last year? Time for a change, Brooks is ready and the team needs him...especially with Rafer's crutch TMac being gimpy....we need Brooks offensvie presence. DD
It's called a team, and Rafer just seems to be an incredibly efficient teammate. Nobody says that he's a superstar, but those stats confirm what most Rockets insiders should know; Rafer is a worthy piece of the puzzle. Brooks is "hypothetically" capable of being better then Rafer, but your theory doesn't hold enough water for Brooks being inserted into the closing lineup when he has mostly been used in the second unit and very seldom plays with the starters (who usually finish the games). Actually, they're based on like 7 games, for god's sake, assuming you actually looked into it. That's like saying Brandon Roy is better then Micheal Jordan...based on the stretch of games where he averaged 40 PPG+. THAT'S what I mean by small frames of reference. Rafer has at least three seasons behind him of, if not excellent, then competent play.
<br> I Know you don't read our arguments, but at least pretend. <br> WE ARE NOT BASING THIS OFF OF ONE OR TWO GAMES, BUT RATHER THE PAST 3 YEARS! <br> Stop denying the inconsistency of Rafer Alston..
Team is going nowhere? Try .5 games out of the Southwest Division lead and the 2nd seed with Battier, McGrady and Artest missing significant amounts of time. I don't understand why there is such a "drastic need" for change. See this is what your argument boils down to...comparing Tony Parker to Brooks and calling Adelman Adelbrain, while off-handily referring to Scola when it's obvious that was a long-term change and that our starting PF, for heaven's sake, was Chuckie Hayes...unless you want to argue with me that on offense, Brooks>Rafer to the degree that Scola>Chuck and that a sub-par under .500 record is equal to a 66%ish record...I see no reason for bringing that up.
<br> True <br> He just said that putting in Scola for Chuck Hayes is completely different than putting in Brooks for Rafer <br> LOLOL
I've read your arguments. Not many of them are backed by facts. You might as well be telling me "Rafer is ugly, don't start him" until you provide me objective measures of how Rafer has been as bad the last three years as he has been the last few days. Give me objective reasons why Rafer should not be playing as much...PER against, +- ratings, five-man unit efficiency. Theory is all good, I've said it before, this forum is based on theory...but you guys have just repeated the same thing over and over again. I have been too, but I've at least provided something to chew on. Why is Houston so terrible with Rafer that HE MUST BE CHANGED OFF? I don't see it. Evantually, Brooks should replace Rafer, it's obvious Rafer is no golden boy. However, that should come after some time and for a solid, sustainable reason and I really see no reason.
See this is where you and I are never going to agree, I think Rafer Alston is the same as Chuck Hayes, a limited player, who will always bring the team down at crucial times. There is a reason teams don't even guard him in the playoffs because he sucks and it allows other teams to pay more attention to our better players. You need 5 offensive threats on the court at one time in crunch time.. Rafer is not an offensive threat, but he is offensive..to anyone that understand the game. And being .5 games back is .....ok.....but I want more...I want the team to be a contender, and NO TEAM WITH RAFER ALSTON is really a contender. You are basically risking the entire team's fortunes on a it's worst player. That is beyond stupid when you leave a better player on the bench and go with the worst starting PG in the entire league. DD
<br> Contradiction much? <br> Because trust me, we didn't have two 50+ win seasons with Chuck Hayes as our starting PF. Because Chuck Hayes wasn't a proven, competent player Because Chuck Hayes didn't have team chemistry Because Chuck Hayes didn't start for 2+ seasons <br> Great Job on ruining your own arguments <br> and for your listening pleasure: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/179aV1ixl3Y&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/179aV1ixl3Y&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Just as an example of the tangible facts that prove Rafer has not been as horrible as some of you claim, over the last 82 games (which is a much bigger point of reference then 10 games-2007-2008), Rafer's net on/off court +- is the biggest among all Rockets players playing significant time (more then 20% of MINS) at +4.4 (bigger then Yao, McGrady, Battier etc.) . Of course, his PER is low since PER doesn't really factor in defense, although his net PER is better then Hayes and Battier, generally considered the team's best defenders. This seems to suggest that Rafer is at the very least, an above-average defender and that when the Rockets score more points then their opponents, it is at least correlated with Rafer's presence. This also makes sense since Rafer's playmaking abilities are very exceptional; this can be tangibly read. At a 5.1 APG and 1.7 TOPG rate, Rafer has a significantly better AST:TO ratio (3 AST/1 TO) then Brooks (2.6 APG/1.3 TOPG=2 APG/1 TO) or hell, even Nash (2.23 AST/1 TO), Deron (2.578 AST/1 TO), Harris (2.64 APG/1 TO) etc etc. Rafer is not a superstar. But he's an integral part of the Rockets whether you like it or not and he shouldn't be lightly replaced, especially if there are no significant problems with the team.
No significant problems with the team? Are you serious? Have you been watching the 4th quarter collapses? All the losing to crap teams? The Rockets are lucky that no one has run off and hid.....but there are plenty of alarms going off, you can choose to go back to sleep, but me, I am grabbing the nearest fire extinguisher and going to work. DD
The team was below .500, it was obvious that Scola was a significant upgrade over Hayes, beyond what you can say about Brooks over Alston. hmm Though I guess you posting YouTube videos that have nothing to due with the subject at hand is just par for the course.
