Why is Rafer Alston on this team?

thank you all for finally realizing this i have been ridiculed so much for trashing rafer alston.....anways we desperately need a pg who can hit an open 3 if we want to win this series also we need a freakin pf who after getting an offensive rebound gets stripped numerous times.......and finally we need someone wh ocan put the ball in the basket besides tmac, battier and yao

 

I agree about his defense. I mean Deron is going through about 2 or 3 picks every single time down the court not to mention Yao is in his way and doesn't even slow down Deron at all.

 

Never attacks the basket? When he attacked the basket with his floaters & such, people begged him to stop. Now that he stopped, they want him to attack the basket again. You can't have both.

 

Get off Rafer because we're horrible on the offensive end without him. Check the stats someone.

 

Never understood why some of you guys always go to great length to defend Rafer.

Nobody saying Rafer is completely useless, he's just not a starter on a championship caliber team, and for us to bank our future on Rafer is pretty pathetic!

 

Sure he is. The Rockets are a championship caliber team, and he's the starting PG. Doubt me? Oh well, I'll save you a spot on the bandwagon.

 

Rafer is just about the only player I'm not mad at right now. EVERYBODY has been saying how big of a series Deron Williams is going to have here -- from people here at clutchfans, to newspaper journalists, to TV commentators, etc. He hasn't. Rafer has kept him in check, and played him to a near stand-still in every game this series.

I can't say anything close to that about any other Rockets player this series.

 

Is it Rafer that's doing this alone, or is it team help defense? If its help defense then that creates open shots for others besides Deron, like Boozer or Harpring.

 

Okur and Kirilenko have been MIA, and Boozer's points are coming off face-up jumpers or post inside...not dribble penetration. So Williams hasn't been too effective at all.

And unlike, Howard, Luther, Hayes and Battier, he's producing in other ways. 8 boards and six assists per game, 1 steal per game. And his 3 TOs per game are coming in 45 mpg. A PG who averages 1 TO per 15 minutes is pretty darn efficient.

And for those who want another PG in here, who's out there that'll be better than Rafer? You're not gonna get Bibby, Billups, Nash, so who else? And no one's treating Rafer as our savior. He's a great role player on a team with two great superstars. How can yall question Rafer starting and let Hayes get away with it? On a legit, full-depth championship team, Rafer would be a backup and Hayes a third-stringer. But this isn't NBA 2k7, and you work with what you have.

 

True,
Every team, matter of fact, every place, needs a hero.

 

Send it to me, I will gladly accept it. What about the Mike James campaign, should I send some of the money back to you for that?

 

From what I've seen he does push the ball on a fast break but hes the only one down the court and has to slow down for the rest of the team to get there.

You have a point about him shooting inconsistently but thats why he doesnt attack the basket as much anymore...bc of his missed floaters.

How can you applause Head at all when he hasnt done sh*t all series?! seriously this is ridiculous. i agree that Rafer isnt the best PG in the world...but hes def. not the reason for our terrible loss...he does most of the stuff hes supposed to.

 

Because he does not turn the ball over much, plays decent defense, has amazing handles, knows the system, is a hard worker, can usually hit the open threes, is a decent passer, and is better than Mike James. He's not great, but he's better than a lot of our other options.

 

This is coming from people who want Mike James back, that's what's funny. Say Rafer sucks, talk about his shooting ect...( you have a very valid argument in the shooting department) but you want to bring in Mike James. Another Bonzi Wells. Think's he's an All-Star (when he's a ball-hog), can't get along with his team's superstar (TMac and Garnett) and got benched on the crappy Wolves after getting his payday. Now he's worth just about nothing. I'm far from Rafer's only supporter on the board.

Hell, take Rafer completely out of the equation, forget about him. For the sake of this debate I won't even comment on him. I'll just roll with the Rafer haters opinion and we'll say how terrible he is. So, let's get another pg. Your suggestion is Mike James. Not a good fit here. Would be terrible for this team. If you don't want to go on what I've said then we'll go by facts. He's a ball hog. He got his contract and immediately had a terrible season. He got benched (despite that contract ) for a rookie who had an up and down season. He was being offered at the trade deadline and nobody picked him up because everyone was focusing on Watson and Atkins. He's constantly whining about something. Is that what you want on a team that has great chemistry? Not me, sorry. I've had enough of the Bonzi's and Snyders.

You want to say we need another pg, I agree with you. Whether it's a backup or a starter. Talk to me about Atkins , Bell, Mo Williams, maybe Ridnour, Earl watson, ect.. there's a decent list you can throw at me and I would be happy to have the Rockets have. Mike James isn't an upgrade for Rafer at all. So now I've eliminated the Rafer argument completely and countered with one that doesn't even involve him. I'll await this response.