I am happy for the win last night so this isn’t meant to rain on anyone’s parade but with Rafer at the helm I just don’t see this team going anywhere. He has his moments and I expect his shooting to improve over the course of the season but in the end when it counts most Rafer will still be Rafer. Which translates to, "they way he is playing now is what we should expect come playoff time". We probably played a near perfect game against a depleted Grizzlies team at home and yet a couple of bad plays down the stretch and misses and they are back in it. I am happy for the win, I am happy that Bonzi listened to the coach and attacked the basket, I am happy that Battier hit some open shots, I like the progress Scola is making, I love the guys comraderie but IMO with Rafer at the helm this team is still far away from being a real contender. McGrady and Alston's shooting was terrible. McGrady made up for it with the triple double but Alston did nothing else. Rafer even took in some extra shooting practice and still shoots dismally. So my question is why do you think Rafer is still getting so much play and does he deserve it?
it's hard to complain after a win, especially one where rafer puts up 7 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists and only 1 to.... but i certainly would have liked to see steve and mike play more minutes.
I think it has to do with the whole +/- thing when Rafer plays. I have never been a Rafer fan and am still not a Rafer fan, but he hasn't killed us this season (yet) I just wish Mike James would give a little more effort on the court. Looks like the guy is sleepwalking out there (prob due to PT)
A near perfect game by us? Tmac shot worse than Rafer last night. A normal shooting night by Tracy and that would have been a blow out. As it was I never felt we were in danger of losing in the 2nd half. There was nothing special about the win, but we took care of business with an off shooting night from our top scorer which is a good thing. To say Rafer did nothing is just ill informed. 7 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and only 1 turn over is a pretty good line for a role player. His shooting is bad, but that is hardly news at this point. The fact is that Adelman considers him the best defender, and the best at running the offense compared to our other options at PG. Perhaps Francis will take that role over, but he hasn't played enough games to say. Right now Steve is averaging 7 fouls per 48 minutes and got 2 in 10 minutes last night. James has been playing the shooting guard role more than PG this year, and has a worse FG% than Rafer, so I don't know why anyone would be excited to see him play more. You might be right that we can't win with Rafer as our starting PG, but that doesn't necessarily mean we would win with any of our other options either. If we could trade for an upgrade at PG that would be awesome, but it is unrealistic to think we are going to trade Rafer for a PG that is better than him. Steve has shown flashes that he might be that upgrade, but we need to see consistency and better defense/less fouls. For now Rafer is the guy, not because he is so great, but because our other options have not yet proven to be the huge upgrades that some of you seem to believe.
PPL voting for "Rafer has pictures of Adelman and Morey" will be increased in next day, but it should have others in the poll.
those stats are decieving...He played the entire game, his shooting % was low (surprise surprise), and to allow an old PG like Damon Stoudamire shoot 75% in just 29 mins is also unacceptable.
I'm tired of the "Rafer runs the offense well" argument. It's really ridiculous if you think about it. What does Rafer do? Chuck Hayes inbounds the ball to Alston. Rafer dribbles it twice in the backcourt and then passes it to TMac (also in the backcourt). McGrady then proceeds to set up the offense while Rafer just stands by himself on the perimeter because other teams don't guard him. He's like dead weight or extra baggage out there. I think he needs to be traded or benched permanently. At best, he should be the 3rd string PG and see no more than 10 mins a game.
This is true...somewhat sad, but very true. I love James and I know he will get in your face defensively...but that's better for full court pressure, for James is just as susceptible to the crossover as Rafer is...actually James losing his man on the crossover happens a little more than Rafer. And as for team defense...I'm not saying Rafer is great, but he's been very good and much better than the other 2 have shown...and also better than T-Mac (dare I say it...yes). But ultimately, I'm a believer in making shots, and when MJ gets his shot back (I hope), in crunch time, I'd much rather have MJ there than Rafer.
HUH? did you see him rotate to one side and let Damon go right to the basket for an uncontested layup? More than once? Did you see him being the first rocket back and NOT stopping the ball? How many fouls does Rafer get in a 48 minute game that he plays 40+ minutes in? Ever wonder why he gets no fouls called? He is not even in arm's reach of his man. He shot a clanger last night and Drexler said, "You just knew the results of that before he even shot it..." He bricked two in a row in the fourth quarter and we suddenly went from up 16 to up 11. It should have been a blowout but those two plays got Memphis back in it. I'm sorry, I just don't know who you are watching to say Rafer is our best defensive option at point. I totally disagree. I can live with his horrible shooting better than his defense.
The data for the players, rafer is not better than anyone. Per Game Player G Min FG% FT% 3P% PPG McGrady, Tracy 17 36.9 .443 .723 .329 25.4 Ming, Yao 19 36.7 .513 .870 - 22.2 James, Mike 19 20.4 .371 .735 .349 9.1 Alston, Rafer 19 29.9 .372 .550 .268 8.2 Battier, Shane 19 34.7 .391 .714 .348 8.1 Wells, Bonzi 18 22.1 .392 .622 .143 8.1 Scola, Luis 19 19.7 .554 .577 .000 7.3 Francis, Steve 6 19.5 .405 .636 .200 6.5 Snyder, Kirk 4 12.3 .474 .556 .167 6.0 Landry, Carl 1 4.0 1.000 - - 4.0 Copyright © 2007 by STATS LLC. All rights reserved.
Rafer handles the ball more than that. If you disagree you are blinding yourself with Rafer-hate. He runs it well b/c he makes good passes and doesn't turn the ball over. Plain and simple. it's not that hard to figure out. no one has shown enough to knock him out of the starting line up yet. They haven't even shown enough to get the bulk of the minutes at PG. I'm not sayin Rafer is tha balls. I'm just sayin, to say he adds zero to no value is a little overboard. Hey, he's in the top 3 of my fantasy league's free agents all the time, hahahaah
I disagree, Rafer bails on his man with the ball and waits for someone to pick his man up. He then runs and picks up someone else and does so very quickly. James and Steve try to stay with thier man. Rafer bails WAY too fast. He never recovers on the pick and roll.
I can agree with you on Rafer. He's not all that, but he is not a zero. He adds plenty but Old Man Rock is right, if this is all we get from the point, we ain't going anywhere. Steve has shown flashes of what we need, Mike James has been a huge dissappointment. Is Rafer the answer? NO. Is he worth playing yes, but not so many minutes.....
Dude, that's called getting picked off he ball. Can he make the correct decision on whether to go under or over the screen? sure. Watch Battier play D. He's out defensive specialist right? He gets picked like crazy and needs plenty of help on D. man up D, rafer is pretty darn good. You know he's got quick hands and gets at least 1-2 steals a game that he creates himself. When screens are being set, the defense turns into to team defense. His really bad misses are...well they are pretty damn bad. You just have to come to accept what Rafer brings to teh table. And one of those things is very very very streaky shooting. unfortunately he's usually slumping, haha. And it's said again and again. He's the best option right now. until something else comes along, or one of the other guards plays outstandning consistently, nothing will change. Sorry to tell you rafer-haters that.
I agree with you there. I REALLy strongly feel that Francis should be getting more towards 15-20 minutes right now. James will have to play better if he hopes to get more minutes. that's unfortunate b/c I think a Francis starting and James backing him up would be pretty darn nice.
