Why not start Head over Alston?

Because Alston calls a good game and the pitchers love him.

 

I'd love to see Luther Head try to post up sometimes, he's got the atheletic build for it, and of course draw the foul from opposing players would be great! But if his 3-point shooting continues like this, then I'm all for it.

As to starting Head over Alston, remember, last game was probably (hopefully) be one of hte few games we'll ever shoot so many three pointers, so don't judge Rafer simply on his shooting skills. He's a good ball handler too, and T-Mac can't set the offense every single time.

 

that would be much more effective

running Tmac at the point and having Luther make screens and hit open shots

but having Luther, Baklava and Alston at the same time on the court is a disaster waiting to happen

 

I really cannot think of any reason why Rafer deserves the starting spot over Luther.

 

Two words: entry pass

 

But Head is even worse at it, and all things in general when it comes to ball-handling and passing. The only thing he has over Alston is 3-point shooting (which may be reason enough... considering that this team HAS to hit WIDE OPEN shots).

In the long run, T-mac's scoring will pick-up (barring injury). You're not going to want him handling the ball ALL the time, as well as worry about Head's poor passing/turnovers. Also, T-Mac is already battling enoguh fatigue issues, to have to worry about bringing the ball up each and every time, and not being able to get to his comfort spots on the floor.

But, they all have to get better... the shooting on this team is atrocious (I don't even trust Yao to shoot his fadeaways anymore... much rather have him back it in to get layups).

 

I agree that Rafer is at best a decent backup PG, but I don't think Luther is the answer. Luther is too slow to guard quick 1's, while Rafer (sort of) can. Also, Luther really needs to develop a mid-range jumper. Love his 3 point shooting, though...unlike Rafer

 

I was going to say the same thing. Isn't Luther's "job" on the court to square up and shoot?

Maybe if his passing into Yao was a point of emphasis we would see him doing it more readily.

I am not sure, to be honest, that his entry pass is necessarily that bad. I will need to go back and watch a couple of games to see if that is true.

Also, as far as Alston is concerned. At the beginning of the season, weren't we saying he needed to stop driving to the hoop ala skip to my lou style and to pass instead.

Now that the pass has been taken away from him more or less and given to Tracy, he's shooting jumpers instead of driving into the lane.

I think overall Alston is a good player. He is trying to figure out what JVG and Tracy want him to do right now. It will work itself out (hopefully sooner than later) and to be honest Luther coming off the bench and nailing threes is a good thing. He adds a spark of offense that isn't necessarily there with Rafer coming off the bench.

 

I can think of a couple reasons:
-Rafer's the leader of the ball hawk club, stealing 1.5/game, which is a big reason why our defense has been so good early. Luther has been all but a liability on D, regardless of matchup.
-Luther has been poor at getting penetration, and his non-3 point shooting has been horrid (13-45, 29%)[Alston's 2 pt shooting is 40%].
-He can't drive and can't dish. You're considering McGrady our Point Forward, which is stretching the fact the he is our top playmaker. Splitting hairs, but he usually isn't bringing the ball up or initiating the play. Rafer is still the primary for that role, and has an under-appreciated A/TO ratio over 2. Luther's is a frightening 0.8.

In short, Luther is completely one dimensional at this point. Rafer has gone on a number of frightening shooting slumps, but he's bringing other things to the table. Luther is a good change of pace guy that needs to be brought in against the right floor matchups to be most effective.

I wouldn't argue that more of a platoon system is called for, especially when Rafer starts jacking airballs like a 12 year old.

Evan

 

Not a horrible idea, but I would prefer another PG via a trade. Since Bonzi is not going to play for the Rockets, I promise you, somebody is going to want him for his current contract. Or, I still say the Rockets try to peddle Alston to the Heat. Wild ideas to be sure, but assuming that the professional NBA teams are all "smart" is a false assumption. Look at some of the players the Rockets have traded for or drafted and then given big contracts, like Moochie Norris, Mo Taylor, Cato, Griffin, Maloney,...... It is too painful to go on.

 

Yao has commented in the past that he and Alston have extremely good chemistry when getting passes into the post. I've heard that Yao prefers Alston to any other Rocket when receiving entry passes because he knows exactly where to give him the ball at the right time.

Luther's job is to provide scoring off the bench. He's like Vinnie Johnson when he was with the Pistons. If you put him in the starting line-up, you create three significant problems:

1. You have no consistent, veteran scorer off the bench.
2. You put your best entry passer on the bench at the beginning of the game when the Rockets MOST want to establish Yao in the post (note: he is most effective early, which is why he gets most of his shots then and McGrady starts up after Yao goes to the bench late in the first).
3. You force McGrady to be the primary ball handler at a time in the game when you really want him to take what the offense gives him and conserve his energy.

 

Well, you listed more than a couple of reasons there in you post.

But nonetheless, those are exactly my opinions as well!

 

Unfortunately, neither should be starting. Our two best finishers around the basket, outside of Yao and McGrady, won't be seeing the court any time soon (Bonzi and Kirk). Rafer and Luther are both well below average. Rafer has at least better penetration skills, but still his decision making and ability to finish leave a lot to be desired.

Consequentially, we'll be launching a bunch of threes. We're a pretty good outside shooting team, so overall we should do alright. However, it will result in a lot of streaky play. That's why the Rockets, even within the same game, are so hot/cold. They're overall efficiency might turn out pretty good, but when you rely a lot on three point shots you can have a lot of dry spells.

Why do we always seem to get cold in the 4th quarter? Simple. That's when opposing defenses start playing more aggressively on Yao. Couple that with Yao getting tired, and his effectiveness reduces significantly. He's the only steady offensive force we have, so when he's taken out of the game we live or die by the three point line. We've been dying a lot lately.

 

alston has no problem with 3s shooting .But beside his bad defence ,the worst part is the time he chose to penetrate which never turned into entry pass. Everytime he did this,we were ganna blow out a lead or good advantage afterwards.

 

Solution: Start Sura

 

Seriously....I'm not IN LOVE with Rafer, but guys be serious. What has Rafer done wrong? It seems like some of you are reaching for something because the TEAM is not quite where we would all like them to be. He's playing good (not great....but who is?) I don't think you would want T-Mac playing point for large amounts of mins per game....he already seems like he's hurting from something and the team is keeping it on the hush. I truly believe that he hurt his back again in GAME 1 against Utah.....the play where he collided with Derrick Fisher and he’s just not talking about it because he doesn’t want the bad press.

I love Luther, but every time he's brought in to play point I start sweating. He's not that comfortable with the ball and this team really needs a back up point and Billy Spoon is not ready...yet. Hopefully Sura can get back and help with the load, but for right now......the offense is in good hand with skip. IMO