Luther's entry pass isn't that bad. In fact, I often see him passing to Yao in the corner then cutting baseline. Don't see the rockets running this play for anyone else. Besides T-mac and Battier especially can do it very well. We seem to have a problem with entry passes late in the game, where Yao a swarmed and in this case we need luther's shooting.
Don't be fooled by those lenevo stats. All they do is highlight how much of a gap there is b/w our starters and bench players
Playing good? Late in the game or anytime in fact, I do not want to see rafer drive in a take a bad floater. He took more shots than Yao in 3 of the 5 losses, and equaled Yao's total attempts twice this season in close wins. Wizards Game: 86-82 rockets win Y. Ming: 9-16 R. Alston: 4-16 Wolves Game: 82-75 rockets win Y. Ming: 11-15 R. Alston: 4-15 Hornets Game: 96-90 rockets loss Y. Ming: 6-11 R. Alston: 5-12 Jazz Game: 106-96 rockets loss Y. Ming: 8-12 R. Alston: 5-13 Suns Game: 102-91 rockets loss Y. Ming: 6-11 R. Alston: 6-17
Luther can't play point guard. It seems like everytime he brings the ball up he slows down the offense because he isn't strong with the ball.
what i see from that is when the opposing team makes it tough for yao to get the ball we lose. the main point is that even though luther's game is a better fit at the 1 right now, rafer still keeps TO's way down and gets the offense started early. rafer is still shooting a nice % from 3. he needs to just have more controll over his trigger. if he would stop shooting as much his fg% would increase and he would look good again.
Is that bad? lol. We ARE a halfcourt team after all. But I agree, he can't play point but T-mac can with luther playing the two. Either way, rafer's still gonna get his minutes becauseT-mac can't pla point all the time.
it's bad when it takes him 6-8 seconds to get over the half court line and he has to shield his body from the defender to prevent it from being stolen, which hurts his vision. At times he's gotten stuck just over the half court line and he's had to get help from someone. The Rockets are a half court team but when you have 10 seconds to run a play, things can go bad. Since the Rockets take so long to shoot the more time they have to run a play the better it is.
When rafer shoots alot, we lose. Simple as that. True Yao is denied the ball in these defeats but Rafer should not, be the one taking more shots. Yeah I didnt mention luther at all. lol. I just thought that since we got rafer to pass the ball first that he should be doing that and stop trying to be mike james.
You don't understand +/- stats. What that says is that Alston-McGrady-Battier-Hayes-Yao out score their opponents by a higher differential than any other 5-player combo in basketball. What you are talking about is +/- differential. Which would be the +/- for that combination minus the +/- for all other combos.
Are you talking about T-mac, because I did mention that luther isn't the answer either and rafer will still play a majority of the minutes at the point.
85% of those shot ARE WIDE OPEN If he misses...then he misses. Don't call them bad shots or label him "Mike James" when the OFFENSIVE is DESIGN for the wings to shot those WIDE OPEN JUMPERS. THINK PEOPLE I rather the topic be about how the Rocket Shooter are UNDERACHIEVING, because that's the real story. People are just trying to lay blame on certain players. HOLD ALL SPOT UP JUMP SHOOTER ACCOUNTABLE.
that's the thing. i don't mind him shooting the open 3's he gets. he is shooting a nice % from there. i mind when he wants to drive it in for floaters that don't go anywhere near the basket. he misses like 4 of those a game. rafer has 3 options when he catches the ball at the 3pt line and he isn't open: 1. keep moving the ball (swing it back around the arch or feed yao). 2. drive it in, but don't shoot a floater. dish it back out when the defense collapses. 3. drive it in and take it into a defender and draw a foul! create contact and get to the line. get the other bigs in fould trouble so yao can dominate the backups. whatever he does, as long as the floater is gone i'm happy. rafer is having a pretty effecient year IF he would increase his FG%. he can do that by sticking to his 3pt% since he seems to shoot worse inside the arch.
They have nothing to do with the bench players. It isn't an On/Off stat. It's looking purely at point differential when the player(s) is on the court, nothing else.
What the Rockets needs is a combination of Head and Alston. what i'm saying is a point guard with Head's shooting and Rafers ballhandling. If only they grew on trees...you'd have a bunch of Mike Bibbys.
You should take a look at what Rafer does with the ball... When he doesn't have an open shot, he usually dribbles all around looking for it.
I understand..... But let's be honest.....Rafer is becoming escape GOAT and it's not fair. He does have three options when he's getting the return pass. I don't think most of you are taking in consideration that passing up wide open jumpers is a cardinal sin on this team. When he passes one up.....he's already wrong. The floaters in the paint are killing many of you......I see it as a higher percentage shot with a smaller chance of completion (if that makes sense) but only because he's just missing the shot. Once Rafer decides to pass up the open jumper....he still has a good look at the basket, he just misses more than he makes. We need to appreciate what we have lol
