Will Rafer Alston Be Successful under Adelman?

I dont think anyone has ever said that Rafer is awesome but personally I think Rafer is better than A LOT of people think. Of course he needs to improve at some things but I think A LOT of people are asking for too much out of pg on this team. EVERYONE wants a guy that can hit the 3 consistently, get into the lane and finish over bigs, and play great defense. Frankly, those are what every team wants and needs, especially more so these days....and aside from Deron, Paul, Nash and maybe a few others, there isnt anyone really attainable. Like I said before, I think Rafer is better than what a lot of people think. I think we can win with Rafer on this team, and even starting.

Last year people forget to mention, before blaming him for all our problems, that who else could of made us a better team? Im a Vspa supporter but we frankly havnt seen enough from him to say he makes us a better team. You want the truth, w/o Rafer, the Rockets dont have as many wins last year.

One more thing, Im not the biggest Rafer fan either. I just dont think he warrants on the bashing he gets. Im on board for a change if there is going to be a obvious/clear-cut better option at this point but right now I do not see one until one of our youngins prove to be the real deal - and thats purely be realistic since no one is going to trade us anything a lot better.

 

I guess let me speak your language, because obviously you are a “numbers” man who has an eye for people with “comedic talent”….

Rafer Alston (not under JVG) shot 41.4%, 35.7% from three point range, and average 14.2 and 6.7 dimes with about 1.56 TO’s a game. Toronto 04-05 (informational source nba.com)

In comparison to someone who we all would like Mike Bibby who last year shot 40.4%, 36% for the three point range, and averaged 17.1 and 4.7 dimes a game, with about 2.4 TO’s a game. (Same source)

Now I’m not saying that Rafer Alston is better than JVG, but when he was in a more free flowing offense, he was able to put up numbers comparable to a player we would take right now if we could.

I’m not saying that he has played great the last two years; I’m just saying that with Rick he will have more freedom and will play better.

 

Rafer is backup fodder. I don't even think he'd be the ideal backup pg I'd want on this team either.

He's only good at 2 things:

1. not turning over the ball(mostly because he never creates ANYTHING)

2. being an okay defender(isn't awesome or anything, but plays d a lot better than it looks like he should)

hopefully the rockets ship him somewhere else. I don't want him on this team at all anymore.

 

funny how Alston's absolute best year in the league is about equal to Bibby's worst by far.

 

I don't necessarily agree, but I can see your point. And even those numbers you cited are not all that great overall.


I would still rather have an attack the rim PG, who is good at the midrange game.

DD

 

I'm not buying it. It's not hard to put together 4 minutes of highlights. I'd like to issue a challenge with $50 to the tip jar if someone puts together a 4 minute mix of Alston's missed lay-ups and bricks. Caveats are that it can't be as a Rocket (blame JVG excuse) and hopefully all music is from a song with "brick" in the title, i.e. Brick House.

 

Jesus people still think Rafer is good? What the hell does he do? He doesn't penetrate, he doesn't create for others, he DOES IN FACT make bad decisions in crunch time, he is a way way below average scorer, and he has Asperger's syndrome. What does he do that makes you guys like him? Is it because he wears Red to the games? Is it because he has a backup that looks like a 10 year old kid

 

rafer's problems are beyond shooting the 3. it's also shooting the 2 and finishing around the basket, where generally he's WIDE OPEN too.

he basically has to learn how to MAKE SHOTS when he's open b/c guess what, he's ALWAYS open.

he's very great at ball handling and most of hte time controlling the tempo and get the ball to yao/tmac.

but man, if ur gonna be left wide open all the damn time all over the court, please make more than 37% of your shots.

 

So Adelman's schemes will have Rafer never shooting the ball? Awesome.

I really cannot think of any positive that Rafer has on o other than taking care of the ball. He has the quickness to drive, but that is almost completely negated by the fact that he can't finish and no defense really expects him to.

I am honestly surprised everytime he scores a bucket.

 

there isnt anything wrong with rafer as a starter either. I talked about it in another thread. With the rockets starting lineup of yao and tmac rafer fits in pretty well. You just need sound pg play in terms of handling the ball and rafer gives you that. The rockets got into trouble when they had to go to their bench. If the rox bring in another pg that is more offensive then he would best be suited to come in behind rafer as part of the second unit. That way you will have another viable scoring threat in when yao or tmac are on the bench.

And you are right, they cant rely on rafer as much as they have had to (especially on offense), but he could still easily be part of a championship roster and play significant minutes.

But its good to see that you notice that the rockets were in fact overly relying on players that you admit would not make up a championship team. Meaning this team has a significant talent deficiency...or was that amel who thought the rockets had enough talent to win a championship?

 

Mark this down Rafer will be traded before the draft.

He is like Jason Williams who took to many unnecessary 3 point shots. Face it Rafer is not good enough to drive and finish at the basket and his shooting is horrible. Too often he settles for the outside shot and no dribble penetration in his repertoire. He was decent and workable under JVG but Adelman's offense requires a smart playmaker PG to run the offense with all the movement. He doesn't possess the ability to run and fast break or to finish near the rim. He has been a 2nd string PG is entire life and that's what he really is a backup PG.

 

rafer cant run the fast break? if there is one thing he can do is that...its just that typically he was running it alone b/c no one else got down the court

 

IQ test-
Which of these does not belong in the group-

1. Tony Parker 2. Derron Williams 3. Rafer Alston 4. Steve Nash 5. Baron Davis

 

Right now Rafer is a good back-up for an elite NBA team.
-Needs to work on mid-range game.
-Learn to be efficient while attacking the basket.

 

point taken, now list all 30 NBA starters and rank them, be objective.

 

IQ test #2-
Please unscramble this sequence of prime players in to the correct descending order as point guards-

Best Baron Davis
2nd Best Derron Williams
3rd Best Rafer Alston
4th Best Steve Nash
Near the last in the western Conf. Tony Parker