Will Rafer be released outright before the start of the season?

True, I hope you are right and I am underrating James's PG skills but he has to be willing to pass the ball to Yao and Tmac which he will probably do but it remains to be seen if he can do it consistently. I have played PG forever and I always notice the little things that good PG's do. For example, Rafer hits Tmac right in the sweet spot when he comes off of picks, sometimes he does this with a left handed push pass because the defensive player knows it is coming as does everyone in the entire arena and the billions watching at home. Also, with his over the head post passes to Yao which were really evident the last half of 2006 when Yao started dominating and he was our only player. A large part of Yao's development was helped by Alston's willingness to throw it to him every chance he got(which seemed to change a little this past year).

While I think James(and even Francis) can handle some of these things it is just not the same when the pass is a couple inches from Tmac's "all in one motion" shot off the screen(which we will see a lot of this year). Yao also has this spot where he likes to catch the ball and turn and shoot if it is in the right spot with the right speed. I know some people will think I am grasping at straws here but most of the above average PG's in this league can do this very well, Kidd(unbelievable at it), Nash(very good), Billups(after playing with Rip for so long he knows where he likes it). These are little things that make Alston a solid PG and a necessity on this team but if we can get a solid big for him it would be wise but giving up for nothing or Doleac would be horrendous. He is much more valuable than that.

 

what proof of "disgruntled"?

 

Releasing Alston would be an insanely stupid move. We can get something in return for him, even if, as Emjohn suggests, it's just a TE and 2nd rounder from Charlotte.

If we release him, we continue to pay him for the next few years anyway. He isn't THAT bad. I suspect even Clutch would be okay with Alston as our 2nd string point guard.

 

Relax guys, the thred starter is just trying to generate some conversations

 

We still need Rafer because we can use him as the back up point guard for francis... Or francis will be the shooting guard and rafer will be the pg... there are so many possible line ups for the houston rockets this year...

 

jmwilliamson, you are an idiot. Releasing Alston would be the wrong move. We can get value in a trade for the guy.

Even if we did release him, he would still count against the cap. Hell, even clutch would cheer for him as long as he comes off the bench.

Okay, maybe you are not an idiot, but a genius. I think Rafer's real value is as a voice of reason. We have 3 pgs that have the potential to get out of control and one guy that does his job/V.O.R.. If you release Alston, we wouldn't have a change of pace and we would have 3 pgs that like to take over in a crunch. That's a good way to break the D in some cases, but I'm not interested in seeing our PG position score 50 a night either. Rafer might be untouchable to a degree. Head is a better chip to play.

 

Kenny Smith shot 52 percent for the Rockets TWICE! And NO ONE wanted him after he left Houston. He was basically out of the league after that.

If you can't crack 38 percent with Yao and McGrady on your team, I suspect you aren't very good. And I wouldn't think getting released would be far-fetched, ESPECIALLY after running into trouble with the law.

 

Rafer is still our 2nd best playmaker behind tracy. by the sounds of it adelman wants to relieve tracy of the playmaking duties so he can focus on scoring.

So that leaves rafer as the only legit Playmaker we got. i think the rockets front office are starting to see that keping rafer might night be that bad of an idea.

Start rafer for the first 6 minutes of each quarters and put james for the last 6 minutes. his gives both james and rafer 24 minutes a night. keeps everyone happy.

 

'Playmaker' means you can't really do anything that great. Just like another poster said in this thread, "He's our most effective point guard when playing w/ players that can score, and he's least effective when playing w/ players that can't score". Gee, really? Any role player is going to be most effective when playing with players that command attention. Otherwise, there's no role to play.

 

lol.. hehe..Well we do have alot of players who can this season. so i guess someone has gotta get them the ball. if tracy is gonna be to busy scoring, who is gonna be the one getting the rest "of the scorers" the ball?

 

one side note, I think Jason Kidd is a good playmaker, but it's damn good at grabbing rebounds.

 

oops, I mean "he's damn good...".

 

" but Morey said basically its a 'no' unless we feel we get equal value back for Rafer"

so basicaly we are holding ot for the 12 pack instead of the 6???

 

And Mike James is what???

 

dumb thread.

cutting alston for nothing shouldn't even be discussed.

we need alston anyway; in fact he should be starting.

 

One the reverse side... I don't think Francis or James can play PG well on a team full of guys that can score because they tend to want to shoot first. They play well when they are the main scoring option and their teamates are standing at the corners spotting up.

 

James has only been a bigtime scorer 1 year, with Toronto. For most of his career he has been a back-up PG who can shoot and score. That doesn't mean he hasn't been mostly a disciplined, within the system, traditional PG.

What the Rockets need out of their PG is a guy to 1) bring the ball up safely and not delay in getting the ball to Tmac and Yao, 2) make sure everyone is where they are supposed to be, 3) be a good off the ball spot up shooter, 4) play good individual defense, 5) take advantage of an overplaying defender by hitting a midrange or getting to the hole. I see no reason why James cannot succeed with what will be asked of him as a PG.

Overall, considering all categories, I'd say James is the strongest, I don't think he is really weak in any of those categories, the most well rounded. Alston is strong in 1,2, and 4, but mediocre in 3 and terrible at 5. Francis (e.g., never, ever, has had good TO numbers, nor really organized his teammates) and Head are weak in some fundamental PG areas, Brooks it is yet to be seen.

 

you do know that your first sentence makes no basketball sense, right?

but let's not argue that...let's argue which thread you want to argue in....

August is way too hot for me!

 

jakedasnake's post at the top of this page makes the most sense.

I think at some point in time, Adelman is gonna realise that Francis is not a PG, James is a good scorer to have off the bench but poor as a starter, and he just might throw Alston into the starting lineup.

In fact, it works best this way imo. Just like in 2005, when we had Sura starting, then James coming in to keep the offense going when Yao or McGrady is out. That way the offense doesn't drop off. Of course, that probably leaves either Francis or Battier fighting for backup minutes at the SG/SF spot, depending on who starts and what position Mac is playing.

Of course, releasing Rafer for nothing is just whack.