[SI.com] Who made the right moves in southwest?

It bothers me that most sport writers still do not give credit to Luis Scola. Not many players can jump into the league in there first season and do aswell as he has. SUre he is mature, but he came from Europe, which even though still a good quality, is a different game. A game with less size and athletisicm. He will get better this season.

Also Artest is more than just another dimension. He is another star. A defensive player of the year who has the skills to be a MVP, if it wasn't for his deserved reputation.

 

well, we can't drop the hater label but that's not my fault. blame the bashers who are nothing more than haters. if they continue hating it seems appropriate to call them out. it's not the hater label that brings the discussion down it's the people that really only hate.

he's not just a good ball handler, he's a great one. the guy is playing about 36 minutes a night and only averages about 2 turnovers per game. call that good, call it great, without a doubt that's a huge plus and a major strength. rafer can bring the ball up the court very efficient and very quick. he rarely makes stupid turnovers. you can't do better at this than rafer. that's one of the rare strengths i was writing about.

jvg probably would disagree with you and so would i. he's not a lock down defender by any means and he has his problems against guys like deron williams but he's good a stopping penetration and he's a good team defender. there's a reason jvg always trusted, played and defended rafer. believe me, it's not because he can give you 20 points a night.

a decent passer doesn't average about 6 assists per night on a low possession half court team playing next to the best half court playmaker (off all wing players) in the game. rafer's a good passer, especially on the break.

we're talking about his 3-point-shot here because that's basically the only thing that's really relevant now. he makes about 36 % of his 3-pointers. that's not a great number and certainly his biggest weakness, but it's not so bad people make it out to be (i know you like baron davis, look at his numbers ).

i've looked up the 3-point-percentages of the starting pgs on all 30 teams. out of 29 starting pgs only 7 had a significantly better (= by more than 1 %) 3-point-percentage than rafer alston.

also, his relatively low percentage comes from being pretty inconsistent. just look at his game by game stats. he shoots 3/5, 2/4 or 3/7 one night and is going 1/6, 2/8 the next one. that's what i call not the most consistent shooter. and that's where having a good backup would help a lot.

the funny thing with the rafer hate is that all of the rafer bashers seem to think that the rockets need another star player as his replacement. that's what i call living in denial. believing that a team has no room for role players and that there are no financial restrictions.

reality is, rafer's not only a decent starting pg, he also comes at a reasonable price. with 3 star players already on the team there's no way we get a better starter than rafer without giving up major contributors and creating another weak spot on the roster. it's not worth it and i'm sure morey knows it, too. the best thing would be if he somehow could find a good backup for rafer (we both agree that rafer's minutes shouldn't be in the high 30s and that we need another option when he has one of his worse shooting nights).

 

Amen.

 

It's easy to complain about the problem. How about coming up with a solution, rookie?

Rafer is not kidd, AI, BDavis, Wade, Nash, Parker, billups, Dwill, CP3, nor can we expect to trade him for these top tier PGs. We can't have All stars at each position. The teams with great point guards can argue that they merely have "serviceable" centers or swingman, the same way we complain about how we have a mere "serviceable" PG.

So the only solution via trade is Hinrich (and his bloated salary), Mo williams (who just got traded, and a bloated salary), Earl Watson, Steve Blake, or Derek Fisher. I dare you to justify one of these as the appropriate solution.

Oh, and don't forget that they don't want crap back. And don't forget about the salary cap.

So, defensively, rafer allows all the best point gaurds score 20-30 points. that's a Shock. SHOCK i SAY. Defensively, the best point guards let the other best point gaurds score 20-30 as well. EVEN MORE SHOCKING.

Offensively, we need rafer to set up the offense, pass to guys where they like receiving passes, and nail the open 3. I'm sorry for those allergic to the truth, but the truth is, Rafer nails 3's better than Kidd, AI, BDavis, Wade, Parker, and only a tiny bit worse than Hinrich. On a team with a center clogging the lane and a top tier swingman, PG slashing skills are less necessary and less complementary.

And just to pre-empt Mike James stats, he's a high percentage shooter whenever he shoots, but his presence on the floor makes everyone else a lower percentage shooter because he doesn't pass with the right timing, the accuracy, and pass to players where they like it. Plus, he's a ball stopper. That's why his plus minus is crap.

Class Dismissed. Do some homework next time.

 

Game! Set! Match!

 

I'm not. But say true **** about Rafer if you are going to bash him. The guy says he's a horrible defender, turns the ball over when pressed.. are you guys even watching the game? Rafer isn't an above average shooter by any means, no one is trying to pretend that. But you are really underrating his ability to play defense and his ability to set up the offense. Remember last offseason when everyone was calling Rafer to be traded because we had Francis and Mike James on the team? Rafer won the starting job for a reason.

His weakness is his shooting, but it ends there.

 

haha nice, artest was a throw in bahaha

 

It's articles like this that make me glad I boycotted SI after the whole Championship Issue debacle. I happened to read another article of their's as well where they broke down the AFC South. They had the Texans going 6-10 this year, and finishing last in the division BY 4 GAMES! The Titans might be better than us (it's debatable, but at least it's a debate), but they are NOT 4 games better. Someone from Houston, somewhere along the line, has done something to the Editor-in-Chief of Sports Illustrated.

 

Weak bench??? Battier, Barry, Francis, Hayes, Dorsey, Brooks, head, n maybe mutombo n Landry n other not mentioned is called weak bench?? Its above average bench to me with combination of veterans n rookies. Yao, Scola, Artest, Tmac n Alston is prolly the best lineup in West, atleast on paper. I think media is making Artest look like a extreme nutcase than he really is. He's gonna play for a coach he always wanted to. Why dont they talk about his game and what he brings to the team? He's prolly one of the few all around players in the NBA excellent in defense n offense. Artest is gonna play more minutes than Tmac n Yao, n if so how can that be just a supporting piece?

 

When he starts making layups and FTs, then maybe they'll start writing; until then, they are justified.

 

On the Rafer-bashing - they had a point about Rafer is most effective with limited minutes. It's true that he doesn't play as well when he is forced to play 40 minutes. That's why backup PG was a big need for this team. However, if you limit Rafer's minutes to 30-35 and his shooting % and effectiveness go up. He's actually a good moneyball pick - his salary vs how well he fits our team's needs is very favorable.

Those who complain about Morey not doing anything about backup PG are ignoring the fact that the additions of Artest and Barry help the situation. Barry can do an effective job running the point and executing any offense called for. Adding Artest means that Tracy could run the point and not have to be the focal point of the offense as well. Altenatively, Barry could play the 2 with Tracy at the point - teams would have to be crazed to double Tracy and risk leaving Barry open. Either way you look at it, our summer acquisitions allowed us to set up situations where two of the best passers in the league (Barry and TMac) have multiple offensive options to work with.

If Aaron Brooks finds some playing time, that's just the icing on the cake.

 

What the F. How did New Orleans get A- and we got a B. Hornets got an above average role player in posey, can be compared to barry, and we got artest...It's like saying last year the Celtics got Garnett and the Cavs got szerviakjefdhk and delonte hmmm lets give the celtics a B and the cavs an A.

 

And not only that - they overpaid for Posey.

We are getting a bit hot under the collar over-analysing this article though, when really we should just dismiss it as drivel from some hack that probably learnt everything he knows about the journalism game from Charley frickin Rosen.

 

Agree. But saying his effeciency will go up with less minutes and saying he's a bad PG that can't defend, pass, set up the offense, or shoot (the shooting I agree with) are two different things.

 

Well, you could argue about his decision making... Nah, you're good.

 

What was the reason he won the starting job? Because the other guys were complete garbage. This isn't exactly an argument in Rafer's favor. You've heard of the term "faint praise"?

Rafer's weaknesses include poor 2 point shooting, extremely poor finishing and overall inconsistency. I also don't think Rafer is as good a defender as some here believe. His greatest strength is the ability to make the offense properly execute set plays.

 

If Rafer could shoot just a bit better, he'd be the perfect PG for this team. We saw what it looked in the 2nd half of the season. We saw it in the Utah series. He might get overpowered by some big PG's, but he's not weak at anything else. Heralded role players like Fisher, Rondo, and Blake have bigger weaknesses. Limit the shot attempts and we can roll with Rafer.

 

Its NOT how you Start its how you FINISH!!!

 

Complete garbage? Mike James was the 3rd leading scorer on the team until he landed in the doghouse. Steve Francis had a decent preseason and then the knee injury got to him again. We drafted Aaron Brooks. When we traded Mike James it was for Bobby Jackson.

Obviously most of these guys aren't starters on other teams, but if Alston is as bad as some make it seem, and he is able to not only get the starting job, but play for over 30 minutes a game, he can't be THAT bad. Obviously if we traded for Hinrich or Mo Williams they would be the starter over Alston. But you can't have near all-star caliber players at every position.

His weakness is his scoring and shooting accuracy. But we don't need that on our team. His defense is maybe a little above average. We'll have to gameplan against guys like Chris Paul, but Alston can guard the average PG and keep him from driving to the basket at will, which is good enough.

If someone better comes available that doesn't cost us a significant rotation player, I'd want him over Rafer. But we can win a title with Rafer at point. His shooting weaknesses aren't crippling enough to the point where it kills us on offense. People still have to guard him.

 

Even if James and Francis were complete garbage, which IMO is a severe over-statement, it doesn't mean that Rafer lacks the sufficient skills we can afford at PG.

3 point shooting from our guards is far more important than 2 point shooting. Rafer may be streaky but at 36-37% he is no slouch. He spaces the floor, giving Yao Ming room to operate and Tracy lanes to drive. His floater has improved, but this year with the addition of Ron, it will not be necessary for him to force the action as much, trying to create. If Tracy is getting doubled on one side, Rafer can always swing it to Ron on the other side and let him go to work. Rafer was asked to do too much previously. Hopefully next year, Rafer can stick to the 3 ball and will not force the action. I think that next year will be a career year for Rafer. He will get more open 3s and will take more high percentage shots with the addition of Ron.

A replacement for Rafer needs to shoot at least as good as him from downtown. I wouldn't want Andre Miller on this team or TJ Ford or even Jason Kidd. But some ppl on here talk as if Rafer is pure garbage. He fits in this offense and for the price we pay him, is a bargain.