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You want to know why the Rockets are so inconsistent? It's not Yao Ming being quietly smooth some nights, intimidating on others and uninvolved on a few others. It's not Tracy McGrady being dominant on some nights, passive on others and a scratch on others. It's not Shane Battier's Whitney-and-Bobby like love affair with the 3-pointer. It's not Luis Scola slowly figuring out how basketball is played in the NBA. It's not Mike James and Steve Francis giving the team little of what it hoped they would when they were picked up in the offseason. It's not learning a new system under Rick Adelman.

Simply put

Notice if you will that he ignores a LOT

JeromeSolomon wrote:Alston is shooting 39.3 percent from the floor, 32.9 percent on 3-pointers, and a ridiculous 64.7 percent from the foul line. His free throw percentage is 75th among guards in the Western Conference (153rd among guards league-wide) and is the worst for any starting guard in the conference.

Look at the shooting percentages of the point guards on the teams ahead of the Rockets in the Western Conference standings.

Chris Paul, New Orleans (48.4 percent). Steve Nash, Phoenix (51.9 percent, 48.2 on 3-pointers). Devin Harris, Dallas (48.3 percent). Anthony Carter (46.4 percent) or Allen Iverson (45.3 percent), Denver. Tony Parker, San Antonio (49.2 percent). Derek Fisher, Los Angeles (47.2 percent, 43.1 on 3-pointers). Baron Davis, Golden State (42.6 percent). Steve Blake, Portland (44.6 percent, 45.5 on 3-pointers). Deron Williams, Utah (51.7 percent).

Chris Paul
324-675 43-123
Devin Harris
187-387 25-70
- These guys all take a fairly small percentage of their shots from 3p range, shoot just a hair over 50% from 2p, right where alston was at until recently

Anthony Carter (46.4 percent) - Isn't shooting hardly any 3's to pull his percentages down. Shooting 90-188 from 2p range. The difference? Alston is called on to take more shots, and a high percentage of them from 3p range. They're currently equivalent at shooting 3's on the season, but Alston is MUCH better at it for his career. Solomon is an idiot for bringing this guy up.

Tony Parker, San Antonio (49.2 percent).
Takes all his shots from 2p range, only shot 40 3p's on the season. If you think we're getting him, just try to offer San Antonio some kind of trade. Go ahead. Have fun!

Deron Williams - Almost as good as Nash as far as shooting goes in some respects. But he doesn't shoot as many 3's, which looks to me like he picks his spots more often. Possibly because he can't shoot as well if he isn't open? No knock on him for that small flaw, but if Nash can take that many more and still hit a better percentage, it would seem to me that he's just a better shooter.

Steve Nash - in a class of his own in the NBA as far as shooting goes.

Allen Iverson, Baron Davis - Are you suggesting we can't win without 3 allstars? That sounds like a problem with our other two stars more than a problem with our point guard. Try to get either one of them, too.

Derek Fisher - a much better 3p shooter than Alston (and a guy I would LOVE to get on this team, but it's not happening. Utah only let him go because of his daughter's condition, GState didn't need 18 guards)

Steve Blake - much better 3p shooter than Alston

The guys he names are nice and all, but then consider that to get one of those guys, you either have to pull them away from their teams (we tried to get Blake iirc and didn't pull it off, Carter, the only other acquirable trade option, would be a horrible trade for us), or find someone with talents that are approximately equivalent to theirs through the draft or d-league. I've posted about this before. There's no way we're getting any all-stars without making a blockbuster trade (a rarity in the NBA amid good teams, not overly common among bad ones either), which leaves our best option as the draft. We picked up Brooks with our low draft pick and rolled the dice on James and Francis (admittedly a low probability dice roll on both, but it was worth taking for how much we gave up - i.e. practically nothing). What better do you want? There weren't, and aren't many options.

This team is going to go as Mac and Yao go. He pointed out the problems with them at the first of the article, then completely ignored that and jumped off the boat. He's just playing the crowd. He knows that his audience by-and-large doesn't like Alston, whether he actually thinks he's better than he says or not, knowing and playing to your audience is a key factor in being a good entertainer (which, have no doubt, is what sportswriters are).

This article is actually why I've been down on TMac so much lately. Notice that most of the teams those guys belong to are built around a big guy and a small guy (PF/C, SG/PG). Our equivalent to the small guy is TMac. If Alston is really the problem, TMac is the equivalent of those guys and should step through in Alston's stead. If he can't, that's a knock on him, not Alston, who is there to keep Mac from having to do EVERYTHING game in, game out, NOT to HAVE to be the guy in charge of the team at crunch time. If that's the case, then yes, we have a problem. A major one. And it's not Alston.

I'll remind you again, during and after last year's playoff series, I was yelling "WE CAN'T WIN WITH THESE GUYS". I'll give you a hint, I wasn't talking about role players.

Sometimes, you're just stuck, ok? The only answer at that point is time.

he is playing better, but I'll still replace him with a better shooting PG

Delonte West would be my pick

Look if Jason Williams can lead the Heat to a title, Rafer Alston SURELY can get us out the first round. Yeah JWill's a (slightly) better shooter, and has learned his PG role, but Alston can do for us what Jason did for MIA when they won it.

PhatPat23 wrote:Look if Jason Williams can lead the Heat to a title, Rafer Alston SURELY can get us out the first round. Yeah JWill's a (slightly) better shooter, and has learned his PG role, but Alston can do for us what Jason did for MIA when they won it.

TMac is no Wade

and

Yao is no Shaq

Amel wrote:he is playing better, but I'll still replace him with a better shooting PG

Delonte West would be my pick

Delonte West doesn't shoot very much better than Alston at all, and he's nowhere near the passer.

Amel wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



TMac is no Wade

and

Yao is no Shaq

The first point is the more important of the two. Yao now is better than Shaq then. Calling Yao "Shaq" from Miami's title year isn't quite an insult, but it's slighting him a fair bit, imo.

Honestly if it wasn't for Alston's defense I would be calling for his head too. It isn't a surprise to me how well this club does defensively, all the starters are strong defensively at their respective positions. Whenever Alston has a good shooting night the game is almost always a blowout win.

But the article isn't even really knocking Alston, it's just saying he needs someone else to compliment his weaknesses. Brooks does but he's a rookie who will struggle defensively. It's really more a knock on James and Francis as they can't even get into the rotation. James was brought in for shooting and Francis for penetration, and neither have done jobs.

BaYBaller wrote:Honestly if it wasn't for Alston's defense I would be calling for his head too. It isn't a surprise to me how well this club does defensively, all the starters are strong defensively at their respective positions. Whenever Alston has a good shooting night the game is almost always a blowout win.

But the article isn't even really knocking Alston, it's just saying he needs someone else to compliment his weaknesses. Brooks does but he's a rookie who will struggle defensively. It's really more a knock on James and Francis as they can't even get into the rotation. James was brought in for shooting and Francis for penetration, and neither have done jobs.

Morey said today he tried to trade for Damon Stoudmire but Memphis didn't want any salaries back.

whens the trade deadline?

Amel wrote:whens the trade deadline?

Feb 21

moofs wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



The first point is the more important of the two. Yao now is better than Shaq then. Calling Yao "Shaq" from Miami's title year isn't quite an insult, but it's slighting him a fair bit, imo.

Agree.

I don't really know where to post this, it definitely doesn't belong here - but I don't think it deserves its own topic...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQXuPMjhCjQ

Fast-forward to 1:54, after McGrady scores. Watch Deron switch pivots.

trade for bibby, give head, picks, rafer...

Amel wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



TMac is no Wade

and

Yao is no Shaq

You know why? Because they will call a foul on Yao if he played like Shaq during his prime. Yao's now got the strength and mass to bull like Shaq did but now they call that ****. Shaq would've sucked during his prime if they reffed him like Yao back in the day with almost know outside shot and poor free throw shooting IMO, Shaq overrated **** that had a break.

Rocketsterps wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Morey said today he tried to trade for Damon Stoudmire but Memphis didn't want any salaries back.

then sign damon stoudamire! he's a FA now isnt he?

CuttingEdge wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



You know why? Because they will call a foul on Yao if he played like Shaq during his prime. Yao's now got the strength and mass to bull like Shaq did but now they call that ****. Shaq would've sucked during his prime if they reffed him like Yao back in the day with almost know outside shot and poor free throw shooting IMO, Shaq overrated **** that had a break.

Are you on crack? Shaq in his prime would've made Dwight look like Eddy Curry regardless of the refs.

The problem is there are no other options. Mike James does nothing to help the team when he's on the floor, and I don't know anything about Francis at this point. I'd love to find a good pg to replace Alston, but I'm at a loss on how to do that. We should have signed Derek Fisher instead of trading for Mike James and found someone else to take Howard or just kept him.

tha_rock220 wrote:The problem is there are no other options. Mike James does nothing to help the team when he's on the floor, and I don't know anything about Francis at this point. I'd love to find a good pg to replace Alston, but I'm at a loss on how to do that. We should have signed Derek Fisher instead of trading for Mike James and found someone else to take Howard or just kept him.

Fisher has a daughter with somekind of condition that needs to attend a specific hospital in the L.A. area. It's the only one of its kind available and that's why Utah let him go. Fishers family is now rooted in LA so his daughter can get treatments. Fisher ain't leaving L.A. period.

BaYBaller wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Are you on crack? Shaq in his prime would've made Dwight look like Eddy Curry regardless of the refs.

Um, Shaq was allowed to bull his way to the basket in his prime, the game didn't allow the type of defense it now does without it being illegal. Despite getting beat up Shaq had the advantage of the way the game was called on his side. And no Dwight is more impressive given the circumstances of the current NBA game. Shaq is the most powerful player ever, don't get me wrong but that Shaq would not be allowed to play today's game with current rules and regulations. He had no outside game from the basket and poor free throw shooting as always. Only advantage is he could put back, lob dunk it better.