The Rockets have gotten off to a hot start at 6-1 with a big win over the Spurs. But new head coach Rick Adelman has continued a disturbing trend from former head coach Jeff Van Gundy: showing a blind faith in point guard Rafer Alston that is holding the team back.
Alston, 31, has been a black hole as a Rocket since his first game. When asked to hit wide-open shots as people double-team Yao Ming or Tracy McGrady, he has consistently failed.
More specifically, he failed to the tune of a 37.9 percent field goal percentage in 2005-06, failed to the tune of a league-worst 37.6 percent field goal percentage last year and failed to the tune of a 30.1 percent field goal percentage thus far this season.
While Alston is an adequate defender and ball-handler, he’s not good enough at anything else to make up for the glaring deficiency of his poor shooting.
Playing four-on-five on the offensive end isn’t going to get it done against championship-caliber teams.
Off the court, he managed to be arrested twice this offseason, a feat that puts him with the likes of NFL players Adam "Pacman" Jones of Tennessee and Cincinnati’s Chris Henry as far as troublemakers go.
The Rockets have a crowded backcourt as is. Steve Francis, who took less money to come home, has yet to play in a single game this season. Bonzi Wells’ resurgence has all but pushed Luther Head to mop-up duty.
Removing Alston from the situation would free up minutes for players who deserve them – players that could conceivably make a wide-open shot instead of a mug shot.
The Rockets shopped Alston throughout the offseason, finding no takers for anything they thought would help them out.
Alston will make an average of $4.9 million over the next three years, and with how he’s played over the length of the deal, he seems to have little value on the trade market. It may be that the Rockets will just have to bite the bullet and release him, because any team that’s serious about contending can’t give Alston 20-plus minutes a game.
Backup point guard Mike James hasn’t been too much better than Alston this year, but he’s shown that he can actually have good games shooting the ball.
The point guard that gets the Rockets over the first-round hump might not even be on the roster. But if there is one sure conclusion to be made of the whole situation, it’s that Rafer Alston isn’t that point guard.
