Alston on the move, now what?

So Rafer Alston is gone from the Raptors, and it's hello to Mike James. The story line for this will no doubt be something like Alston the me-first ballhog in exchange for standup guy James.

How does it affect the Raptors? GM Rob Babcock just pulled the plug on his biggest signing of one year ago. His off-season prize, six-year Spanish pro Jose Calderon, and James vying for the starter's job at the point should be one of the bigger stories of this just-started training camp. And let's just say, right now, there is no favourite -- James has never been a consistent NBA starter, and Calderon is just getting his feet wet over here. (Other possible longshots are out of the question: Anything they get out of Alvin Williams is a bonus at this point, while Jalen Rose is not a point man and Robert Pack is, well, Robert Pack).

Last February, Houston acquired the 30-year-old James as they tooled for a playoff run behind Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. But in the first round, the Rockets lost in seven games to the Dallas Mavericks. Putting Alston into the backcourt in Houston makes the Rockets a lot more explosive -- in so many ways, including locker-room volatility. There just might not be enough balls to go around.

James is headed into the second year of a three-year, $10.2 million contract he signed with the Milwaukee Bucks a year ago. Undrafted by the NBA, he spent three seasons in Europe and one in the CBA before finally catching on for good with the Miami Heat in December of 2001.

Alston, meantime, is going into the second year of a six-year, $26 million deal he signed with the Raptors last year. He never fit well with Sam Mitchell, who is probably feeling pretty good about saying goodbye to this headache this afternoon -- until he starts wondering who will carry the mail at PG, that is.

What do you think?

Comments

[Louis Sulek]

It's not like the Raps were going to make the playoffs with Alston running the point. Some money is freed up and James will at least come out to play every night. The big problem is that there's yet another huge hole in the lineup now, how can any team succeed when they only have talent at the 3 and 4? There's not a whole lot of expendable trade bait to go out and improve either. Yikes. Gonna be a long year for Raptors fans.

[Jeremiah McNama]

I think you're right Chris.

Anyway you look at the Raptors are not going to be great this year. So I'd rather watch the young guys grow under a good lockeroom.

Rafer is better player than Mike James, but overall it's good. It's going to save us some cap sapce, it'll make the players happier, and it's going to spare me nights spent yelling at the TV, thanks to the shoot first mentality of Rafer Alston.

Nice one Babcock.

[EW]

Don't like it at all...Where are the points going to come from?

Who's next, Chris Bosh for another expiring contract? What about the Fans here?

[BabcockGettingBetter]

This is a good trade for the future, but a bad trade for now. The bright side is that this equals a good trade overall as the Raptors primary mission this year should be to shed contracts in preperation for a big free-agent signing year in 2007 and aquire some high draft picks along the way. Mike James, being in the second of a three-deal will do exactly that.

While I enjoyed Rafer's antics and am looking forward to watching Houston play, I can't help but think this is going to improve team chemistry which won't hurt when we try and re-sign Bosh in 2007

[Tim Bolton]

If you were considering trading your starting PG would it not have made sense to draft a replacement with the ability to fill that hole NOW?

[Mike Lam]

Babcock did it again. Sigh. Alston is very explosive and would fit very well with a more athletic movement which the Raptors are gearing towards. Another bad move by Babcock.

[Dre]

Babcock did the right thing in trading Alston, but he should have gotten more for Rafer since his numbers do make him pretty good in the league, and Babcock should have traded him last year when he was giving coach all the problems. Again, Babcock did the right thing, but it was too late, and it wasn't enough return...sounds like a Vince Carter move to a lesser degree

[Steve]

Looks like another Babcock move that sees the Raptors lose on the raw talent exchange, but hopefully win in the character-"good guy" category. Not to say that Alston is a "bad guy", but his way of doing things never jived with Mitchell (shouldn't somebody have seen this coming?) Hopefully James will be an upgrade defensively on the perimeter, and will provide a solid veteran presence to the rookies. Any chance the Raps can now afford to sign Ukic to a contract big enough to warrant him coming over?

[Kevin Ferris]

Addition by subtraction: By Trading Alston the Raptors will remove the dynamic of a coach and the player not getting along, the player and the highest paid player on the team not getting on, and free up a roster spot in 07 /08 – which is to be kind, the first year that things get interesting. Good trade

[Rap Fan]

This trade probably makes sense in the longrun as it will increase cap space, and improve morale in the locker room. However, the Raps never should have signed Rafer to his current contract in the first place. Rafer was just one item in a long list of Babcock mistakes. The next move the Raps need to make is fire Babcock!!! We should have got Dr. J when we had the chance. Carter ended up being right about management, who'd have thought that baby knew what he was talking about.......god I miss him.

[cy]

Something just occurred to me -- wonder what Jeff Van Gundy is thinking right now? Wonder what his reaction to this is?
Bottom line here is Raps shed a mistake contract -- the thing everybody should remember is that it is the GM's mistake, and not someone else's. Not a good sign, that.
AS for Dre's comment, I wonder how much Rafer is really worth on the NBA market, carrying that kind of salary around. It's not like the Raptors had to beat out other teams to sign him. And yeah Steve, the sooner Ukic gets over here, the better -- maybe next year. Sorta says it all, that.

[Jon]

those of you writing "good one Babcock" fail to recognize a couple of things.

1.) Alston's albatross contract was Babcock's doing only, when he had no other suitors offering nearly the length and money.

2.) Freeing up cap room that Babcock wasted in the first place is fine, but who in their right mind would want to come here anymore? The Raptors will end up overpaying a la the Bulls a couple years ago dishing out max contracts to Ron Mercer.

I think Babcock should have traded Rafer given the chemistry issues, but there is no doubt that he could have gotten more than a 30 year old journeyman for an explosive PG that averaged 14 and 7 last year. Babcock just undid what was unfortunately his best move (how sorry is that).

To take a page from the ESPN commentators on draft night, "once again we wonder..what the hell is Rob Babcock thinking??"

[Rookie]

Excellent thought about trying to get Ukic. It would have been an ideal situation if he was here. What about Alvin? He is the longest serving Raptor of all time. I know he is going to hobble, he might not have the same ankle breaking moves, but we currently have 3 point guards on the roster, are we actually going to sign another during training camp? Is there more information out there regarding Alvin's condition?

[Rob Zanfir]

This has to be the most prudent move made by Babcock thus far in his tenure as GM. Getting, or rather tricking, a team into taking Alston is a coup. Getting Mike James in return is excellent because he makes less than Alston, has fewer years left on his contract and he doesn't have the same poisonous effect on his team. If Babcock keeps this up, the press might only call for his head twice a week.

[Kevin Hughes]

What is all this talk about the Raptors losing a starting point guard and not being able to fill the void. Last time I checked, Rafer was a 10 day contract player three years ago. Played Back-up PG on a Miami team that snuck into the playoffs two years ago, and finally became the starting PG on the Raptors last year. There is no doubt that he improved over that three year period, but his shoot first mentality single-handidly lost games for the Raptors last year. Alston was miserable at distributing the ball to Chris Bosh, and at times Bosh would go an entire Quarter without taking a Shot. Bosh should lead this team in Field Goal Attempts and this rarely occured with Alston running the point. A point guard like James who has more of a defensive presence than Alston will be welcome on a team that played horrendous defense. I do not deny that Alston is more talented than James, but I would rather have a PG like James on the Floor than Alston, since PG's should always be thinking pass first.

[Gus Pergantis]

If you were going to trade Alston why not up the offer, at the time, for Chris Duhon to ensure that Chicago wouldn't match. Another $500k a year would have accomplished that nicely!!!!

[Matthew Katzsch]

Good riddance to a bad stink. Rafer has been the picture of inconsistancy, and has cried to sleep on the mountain of money he signed for. I think this deal speaks volumes of our GM and his lack of experience in everything (big deal signings and trades, draft lotteries, public speaking, etc.) Lets kill the GM and start fresh.

[Jay Norris]

Good riddens to Rafer the pyschopath. Buddy needs to seek psychriactric help. We pay him over $30,000.00 and he can't just 'shut up' and play? Babcock, good move! You gave 'him a chance to shine and be somebody in this league and he blew it. Let Tracy McGrady deal with him. I'm sure McGrady can check with Vince Carter to find out how horrible a team mate Alston is. (hee, hee) High five to Rob Babcock. Mike James is a solid player who will add to our team. Now we can finally get back to the business of NBA basketball.

[Ian Hansen]

Is Mr. Babcock purposefully trying to rob what little respect is left of the Toronto Raptors?

Trading a hard worker and one of the better assists man for cap space?? No disrespect to Mike James and work effort but honestly do we hope to see the same numbers from James?

This will indeed be a draft season, at the very least, we should get a high draft pick...

[Horia]

This might just the fist move. Now Raptors have few contracts that will expire in the next one or two years. They can bring in some talent from teams that want to push this year for play-off. They can also pack few of the expiring contracts for some unhappy star somewhere in NBA. Options are, we just need some inspiration.

[val]

Stupid as always! Rafer is a fast and skillful player who can play for any normal coach (see Miami). Let's trade everybody Sam Mitchell doesn't fancy!
I would've fired Bacbock next day after Vince trade! Keep it this way and Toronto Raptors will become klahoma/Kansas/St.Louis Raptors rather sooner than later!

[Hoops Junkie]

I have two minds on the Alston trade. While I believe that there was a "problem" in the locker room last year - and that Rafer was a major contributor to the issues, I also believe that he may truly shine in Houston. The Rockets have several veteran players who would not tolerate selfish play - this may lead him to play as a true PG and reduce his shooting. I will miss the excitement he brought to the court. In the long run, freeing up cap space to sign free agents who don't want to come here will be self-defeating. The only way to improve the Raptors team will be by good drafting and signing some of their best maturing players. Hopefully, Sam Mitchell will remind Mike James to work the ball into CB4 on a regular basis. I truly question whether we can ever sign Chris long term (hence the draft of Villaneuva), but perhaps we can do a sign and trade and acquire the other necessary pieces.

[Tim Farrell]

I fully understand that it has been Babcock's mandate from day one to blow up this team and rebuild... except Alston was one of the players that HE SIGNED.

This trade boggles the mind. And angers the blood.

[Braktooth]

This might help the cap situation over the next couple of years, but I don't know if it's going to help keep Chris Bosh. Obviously Rafer is more talented than Mike James, but the real question is whether he'll be able to distribute the ball as well. Considering the differences in their assist totals, when James had the opportunity to dish to both T-Mac and Yao, why would anybody think he'll be particularly good at setting up Bosh? And if the team totally stinks the next couple of years, is Bosh going to want to stay?

I guess we'll see.

[L.Carrera]

Dont let the door hit you on the back side Rafer.I have been waiting for this day to come since your third game for the Raptors .
You have shown to the fans that your not a team player and your ball hogging antics on the court along with the scenes you created with everyone from management to fellow team mates were pathetic at best .

Rafer has left the building !! Throw your arms up in the air like you just dont care .