Orlando Magic Top 30: The Most Under-Appreciated Player in Orlando Magic History
16. Rafer Alston (2009)
The Orlando Magic were desperate as the trade deadline neared in February 2009.
Jameer Nelson was a week removed from a season-ending shoulder injury. Anthony Johnson was struggling to take over the starting point guard role defensively. The recently acquired Tyronn Lue was not providing much support either.
If Orlando was going to make noise in the playoffs, they needed a point guard who could create and hit 3-pointers. More than that, they needed someone who could defend too and spearhead the team’s top-rated defense.
Otis Smith can take criticism as a general manager in several respects. He made a lot of mistakes. But he certainly was bold. He was not afraid to roll the dice and make a big move when he had to.
There was no doubt one of his most important moves was to acquire Rafer Alston at the deadline. that move very likely saved the season.
Got to go with Rafer Alston as people will forget how rough things were those games between Jameer Nelson's injury and Alston' acquisition.
— HoMass (@HoMassRealGM) August 21, 2019
Rafer filled in so well when Jameer went down. He was a big part of that teams success.
— Stephen Cameron (@Stephen0610) August 20, 2019
The debate in Magic fan circles continues about how the Magic ultimately used Rafer Alston in the Finals. For the record, he averaged 10.6 points per game and 3.0 assists per game in 29.5 minutes per game while shooting 15.8 percent from beyond the arc in the NBA Finals. Certainly, Stan Van Gundy misjudged how healthy Jameer Nelson was when he returned for that Finals series.
It was not like Alston was playing well either.
But despite that, Alston was as key as any player to that 2009 Finals run. Magic fans know it and have probably outsized his role on that team’s success. Almost to the point that he is underappreciated for what he actually did.
He stabilized the team. He gave them a steady hand to turn the ball over to Hedo Turkoglu and run the offense. In the playoffs, the team often went how Alston’s shooting went.
More importantly, he gave them an edge. He was not going to take any guff from anyone. Slapping Eddie House‘s headband off his head in Game 1 was a statement that the physical Boston Celtics were not going to push the Orlando Magic around.
They certainly did not and Orlando went into Boston for Game 7 and took the series. Orlando needed that boost.
So Alston is both over appreciated and underappreciated.