Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 12:12 pm  |  27 responses

Rafer Alston Skipped Town With Good Reason

After not showing up for Saturday’s game versus Atlanta (prompting the Heat to suspend him indefinitely), and after only being in touch with the Heat through text, Rafer Alston cleared the air yesterday.

As first reported by Ric Bucher:

Rafer Alston is content with his decision to leave the Miami Heat, because it wasn’t about losing his starting job. It was about being told he was no longer going to play and deciding that looking after a twin sister who tried to take her life just a few days earlier was more important.

“The way I handled it was wrong,” Alston said Tuesday in his first public comments since leaving the team last Friday. “I didn’t really tell [team officials] why I was leaving.”

He said he texted team officials that he was going to Texas to be with his family rather than call or meet face to face out of fear his emotions would get the better of him. He was already coping with his twin sister Racine’s attempted suicide when coach Erik Spoelstra pulled him aside and said he was being dropped not only from the starting lineup but also from playing altogether.

…

“It’s been a tough and long year,” he said. “I’ll be 34 in July. If I can come back and play one more season, that would be great. But if not, I’m still happy with my decision. I played 11 years and had a solid career. Maybe I didn’t leave Miami the right way. But I left for the right reason.”


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  • NAS Posted: Mar.10 at 12:21 pm
    he has his head on straight, best of luck to akip to my lou

  • Mo Charlo Posted: Mar.10 at 12:22 pm
    Dang. Nobody wants to go through that.

  • Cheryl Posted: Mar.10 at 12:41 pm
    I’m sorry it was handled badly, but all the best to Skip and his family. Just another reminder that there are more important things than a game.

  • Stillballin Posted: Mar.10 at 12:54 pm
    He can still play for and1 mix tape summer tour..good luck skip..

  • peter Posted: Mar.10 at 1:22 pm
    I don’t understand how a coach can think its a good idea to take someone who was starting for 12 games and then just cut them from the rotation all together…if they were considered good enough to start how does this make any sense?

  • doyouwantmore Posted: Mar.10 at 1:24 pm
    He seems like the kind of guy who can bow out gracefully and with class.

  • Epsilon Nupe Posted: Mar.10 at 1:44 pm
    we’ll pray for you and your family skip

  • ORANGEMAN73 Posted: Mar.10 at 2:09 pm
    Good Luck Skip

  • heatWONTmake_da_playoffs Posted: Mar.10 at 2:32 pm
    @peter: Exactly, it makes no sense. There is something else that happened that we don’t know to make Spoelstra take that decision.

  • Tweaks Posted: Mar.10 at 4:32 pm
    Skip will always keep it R E A L.

  • niQ Posted: Mar.10 at 4:48 pm
    @peter and heat. no one seemed to care when Duhon got demoted after a year of starting. Lol

  • Jukai Posted: Mar.10 at 5:21 pm
    peter and heat: He was a late season pickup, dudes. They figured they’d sign him late and try him out. They realize that he didn’t fit with the team, so they dropped him all together. SImple as that.

  • CARTEL Posted: Mar.10 at 7:37 pm
    I’m sure another team will pick him up because he is actually a solid ballplayer with a high IQ of the game…and I’m sure if he didn’t have such a serious matter to tend to, he would be playing for another team before the playoffs kicked off…let’s just pray for him and his fam…god bless…

  • Krazed Posted: Mar.10 at 8:35 pm
    Prayers to you Skip and your family….and Orlando should prolly take another look at him if he’s still eligible to make the play-off roster.

  • MikeC. Posted: Mar.10 at 10:13 pm
    Come to the Knicks Skip!!! Worst case scenario, you’re either throwing lobs to Lebron next year, or you’re NY’s big free agent savior when Lebron resigns with the Cavs.

  • Teddy-the-Bear Posted: Mar.10 at 10:39 pm
    Aww… Best wishes to Skip’s sister, him, and his fam.

  • Seven Duece Posted: Mar.11 at 12:26 am
    best wishes to his family in this trying time.

  • Dre Baller Posted: Mar.11 at 1:27 am
    Eddie House just smiled

  • LilKDub503 Posted: Mar.11 at 2:12 am
    Good luck to you Skip.
    But what caught my eye was the title of this article. “Rafer Alston SKIPPED town?” Seems a little too convenient for me.

  • aL Posted: Mar.11 at 5:14 am
    not a bad nba career for an and1 guy..

  • foolio_iglesias Posted: Mar.11 at 8:21 am
    Skip if you’re reading this,if you’re ever in Harlem you have carte blanche to the Hansborough gym on 135th St.We could use another 6 foot ballhandler plus our 3 point line is mad short,hell I’m the best shooter in there holla Fallujah!

  • Today’s Celtics Links 3/11 « Flceltsfan’s Weblog Posted: Mar.11 at 11:03 am
    [...] time since ’06 NY Post     Knicks set franchise mark for futility Slam Online      Rafer Alston Skipped Town With Good Reason NESN   Live Blog: Grizzlies at Celtics Ray Allen Disappointed With UConn’s Loss in Big East [...]

  • GametimeWeezy Posted: Mar.11 at 3:30 pm
    Rafer Alston…skip to my lou…an all time great. peoples champ!

  • MBE18 Posted: Mar.11 at 8:30 pm
    I’ll take him on the Knicks….Yeah it is that bad being a Knick fan nowadays!!!

  • chintao Posted: Mar.12 at 3:35 am
    Always liked that guy….

  • mems Posted: Mar.12 at 11:03 am
    still one of my favorite players, i hated seeing him leave houston even though brooks is ballin right now.

  • SLAM ONLINE | » Rafer Alston Headed To China Posted: Oct.12 at 5:51 pm
    [...] leaving the Miami heat midway through last season due to family issues, it appears that the NBA door has closed for Rafer [...]

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