The Toronto Raptors traded Rafer Alston to the Houston Rockets for Mike James straight up.

What is there to say about this trade?  Rob Babcock corrected a mistake.  Rafer Alston was not working out in Toronto for a variety of reasons and the Raptors went out and replaced him with someone who should.

Alston was porous on defense, Mike James is an excellent defender.  

Alston's shot was inconsistant and he didn't have one from mid-range, Mike James does and is a better three-ball shooter to boot.  

Alston is a relatively inexperienced player who rode the pine in Milwaukee before a brief stint in Toronto followed by his time in Miami.  Mike James is no superstar and he's certainly been around the league but he's been to the playoffs and been a significant contributor on more than one occasion.  He won a title with Detroit two years ago.  

Rafer Alston is more athletic and more of a natural playmaker than James (though their career averages are close, comparing Alston's 8.2 ppg and 4.2 apg to James' 9.2 ppg and 3.5 apg) but he was not a stable personality for the Raptors.  Mike James may not be as spectacular off the dribble but he's a more consistant player in terms of what he does on the court night-in and night-out and he's a steady veteran in the locker room, something the Raptors need pretty badly.  

For the Raptors, James will make up Alston's offense without issue.  He'll improve their perimeter D and should prove a competent starting point guard for a team that's still rebuilding and trying to pick up its shattered dignity.  Sam Mitchell will probably split ball-handling duties between James and Rose a little bit and may eventually begin playing Jose Calderon more minutes as the season goes on if the rookie shows he can handle running an NBA offense because he's more of a pure playmaker than is James.  

Verdict?  Good job, Babz.  While it's tough to have to say that one of your GM's greatest successess is the correction of a mistake, you have to give Babcock credit for addressing what was clearly an issue for the team.  He went out and got a player of comparable talent who might even fit in a little better on this team and who has a noticeably smaller contract (2 years, one a player's option, versus five remaining on Alston's contract).  

Now, for Houston.  With Charlie Ward retiring and Bob Sura potentially following suit, the Rockets were looking at a backcourt consisting of David Wesley, Luther Head, Keith Langford, Dion Glover, Jon Barry, Derek Anderson and Moochie Norris.  There's not a great deal of playmaking talent there.  Moochie Norris, David Wesley and Derek Anderson can all do reasonably well and it remains to be seen of what Luther Head is capable but the the Rockets did not have a pure playmaker until Alston was brought aboard.

Besides his unstable personality and fragile ego, Alston's main problem in Toronto was that he did not understand that he was not a significant offensive option and that he was behind Jalen Rose and Chris Bosh (in particular) on the offensive food chain.
Alston got too interested in trying to score and stopped passing on some nights and that cost the Raptors a lot of victories that they might have otherwise taken.  He has a bad habit of taking pull-up threes in transition and getting caught up in isolation matches with guys who've scored on him (and that happens a lot because he plays D with his hands and not his feet).  

In Houston, however, Tracy McGrady and Jeff Van Gundy both will beat him soundly upside the head if he tries that.  McGrady and Yao Ming both come first and without question on the Rockets, while Jeff Van Gundy is a defense-oriented coach who'll undoubtedly try to instill his defensve-first attitude on Alston as early as possible.

Because of Van Gundy's philosophy change towards transition ball with the arrival of Tracy McGrady, however, Alston should find himself flourishing on offense.  In a best-case scenario, he wins the starting job and takes some of the ball-handling duties away from T-Mac, making McGrady more dangerous moving off the ball and getting a lot of easy baskets and open looks.  Alston does love to push the ball, so that should be a positive.

Verdict?  Good trade for the Rockets.  In a more structured and stable environment with a clearly defined and enforced offensive pecking order, such as in Houston, Rafer Alston should flourish.

This trade should be good for both teams.