Excellent tutorial @raino , I completly agree.
I wouldn’t recommend alignment, too. More often than not the results are not what you are looking for (same with pro alignment tools).
Another thing: Sometimes it works to blend small fractions of different takes if you cannot find a perfect phrase. That takes a bit of trickery involving EQ, panning, compression etc. This is a last resort if you have to deal with what you got. Be creative, sometimes the best phrases are the result of a poor performance in the first place. I am not saying this works each time, but occasionally it does.