I think the coaching staff had the confidence that we can win this game and wanted to give JJ a feeling of playing Clutch time with other Rockets players. Most of the time, he just spots up in the corner, but I am happy to see he gets more involved in the offense this game compared to last. We ran like 5 plays through him, he posted up three times and got double teamed everytime he did that. We just don't know how to utilize that double team he demands to help our offense yet, besides, he is clearly the best passer besides Harden and Paul in the team. JJ is the kind of player who can add diversity to our offense if he meshes, but that may take time, or may never happen. Green we already know what he can provide, just put him on the floor and he will shoot every time he touches the ball. That's why we need to give JJ more playing time to see if chemistry can be built, I think the progress has been good so far.
Ideally what happens here with Joe and GG is similar to Nene/Wright where one plays when one rests to keep the old bones fresh
Less Luc than Joe Johnson, and the defense is back to being sewage. Luc: +12 In 23 minutes Johnson: +1 in 29 minutes. D'antoni is a career loser and underachiever for a reason. He also refuses to play Tucker/Luc together after they synergized defensively before Luc hurt his shoulder. I knew he was flawed, but not outright stupid.
Man he really looks old out there. His age is definitely showing. I really don't know what we're expecting him to contribute but at this point I am only hoping for him to play garbage minutes. He is definitely not in the same physical health as Manu and Vince Carter.
Joe Johnson as a Rocket: 8.7 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 1 APG(better passer than Gordon though lol), 52 TS% against the 26th, 24th, and 29th ranked defenses in the NBA. He's played as many minutes as Luc in this stretch, and has managed a mere +11 in ALL games in 72 minutes, compared to Luc's +39 in the same stretch. Luc has played two straight top 5 offenses and accrued a +25 against both of them with his defense alone. It'll be funny seeing teams destroy these Anderson/Ariza/Johnson lineups while Tucker and Luc sit on the bench because they aren't D'antoni players(cough cough one-way chuckers).
Well at least the more Joe plays, the less Luc and Gordon play...and the less likelihood the actual important wing players get hurt. Plus they'll get more rest. I just hope he doesn't over rely on him in the playoffs because that would be foolish. Health is the the most important thing going into the playoffs now.
He's def playing too much right now. He should be at about 15 min a game. Down the stretch last night I would have much rather have Moute or Tucker in there instead.
How else are we going to find out what he is capable of as well as getting up to speed pronto? Think long term here. If we wait until playoffs, that's too late.
My hope is that once EG is back, JJ's minutes go down significantly. He may supplant Green in the lineup and we can obviously debate which one should be getting more playing time. But D'Antoni cannot be stupid enough to give JJ a bunch of minutes that should be going to Luc. He knows how valuable Mbah a Moute is to this team.
We have over 20 games to get a look at him. He shouldn't be playing 30 minutes, we should be keeping him fresh for the playoffs. Exactly, I'm not too mad about tonight since EG was out, but even so I was surprised at how long he left him in there. And it's not like I don't like JJ, he was effective for short stretches, but leaving him out there that long really wore him down it looked like. He's no spring chicken.
Joe Johnson could have a lot of value as a mid post / stretch 4 option in the playoffs. But he is definitely out of shape & it looks like the staff is trying to let him play his way into shape to see what he can actually contribute to a playoff run this year.
I hate how he's taking minutes away from Green. I know that it would be damn near impossible to make these minutes work but for the rest of the regular season i would try something like this... Paul 30/ Harden 18 Harden 12/ Gordon 25/ Green 11 Ariza 25/ Luc 15/ Johnson 8 Tucker 25/ Anderson 10/ Luc 8/ Johnson 5 Capela 25/ Nene 15/ Anderson 6 Keep the minutes down and the legs fresh for the playoffs.
yeah what a stupid coach. i forgot what the rockets record is all these wannabe coaches behind their keyboards thinking they know better
30 minutes a game early on won't hurt him in the slightest and we certainly won't be playing him 30mpg going into the playoffs. The earlier and faster we get him running with Harden and CP3, the better. We are looking towards the playoffs.
