The Greek team Panathinaikos is playing now on NBA-TV. Rick Kamla and the international expert discussed VSpan. Their comments were sympathetic to him, but of course, as it is an international show that is to be expected. They noted he was trying to be made into a spot up shooter when his game is to drive and the pick and roll. (I think most of us are puzzled with this also, so no news there). No mention of his turnovers. However, they did note that he broke the cardinal rule that you do not vent to your hometown papers because AP is worldwide and it be picked up by "local papers". No love for ClutchFans, lol. One interesting thing they said was that there were several teams interested in trading for him, and that Panathinaikos basically is begging for him to return and will "write a blank check" to get him to return. If that is true, it would not only be lack of playing time that would be frustrating for VSpan. He might also be kicking himself for making a bad financial decision, and this cannot be remedied here if he does not get a chance to prove he is worth a larger contract after this one expires.
Where was the blank check before the Rockets signed him? Anyway the Rockets would have to waive him and his salary would still count.
V-Span has the highest hype to production ratio in league history. For someone who's proved absolutely nothing in a Rockets uniform, he gets talked about more than most of the stars we've had over the years. It's just INSANE. I thought it would die out. There's always a player who the team wants to see succeed - Oscar Torres, Ryan Bowen (at first), Steve Novak, Chuck Hayes, etc... But the amount of talk that V-Span generates is unbelievable. Not saying its good or bad, just shocking. Why is V-Span SUCH a hot topic for Rocket fans? Don't give me the typical answer because it's not the typical amount of talk... Tell me why this guy has garnered as much interest as Greg Oden would if he couldn't get minutes on the Rockets?
Like a lot of other Europeans, I think Spanoulis would be perfectly fine being a star back home, over being a very good role player on an NBA contender. I don't think he feels the wait and workload to improve is worth it just to be a "rotation player." I could be wrong, but if that's his attitude it might be best to let him go and acquire someone who really wants to be with us.
V-span should keep a positive attitude. Even if he can't play, he should try to improve on his shooting and reduce his TO. He was not even a starter in the Greek national team. There is a reason for that. He can't just rely on being a slasher forever especially with his TO problems. I think he will get more playtime if he can keep his TOs down. But if he turns the ball over a lot and can't shoot, why would any coach play him?
It's too early to tell. If he becomes a prima donna, then obviously get him out. But I really feel most of VSpan's battle is the fact that he is such a hard worker and has always BECOME the man on his teams. I don't see where he has ever been handed anything. And his mental makeup is such that he probably won't be happy until he is more than a role player. He's a player that loves bball. He wants to play and he wants to play well. And he is very driven to be the best. That's all. VSpan is all about winning. He's a winner. I would bet that he improves and comes back and finally pushes Rafer to a backup role. It may take another year, but VSpan is a very driven player. He wants to play for Greece in the NBA. He wants to represent his country against the best players in the world. That's why he came over. I think he would be disappointed if he doesn't do that. Probably the thing that VSpan has really grown concerned about the most is the fact that he knows Rafer isn't that good. He knows Rafer is limited. And he knows he has a lot more potential to be a lot better. And he is probably busting it in practice, thinking that should be enought to get him some game time so he can prove what he can do. He's not going to voice to the media that he feels he is better than Rafer. But when he sees Rafer chucking up shot after shot that ain't going down, he feels like he should be given a shot. I don't think his attitude is bad. I think his patience is bad and his wisdom in handling the situation has been lacking. Anybody that likes the scrappiness of Battier and Hayes should love VSpan because that is exactly what he is. He's a scrapper.
Supposedly V-Span recently had his best practice of the year. So I don't know how hard he's been working up to this point. If he truly is dedicated to basketball and is a hard worker, he should come back a much improved player next season and the fruits will be evident. That said, getting a new starting PG will be priority #1 over the summer. I seriously doubt the Rockets will stand pat at their weakest position. V-Span will have tougher competition next fall. But if he passes Rafer, that means Rafer will be glued to the bench, which is a good thing.
Younger players are always going to have a tougher time breaking into JVG's rotation. And even if they do get regular minutes, JVG will be more critical of their mistakes than the veterans. It's very obvious if you just compare his comments towards Chuck Hayes and Juwan Howard. Maybe he just realizes that young players have the most scope for improvement, so he's a little harder on them.
I was at the game last night (whipping of the blazers) and was there 2 hours early to watch the team practice. VSPAN was out shooting 3's and made almost all of them (18 out of 20?). He was taking instruction from what appeared to be a shooting coach. Not implying anything, just stating what I saw last night.
u have a good point Ehsan, but u are completely ignoring the fact that Rafer is our starter, and he has virtually NO backup. nothing against Rafer, he might make some bad decisions, but like JVG said, he is our starter and he will be, nothing we can do about that, but at least give him a breather! Rafer is our only PG (we all saw what JL3 aka "ballhoggin 2 trapped in a 5'10 frame" can do). and when Rafer goes to the bench, Head is getting PG minutes which takes away from his game and we can all tell that he isn't comfortable playing it b/c of his mediocre handles and inexperience. Tmac can play PG, but Tmac needs his rest too. that's why everybody is wondering why in the hell isn't Span getting some minutes (even though he might suck and be nothing more than a scrub)...
Not to sound sarcastic or be a captain obvious, but he really shined when he man-handled the USA basketball team. That game was nuts and him dropping what....22 points? on a team that was fit with "role players and focused team play". It may be your typical answer but thats why I'm still a fan of his and would like him to succeed.
Ehsan, his style of play (see Sura, Hayes) will always endear himself to fans easily. Plus the Team USA performance. carolbmt, that is good to hear, in our offense he needs to be better at those regardless of which guard position he plays. jopatmc, I agree that he wants to do well in the NBA...it is an interesting choice. Be a star over there, stay near home, and get paid more to boot...or log DNP's here behind the star power of Rafer Alston. Of course rookies have no business griping about PT, but how many rookies in the NBA even face that kind of choice to begin with. I personally also think that Yao being absent makes the circumstances harder for him to deal with. First, according to the pics/articels by pryuen, they attended each other's international games and were very complimentary to each other...and you have Yao exasperating JVG by calling V-Span the next Nash, lol. Also, wasn't V-Span the one who was next to the empty space in that picture where they left space for Yao during the anthem? (Btw, are they still doing that?)
f#%$ v-span, that guy is no more than a scrub and will never be anything more than a scrub. he has no right to complain about playing time or anything. he's a rookie and he doesn't do well in practice, obviously. everytime i see anyone say he could start over rafer i break out laughing and think that person is a moron. Rafer is a good point guard, granted he makes mistakes but what NBA player doesnt. plus his mistakes are magnified because he plays most of the pg minutes and has the ball in his hands the most. iverson, nash, and wade all are turnover leaders in the nba and no one claims they are bad decision makers. so what he jacks up shots sometimes when he's given the ball in the final seconds of the shot clock, its not his fault, its usually someone kicking it out to him cuz they cant do anything with it. i've seen tmac put up some badd heat check three pointers this season and no one complains. and as much as rafer has made a mistake in the last seconds of a game, he's made a big shot or a big play in a game. you cant do it every night. he isnt a ball hog yet he shoots alot of shots, that's mostly because head and battier are reluctant to shoot. its not his fault and he sure as hell doesnt get enough credit from the bbs.
That's good news, it follows Spanoulis' best practice on Tuesday... Let's hope he can keep it up and work his way to the rotation....
O.K, nostradamus, we will see. but apparently u dont know anything about the World Championship, which the "dream team" was single handedly dismantled and eliminated from by this short guy with a thick beard. what was his name again?? oh, I didn't konw you are the guy who sets the rights for people here. last time I checked the U.S was a free country, and they dont have a special treatment for "rookies" in the 1st ammendment.. oh and he doesn't do well in practice? my bad. u obviously go to all practices and analyze every player. everybody makes mistakes, but guess who wins? the player who does the FEWEST mistakes. it's for that exact reason that I think Vspan should get some PT, at least 10 minutes. Rafer is a mediocre player, u cant say he totally sucks, and u cant say he is a quality starter. but this is all we have. and we shouldn't play him a lot of minutes to avoid "magnifying" his mistakes. that's why Vspan should pick up some minutes to give Rafer a "breather" instead of having Luther Head playing out of position and running the PG which he is not used to doing. last time I checked, Iverson was averaging 30+ points, Nash is averaging 15+ points and 10+ assists, and I dont know Wade's averages exactly but he took his team to the finals and won a championship. and nobody accused Rafer of turning it over so much, he doesn't have that many TOs, it's his shot selection and his IQ that are mediocre and nobody can deny that. true, but that doesn't happen more than 2-3 times a game, and it's usually a result of a spacing error or a busted play. but what illustrates his bad shot selection and his mediocre finishing abilities is when u see him miss a wideopen layup, or beat his mean off the dribble then fade back and shoot a little "teardrop" that rarely goes in. or when u see him dribbling for 18 seconds then taking an off balance midrange shot with his man in his face. that's what makes him a bad decision maker. but I think u are missing the point here, I dont think anybody is asking for starting Vspan over Rafer (except if they have some serious problems), all I am asking for is giving Span some minutes when Rafer in on he bench or putting Vspan in when Rafer is going 0-20 (and believe it or not, 0-20 is not a hyperbole, it actually happened in reality, not a long time ago, in the span of 2 games) once again, u are just great man!! comparing Rafer to Tmac. GREAT!! Tmac was the scoring champion back2back and he is the star of this team along with Yao. Rafer is a random scrub with the 2nd worst field goal % among the league starters... yeah, that's right. especially in that Denver game when he shot a 3 from 2 feet behind the line and missed it then got it back, and without hesitation, shot another brick from the same spot. refresh my memory though, what was the big play he did to win the game in that denver game?? oh, no, I just remembered, we LOST that game!! no, it's because instead of creating for others (which is the reason we brought him here), he takes ill advised shots after running down the shot clock. explain the little contradiction though: "he isn't a ballhog yet he shoots a lot of shots". how could this be possible? and were u expecting for him to be a ballhog?? ballhogs are usually players of the caliber of Kobe and LeBron, not "skip2maLou".. great way to end such an idiotic post. all of that bull crap and "it's not his fault".. poor Rafer, he doesn't get enough credit from the bbs..
