Last year, Tmac's Injury was worse and we had an excruciating season. The positive was that Yao made the Jump to a legitimate MVP candidate. This year- it may have opened the door to Bonzi Wells getting involved. I personally would have done this a lot sooner- but I am glad Bonzi showed what he can do. A few more games and he will be in game shape. Perhaps there is good news in an otherwise serious situation. Tracy, Yao, Battier, Bonzi and Chuck ( or even Bonzi off the bench) gives us some much needed clout. Welcome back Bonzi.
Kind of funny that the Rockets didn't contact Bonzi until after TMac got hurt. But whatever, at least he's back and gives us a legitimate 2nd option while TMac is out.
Agreed. Bonzi should still be getting more playing time. 8 or 9 rebounds last night. Head should play point and wells should play sg, with alston sitting on the bench where he belongs so he can't cost us any more wins.
Silver lining is that with each game they lose - it should become very apparent that Rafer is really not the point guard solution. We need a smarter point guard who can hit open jumpers. At this point I think Lucas should be getting a lot more minutes.
Rafer's killing us with his turnovers. Well when Tracy gets back, he handles the ball alot more in the halfcourt which bodes well for us. With Bonzi getting his game back, we'll be alright. It just sucks, that these last 2 games were winnable even without Tracy.
actully what i read was that about 1 week before mac got hurt bonzi called jeff and opened dialogue, jeff said he would give it one more go and the night before mac got hurt jeff supposedly spoke to him and told him he would be given one more chance to be on the active roster. i dont like jvg but i truly think this was on bonzi so here is to hoping it works this time because i think he can truly help our team (esp with creaky mcgrady)who knows mabyee this hiccup was enough to make bonzi undesirable and we get him cheap again next year!
If you have watched the rockets throughout the year, you will know that Rafer has not had any trouble with turnovers. It was only last night when he had a a large amount (7) of turnovers. People, also 4get to realize that he also had 10 assists and 19 points, albeit 8-22 shooting. He's had his turnovers down all year, and people still ahve this misconception that he turns the ball over ridiculously. I will admit that his turnovers last night were pretty costly, but his turnovers were not an issue until tonite. If anything about his game that is killing us, its his poor shooting.
and do you realize that you are contradicting yourself? a guy who can hit the open shot is NOT Lucas.
I completely agree with you. Rafer had 0 turnovers in the Warriors game. that's very impressive for a PG. he had 0 turnovers in the 1st quarter of the Lakers game too. Rafer is doing alright. his shot is not falling for him like he would like it to, but he can still get it done. he is an alright shooter and he can drive to the basket and create things. he hit a big midrange J off the dribble in the 4th. Rafer is a good player. I was a big hater last year and I was a big critic of the MJ for Skip trade. but Rafer really worked on his game in the offseason. Y'all should take into account that Rafer Played a lot of minutes in the warriors game, and he played 40+ in the lakers game (back to back). even if you have great conditioning, fatigue has a big effect on your game, especially when you are a PG. we also have to remember that Lakers were often playing full court press and were trying to trap Rafer every single time in the backcourt but he managed to get out of it. the only time he was in trouble is when he slipped (not his fault) in the end of the game, but he still managed to keep position of the ball and he actually attracted 2 defenders and made a great opportunity for us to win (we were 4 on 3) but we missed the shot. I think Rafer is good, we just need to find a backup PG for him not by the name of Luther Head (hopefully Sura). what makes me wonder is that everybody is criticizing Rafer and nobody mentioned Luther Head.
The thing i don't understand about the bonzi, van gundy situation is this. Bonzi called Van Gundy much earlier and asked what he needed to do to play. Van Gundy told him he'd call him back. Twenty days later T-Mac gets injured and NOW Gundy turns to Bonzi. Does that seem right? Who is really at fault for Bonzi not playing here?
its really not the shooting nor the turnoer tats the problem, but his inability to do drive and kickouts. his penetrating is just so horrible that defense dun hav to respect him. his floaters suks!
It's not that Rafer can't dribble penetrate, its the design of the system. JVG has an offensive scheme that Rafer must follow. The system implemented doesnt allow Rafer the ability to dribble penetrate but float around on the perimeter. The offensive system of the rockets is terrible, because there is very little movement without the ball. blame JVG for this.
On ESPN, reportedly Bonzi said that he wasn't contacted until AFTER TMac was hurt. But then that is coming from Bonzi so he could be twisting the facts a little bit. I hope he plays as much as possible because clearly he does not have good chemistry with teammates yet. They are struggling too much to get him the ball in the post, like they don't know how he likes the entry pass.
So why is it that rafer takes ill advised 3 pt shots with 20 sec left on the shotclock? You can't defend that statement....i understand you are a rafer fan...thats fine. But how do you explain my first statement...you just can't and he does it every game where we have a huge lead and jacks up a shot which creates a long rebound and ....wa la....we have a ball game that goes down to the wire. Rafer cannot penetrate and dish effectively...his tony parker floaters never go in...his wild acrobatic shots are hilarious...and his steve francis like perimeter dribbling is so 2002ish.... The only thing i can tolerate with rafer is if the ball goes inside out with yao and he gets a wide open look off of post up or swinging the ball along the perimeter....
This thread is titled silver lining but I became way more depressed after reading through the comments. This is how a silver lining thread should read - I am happy that we were within strinking range of winning the last three games without our best player - Yao has really taken over the last three games but needs a little help - TMac is getting better and has started stepping up his workouts - Bonzi is finally getting some playing time with the team - Kirk Synder our other big guard is healing fine and hopes to start practicing sometime in Jan. If we can just hold on for a few more games we will be fine as Bonzi & TMac come back and Kirk follows suit late Jan. I am excited to see what happens when we have a healthy roster because that means Rafer can stop jacking up so many 3's. - Why doesnt this team shoot more 2's? J
