In exchange for 5% of your winnings, I will paypal you a nickel to help defray the cost of the winning ticket.
Funny, why does everyone think JVG talking up Steve raises his trade value? I highly doubt that NBA scouts and GM's wake up every morning to listen to John & Lance in order to get the scoop on what players are hyped up and criticized by JVG or CD.
Yao is great, Steve is the root of all evil. You're every post reads the same. Sit down before you read this because I don't want you to faint and hurt yourself. Are you ready? Yao has flaws, just like Steve. Yao can not carry a team. Forget about potential. GM's and Managers have been getting fire since the beginning of sports waiting for potential. Yao needs to get in better condition or at the very least stop mentioning how tired he is. Yao needs to rebound the ball better as opposed to that trying to tip the ball to himself (that may have worked in China but does not work in the NBA). Yao needs to hold his spot on the block a lot better. He needs to work on those items as much as Steve needs to work on his catch/shoot game and cutting down his turnovers.
Saying he was talking up Steve is bull crap. He said Steve was a poor catch and shoot guy he would get burned defensively at the two and pointed out other flaws. It wasn't a Steve love fest. Some of you guys are in denial. I have never got the impression that Steve and JVG didn't get along. Aside from the superbowl incident its been a fairly good relationship. Not saying that there's no chance he'll be traded, but he wasn't talking up Steve.
I agree with everything you said about Yao .If he is ever going to develop into the sort of player that we all hope that he is developing into then it must happen on a team without Francis at Point Guard. As a great scorer, Francis must be given every opportunity to get back into his natural game, which is not assisting other players, even if it has to be on another team.
I think Francis and Yao could coexist and not hurt each other's game. With the zone defense, you can't rely too much on your big man like Hakeem's Rox. To win in today's league, you need a balanced inside-outside game. If Steve can get his jumper back and improve a little in decision making, we will be set in 1 and 5. The entry pass is more of the responsibility of our 2 and 3 than 1. The lob pass is hard for most short PGs. So We need long 2 and 3s e.g., Horry., to pass the ball to Yao. Boki has that potential. And if necessary, we should package Cat to get a taller 2 with good passing skills.
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt. [Men willingly believe what they wish.] A Julias Ceasar quote Sam...impressive. DD
Funny how JVG is (and has always been) such a total straight shooter about everything yet he makes stuff up whenever he gives Francis a compliment. Funny.
i get the feeling that unless we can work out a deal for tmac we keep most of our team together. mo is just about gone....cat can prolly be had for the right price. jeff thinks highly of cato, spoon, and boki. my guess is that those guys will make up our bench, along with a "catch and shoot" PG. it seems that we are looking for: 1. a big PF who is quick, and can rebound, defend, and shoot. 2. a PG who is a good shooter, and has a high ast/to ratio. 3. a tall wing player, who can pass, defend, and shoot. we have mo, the TE, cat, and the MLE to get these 3.
It sounds like Boki is our solution to the lob pass everyone was talking about. An Europe version of Robert Horry? Who's quite tall so he can lob good entry passes.
Thanks for the recap, cannot do it better than this. I have a funny feeling that the ones praised or not asked for improvements are the one likely to go this off-season. I.E. MoT, SF and maybe JJ??? JVG is the kind of person that gives tough love, the more harsh on you the more he loves you.
Interestingly, JVG said the only way of reducing turnovers is by changing personel. If this is not the most telling part of the interview, I wonder what is. We can all agree that JVG hates turnovers like the majority (or rather many) here dislike Karl malone. So your guess is as good as mine. One thing I have come to terms with about what JVG says is that one should have a bag of salt for every sentence he utters.
I agree, this wasn't a total Steve love fest. It is possible that the coach can like the player as a person but dislike the way he plays the game. I still think that Francis will be the player the Rockets look to trade in the offseason because his talents don't fit what the Rockets are trying to do.
