I for one am glad that management has been silent on JVG's contract. For better or worse, let him have his pet 8 man rotation if he wants. It has worked well so far. If we go far in the playoffs, good...props to JVG. If this turns into fools gold in the playoffs and our starters are worn out ...
I don't mind an 8 man rotation as long as they are playing with passion, but whenever they start to dog it, he should yank them...no matter WHO they are.... DD
Hmm... JVG does some foolish things every now and then but he's our coach guys. I'd much prefer him over any unknown commodity at head coach (unless we could drop JVG and get like... Pat Riley or Phil Jackson). JVG is a good all-around coach, even if he does let his rookies rot on the bench. He motivates this team and has done a great job holding this team together through injuries and whatever else. From what I understand, the players on this team really like JVG and Van Gundy usually makes the right decisions; even if he does it with bags under his eyes, a frown, and a decidely un-sunny disposition. Furthermore, if JVG felt Novak, V-Span, and whoever else could give this team the best chance to win he'd play them. But like someone else said, in the west... every win counts and we need to play the best players now, not worry about grooming a young guy. I think Novak, V-Span, and particularly Snyder are the future of this team, and so does JVG I'm sure, but right now we have guys who can give us more. Our young guys will pay their dues sitting on the bench and after a season or two of learning the JVG system, taking baby steps and getting used to the rigors of the NBA season they will begin to contribute more and more. Novak is never gonna be a starter, but he will make a fine bench player coming in for 10-15 a night or towards the end of the game to hit those big shots. V-span, I think, will be our PG of the future (instead of JLIII) but he needs to fine tune his game to the NBA; this isn't Europe and every good european player must learn that... even dirk. Now I know some might now say "how is he gonna learn that on the bench?" Well, you can learn a lot on the bench traveling with the team and being around American players, and next season I think we can expect him to get more and more minutes until Skip either gets released, traded, retires or becomes 2nd banana to a more talented V-Span. If V-span pays his dues and has patience he has the talen to become a good starting PG in this league. Finally, Kirk Snyder is our big guard of the fufure, whether we keep Wells of not. He's an athletic freak and our team needs that, and if not for Bonzi Wells (who is getting better and is a near all-star talent at 100%) Kirk would already be getting 20+ minutes. I'd like to see Kirk getting more minutes, and I disagree with JVG on not playing him much (though I still have a feeling he will be getting more and more minutes as the season progresses); but JVG is doing what he feels is best and when most of what JVG has done is for the best... it's hard to argue with that. Finally, I hear a lot of people saying "If we don't make it to the second round this season (or whatever) we shouldn't resign JVG." I think that is a ridiculous notion. I kind of like not immediately picking up JVG's contract for added years, letting him sweat it a little keeps him on his toes, but I think it should ultimately be reknewed for at least one more year-even if we are a first round bust (2-3 years if we go 2nd round or better). Why? Simply because JVG has done such a good job in the regular season with an injured, Yao-less team. This team gave Rudy numerous passes because he won two titles; JVG hasn't come close to that kind of success but we should give him the benefit of the doubt for at least one more season. Now if we do resign him despite a first round exit (and we should) and we fail to make the playoffs or get past round 1 next season... then we let him go. But I think Van Gundy deserves more than to be released just because he took an injured team to a good regular season record (quite possibly 50+ and the 3rd or 5th seed) and his team blew it in the first round. I'm not trying to give JVG a get out of jail free card, but I'd rather keep him despite a 1st round exit than go after some unknown commodity.
Despite so many fans saying Spanoulis sucks and backing Van Gundy on that one............... IMO this is why he is NOT coach of the year. People can talk all the smack they want about Spanoulis, that kid has the point skills. He's a big, tough, fiery natural point that can drive finish create and like jopa says he is a pick and roll guard. But he isn't just any pick and roll guard, he's got the makings of an unstoppable pick and roll guard. He's got the makings of the untilmate nightmare matchup with him and Yao running the pick and yet fans here bash him say he sucks endlessly he's a complete scrub and worthless "Euro trash" gets thrown around a lot. Then they back Van Gundy not playing him. Bottom line Jopa said it all, this move by Van Gundy is going to seriously bite this team in the a$$.
Come to think about it.. I don't really care so much about who in the bench gets PT as long as JL3 gets NONE of that share. He is the extreme poverty version of David Wesley, except much worse. The guy is short and small. He's fast, but... well.. that's it. Thank GAWD he doesn't get too many minutes. What angers me is that sometimes he gets minutes that should be given to Vspan.
To me, the issue with the Rockets' depth isn't the number of minutes some scrub gets v. another. The thing that matters is who can get hot and be the crucial difference in winning a playoff game. I think that over seven games, having multiple scorers makes a big difference because a non-superstar can steal a game or two (see, e.g., Horry, Cassell). We have a lot of guys getting minutes--9 with at least 17 or 18 minutes a game (Mutombo due to injury), compared to Dallas's 8 and Phoenix's 7--and 6 double-digit scorers v. Dallas's 5 (counting Harris's 9.9) and Phoenix's 6. But in the playoffs, quality matters much more than quantity. After Dallas's two main scorers of Nowitzki and Howard, they have two guys who can go off on any given night, Terry (16 ppg, 3 30+ games) and Stackhouse (hurt this year, but a Rocket-killer). Meanwhile, Phoenix has Stoudemire (20), Nash (19), Marion (18), Barbosa (17), and Bell (15) all scoring points consistently and a style that is hard for us to keep up with. Houston has two superstar scorers, Alston scoring 14, then three guys scoring 10 or 11. Maybe Wells can be that guy off the bench, but his season-high so far is 15. I don't think Alston or Head is nearly the threat to be a difference maker that Terry or Stack is. Spanoulis's minutes are irrelevant. The point is that the Rockets' current personnel can beat Dallas or Phoenix in a 7-game series but that Yao and Tmac have basically no room for error. Both have to be healthy, of course, and they have to be spectacular for consecutive series. It's possible but much harder.
The Rockets have their X-factor players too the problem is they can't seem to unstick themselves from the bench. Come playoff time if this teams has to dig deeper due to injury or a starter not performing we will not have any options because the bench hasn't had game experience to develop. Yes the roster isn't as talented as Dallas or the Suns but the talent we have you have to use it to get any benefit from it. V-span lit up the US but now he can't buy 1 min a night even on a team with Rafer as the starting PG. We'll see where all you JVG apologist are if the Rockets have another 1st round exit.
i like people telling us spanoulis is a pick and roll point guard. if he really is then there is your explanation why he never plays. imagine him running the show and playing pick and roll on this team. a guy that is so turnover prone... that's why i always say that he has to become a different kind of player. his slashing won't work in the nba unless he learns to shoot to keep the defense honest and learns to avoid turnovers. it worked in europe because there he had a more than average talent level and his athletic deficits as a pg weren't that obvious. in the nba he is below average and nearly all of his opponents are quicker than him. i don't think his style will ever be effective for our team.
Your opinion is based on garbage minutes, playing out of position. JVG has not given him a real chance to show what he can do. Most of the times he was playing, he was asked to spot up and shoot 3s. That is not his game. The few times he has been allowed to play the point, he has shown enormous potential.
I feel our bench is deep enough with Bonzi, Head, Mutumbo, and Juwan Howard (assuming Hayes becomes the starter once Yao Ming is back) Yes, what a difference a player makes...right now we start two bench players because Yao Ming is out. So, our bench players ARE getting the development and time they need. The only little thing I would do is develop Vspan. Then we don't need to trade for a backup PG.
despite holding this team together, and actually fighting for a first round homecourt series when everyone thought they might not make he playoffs without yao, you think his not playing of spanoulis should prevent him from winning coach of the year. Lord Have Mercy, some of these posters have lost their minds
How come we cant put some of them in the d-league since there not playing here? Wouldn't them playing there be better than sitting on the bench?
i don't think there gonna be any bench development from now on. it hasn't happen up until this point. the team is going well so understandably the coach doesn't want to mess with it. however it is unfair for rookies to stay in a team if they are not going to be used. why not trade them(Spanoulis Novak) for a veteran to some team in a rebuilding mode were they will get playing time and even start??
If a guy can't get off the bench, he is not an X-factor player. There aren't too many hidden gems 10-deep out there.
You're right, and IMHO the two starters we have to worry about the most are T-Mac and Alston. I went back and checked out the box scores from the past month or so, and outside of blowout games, these two have consistently logged 40 or more minutes, with a few 44 minutes games thrown in. The problem, though, is that these two are the initiators of our offense and therefore, "irreplaceable" within our scheme as it stands. Basically without either of them, our offense stagnates badly. The only other guy who plays an initiator role for us is IMO Yao Ming (and potentially Bonzi in certain situations) and with the big fella out and with Bonzi being inconsistent, T-Mac and Rafer are forced to take on more minutes. Outside of these two, the other starters - Battier, Howard, and Mutombo - are playing appropriate number of minutes for their position - around 35 minutes, sometimes more sometimes less. Once Yao returns, i expect to see Head and Hayes get more minutes and Mutombo (obviously) get less, and I also think Battier would be used more to spell T-Mac. But until Yao gets back, I don't see much of an alternative to T-Mac and Rafer getting too many minutes. Maybe this is why the Rockets wanted Mike James so much?
players can be developed w/o the fans seeing them play. there's this thing called practice and the offseason. vspan and novak should look into it.
I think JVG has been playing Novak out of position also. He is clearly not a power forward, he would probably fit into a shooting guard or small forward role. Putting him at power forward to guard the likes of Mark Blount the last time I saw him is like trying to embarrass the kid. He is more of a Patt Garity type of player. Also, Spanoulis is a streaky player but when he has a good thing going he can change the outcome of a game. He hasn't been utilized well because they have been trying to make him a spot up shooter. The system is like trying to put square pegs into round holes. JVG has been effective so far into the season but he hasn't been efficient. Effective is when you produce results with the resources you have, efficient is when you are able to optimally utilize resources for the whole season. He was effective in using Yao prior to his injury , but he wasn't efficient enough to utilize the other players and give yao the needed rest.
The argument that you are basically stating is that JVG doesn't play the young guys enough where the realities are VSpan is playing worse than Lucas and Novak is playing worse than Chuck Hayes. There are a lot more players that are drafted near the bottom of the first round and in the second round that doesn't make it in the leauge. Naming the outliers does not prove a point.
