I think David Wesley will bounce back from his slump and be a key contributor for rest of the regular season games and playoffs. He's a veteran shooter, somewhat streaky but a shooter nonetheless. He's been in slumps before. A younger/mentally weaker guy would have stopped shooting but he knows he's got to take open shots even if hasn't hit them lately - otherwise teams just double and triple team Yao and Tracy even more. He was in a similar slump earlier, just after the trade when everybody was crying for Jim Jackson to come back. It seemed that he couldn't hit the broad side of the barn and people claimed he was done, washed up, whatever.. He bounced back from that just fine. He isn't the youngest guy out there, in fact he is 34, but he is in great condition, he still has good quickness and his hands are exceptionally quick still. He runs the floor as good as any in this team and really plays defense despite his short stature. Positives far outweigh the negatives and when he starts hitting again, we are in good shape. Next year, in a perfect world, after we have acquired an athletic 2/3 from the draft/trades we can limit David's minutes to 20-30. After that I think he has still 1 or 2 years left as a veteran off the bench and for the minimum i would keep him around after next year also if he still holds up and wants to play. P.S. Don't bring JJ/Boki into this. The offense is light years better without JJ and Boki just wouldn't have got the playing time here.
can't be afraid to make a change even if it means letting Wesley start for 3 minutes and playing James the rest of the way. If things don't change, it has to be done.
Not even close, MJ struggled a bit on his shot, but not nearly as badly as DW does, and he seems to be more of a clutch shooter. He shot well the last game AND seems to have more confidence in his shot than DW does at this point. DW has been in a horrible slump for quiet a while now, I am talking weeks, not just last few games. MJ would give us better offense, but his problem is he can't defend. I would play him or DW more minutes based on the matchups: if the 2-guard is not a good scorer/short or whatever else, I would play MJ more; if the opponent's 2-guard is a high scorer and is a serious offensive threat, I would play DW more. At this point, I could even use Jon Barry a bit more minutes on the court. That would be nice to see, but first he needs to get over that injury he has. Bottomline is: WE HAVE TO PUNISH OPPONENTS FOR DOUBLING-TRIPLING YAO AND T-MAC, otherwise our whole system collapses and we lose games, whether we play good defense or not.
There is no way you will see James start. Wesley, and the whole teams' shot has been off, but Van GUndy thinks its almost as much about passing as shooting. James is a different offensive type of player, which is why he is good off the bench. I like his scoring, but sometimes you can see the offensive rythm shut down a bit when he is running the point.
James creates to many silly fouls at this time to start and his defense is questionable at times. JVG commented about the inaccurate passes as being part of the problem and I tend to agree in some (but not all) cases. You only have a split second to get your shot off in most cases so the more you have to adjust the more you risk your mechanics being off on the shot. I would rather have Wesley going through a little shooting slump now then in the playoffs though...
I think Wesley's desires are there. However, the 35 year old can't help the tired legs that he drags around the court. B. Davis proved that. The refs sucked in that game also. A fast team will beat us for sure. We are too old. Spoon, Wesley are dragging and Sura's back is slowing him down too. If we could play the post season only, we could win. Even McGrady is too banged up!
Are you serious? B.Davis is quick and penetrates on any team, that doesn't mean Wesley has "tired legs that drag around the court". Jeebus man, it's not like Wesley hasn't been burned by everyone he guards. His hands are still quick and his D position is still good; just watch the tape.
barry should start until wesleys shot gets back. of course barry needs to return to action first. on a side note, i think bowen should start at the 4.
His stats at houston so far is right on line with what he has been doing in the last 3 years. He is not considered to be a good shooter, but a streaky one.
He's good, but unfortunately no B. Davis. B. Davis was too quick. It's not just DW though. It's too long a season for the age of our guards. Just look at the younger M. James and B. Davis. The older guys are a 1/2 step behind.
Man, I HATE when James and TMac are on the floor at the same time. It's like James think's HE'S the guy who led the league in scoring the past couple of years. James will freeze TMac out of the play MULTIPLE trips down the court. Then JVG will call timeout, call a play for TMac and eventually the ship gets righted again. I also don't like when James & Mutombo are on the court together. James plays real well off of Yao, but he doesn't even look at Mutombo. I can't believe some of you in years past jumped ALL OVER Stevie & Moochie, but no one talks about James and his case of over-dribblitis. In the few minutes TMac rests, I always hope that James + Yao are on the court. James is a good spark plug off the bench, but no way in hell do I want him starting over Wesley. As someone else suggested, I'd start Barry in Wesley's place before I'd even CONSIDER starting James.
I totally agree on the part of not involving Dike. Dike seems like you just made his day every time he gets a ball offensively. Many times, we would be better off having Dike make 3 out 5 inside shots compared to missing 3 out of 5 jumpers from the guards. And the ridiculous amount of 3's we miss causing the other team to get a long rebound and run the ball fast pace up the court and score. If the 3's are falling, different story. The last couple of games- this has been what caused the other team to blow open the game and take a bigger lead. It's like Boston's coach says about not being a big fan of the 3 (a low percentage shot that should be taken but not looked for). We are not playing smart basketball. Again, I think this is a place where JVG can take the blame.
Well he sure looked like he was following through last night. Hmmm... Coincidence??? Is Wesley a Saint?
