Rotation battles

I say by seasons end it will be Head then Billy then Snyder.

 

Yeah, its a long season...may the best man win and my the Rockets stomp a mud hole in every1

 

V-Span and Snyder aren't competing against each other. V-Span is battling JL3 for PG minutes.

 

So it's Head v Snyder, VS v JL3

I think JL3 is more ready than VS just because he's played with the team last year and knows JVG's system a lot better than V. But V should take JL3's minutes by mid season.. here's to hoping no one gets injured

 

I'd go with Snyder. We need somebody who's capable of penetrating to the basket. Head was doing that last year but was not consistently successful. I've seen Snyder doing this and with him that gives us a lot of options on the floor.

As to Billy, he's got potential but he doesn't look comfortable in the NBA yet. It should be Head over Billy.

 

I don't think JVG will look at it as simply as these three guys competing for time against one another. He knows that he has a bench with all kinds of potential and I expect we'll see some time with two of these players on the court at the same time.

 

JL3 looked terrible against Memphis.

Vspan also looked terrible ...when handling the ball. So I doubt he'll be a PG at this point. Defensively he still made things happen.

So knowing what we know right now, it is Head's job to lose. Snyder gives us a big body defensively so if he can be at all effective offensvely, then he's got a leg up on JL3 and VSpan.

 

well JVG said that there will probably be an 8-9 man rotation.

we know the first 5: 111, shane, bonzi, rafer.

and we know who's battling for the last 4 spots in the rotation: deke, hayes, novak, snyder, head, billy, lucas.

my guess is that one of head, billy, lucas will be the backup 1/2. most likely head. snyder will be there as a 2/3. hayes as a 4/5. the last spot is determined by matchup, novak and deke will alternate being #9.

 

I guess it all depends on whether or not Kirk "gets it' in the end. He looked lost at times during the game against the Grizz and I'm sure JVG has been riding him hard. Stro never 'got it'. If it does click for him soon and he realizes his role, I think with his size and athleticism, he would offer the most out of the these 3 guys.

As of now, Head's my man.

 

I agree. After all, when VSpan initially came into the game, he came in as the SG.

 

I think Head will win over Snyder and JL3 will win over KillBill at the start of the season but as the season progresses I think KillBill will start getting minutes at the 1 and 2 possibly becoming our 6th man. Head and JL3 will get minutes because they are both better shooters than either Billy or Snyder, but the unfortunate problem with both Head and JL3 is the opposing coach can get them off the floor with matchup problems for us defensively. JL3 is an incredible clutch shooter and given time he will start to show it, I just hope he gets the PT to get comfortable.

We all know how JVG falls in love with relentless hustle (RyBo, Sura, etc.) and KillBill looks just like a JVG player to me. Snyder on the other hand looks like he will wind up in JVG's doghouse because I don't think he appears to be working hard, even if he is. With JVG if you have two players that both have simular impacts on the game but one gets it done giving 85% effort and the other gets it done giving 125% effort JVG will take the 125% guy every time and I think its the right choice.

 

Kill Bill will be Jeff's whipping boy this season. Jeff likes him and knows he can take the abuse. And frankly, Kill Bill has to learn to play in the NBA. You watch. There will be plenty of yelling and screaming at VSpan from the bench this season.

 

I think you could be right. It seems from his comments that JVG has already discovered that Span won't break no matter how hard you push him, so he's going to push him as hard as possible. This is the kind of player Van Gundy likes.

 

and honestly, Span has the most upside as a complete player imo.

He has good passing ability, good defensive intensity that will only be magnified by learning defense under VG and he is really pretty accomplished at driving and dishing.
His main problem the other night was nothing more than unfamiliarity with the system, and withthe way NBA refs call the game with a fair measure of first NBA game jitters.

Most of his turnovers were from palming (acceptable in Euro but not here) and from passes that his teammates were not ready for (which shoudl clearup with longer playing time with each other)...it wasnt like he was just fumbling the ball all over the place or throwing horrible passes.

Ill call it now...I predict that Span will become a valuable contributor off the bench this year and will be a PG before Head becomes one.
I like Luther alot...I like his range and the fact he plays hard also...but SPan seems to have more of a PG's mentality than Luther does...its just gonna take some time to learn the system, the league and his teammates.

 

agreed, i think people are expecting too much out of span on his first nba game. he just needs to learn the ways of the nba. im still optimistic about him

 

My guess is that Snyder wins the rotation battle for more SG minutes. Head gets caught in limbo playing a few SG and a few PG minutes. VSpan is going to have to get PG minutes to get PT.

 

You forgot Juwan Howard. Or maybe you're just pretending he doesn't exist. But, you know JVG will play him in the rotation. If he isn't starting, he's the 1st man off the bench. So, I see the 9 guys as Yao, McGrady, Battier, Wells, Alston, Howard, Hayes, and then the winners of the two battles: Snyder vs. Head and Lucas vs. Spanoulis. I prefer Head and Spanoulis, but I suspect Snyder will get the nod. Mutumbo, Novak and the others will get spot duty for match-ups.

 

Didn't Head play minutes at the 1 pretty often last year?

Wasn't the whole point of the "Tmac at the point" article from the Chronicle to say that Tmac would handle initiate plays when Rafer (our only true 1) would be on the bench? Doesn't that make it a little (but not totally) redundant to discuss who will play the 1 behind Rafer?

Rafer/Wells is a nice starting backcourt to have, no joke.

JLIII, Billy, Snyder, and Head are all capable backups. (Small question mark for JLIII IMO.) JLIII would backup the 1 and Snyder the 2 exclusively, Billy and Head can backup either. It will come down to who is playing the best and smartest in JVG's opinion. We only need two of these four to step up and we have a solid backcourt! At the very least, three of them are good backups, could become excellent, and since all are young and developing, could become starters later in their carreers. I think we can officially say that we have enough talent backcourt-wise to overcome injuries there. Not that that will ever happen, of course.

 

I think that Bonzi being the proven scorer he is will allow JVG to rest Yao and TMac more than he has in the past which should open up minutes for some of the guys that might not have seen any. Now when 111 is down to 11 or just 1 they won't be carrying quite as big a scoring load. One or two of the Snyder, Head, JL3, KillBill group is going to wind up left out big time. My guess is it will be Snyder, mainly because he is not a 1 by any stretch, not a great shooter, and his natural position is shared with TMac and Bonzi. I also don't see Snyder as being a guy that will become a JVG pet like RyBo or Padget or Sura or Hayes either. We shall see soon enough .