Oh yes - there is always one ya know. We got closer then last time - so painfully close. T-mac and Yao aren't going to be traded. It's just not going to happen. It was painful - JVG will likely be gone - although I think he's a great coach. So what's the positive - it's that we will get better. There's now no doubt that we can't get by with a bunch of scrubs. That we need more then "glue" guys, or 3-point shooting specialists - we need a real upgrade at the 4. But there are good things to look forward to. VSPAN can only get better - and there's still Steve Novack on the horizon - will these guys be ready to contribute later this year - let's hope so. And where Bonzi is gone, there's a chance for someone else this off-season. We knew we weren't likely to contend for a ring this year - but the nice things about a first round exit vs. a WCF exit - no one has any illusions in terms of what we need to do. We all know - we need to get some better players to support Yao and T-mac. And hopefully give JVG another year.
i'm sorry but Novak is not going to be the piece to push us over the top. We are missing a major scoring piece and frankly a player like Novak or Vspan who has not done it at this level is very unlikely to all of the sudden become that guy. And if we dont make changes to the supporting cast we will have the same results.
The silver lining is the fact that VG has coaches his last game here and we will finally start to have a real offense and use mcgrady and Yao the way they should be.
Nice thoughts except for one. If Jeff Van Gundy comes back, none of the "horizon"players you mentioned will see the light of day or will be traded for Charlie ward types.
The silver lining is that JVG should get fired, and we can finally get a coach in here who recognizes that his 7'6" center is not fleet enough of foot to cover the pick and roll and decides to protect said center against weak jump shooting teams like Utah by playing some zone. DD
I never understood why JVG's so scared of what "might" kill us, that he repeatedly lets what IS killing us occur over and over again...
Great thread/post NewYorker. Well reasoned and I completely agree. I want to see JVG back, but will understand if he is gone. Lets hope VSpan works on his shot and Novak works on his D. They can be assets next year even if they weren't this year. Rafer? He's had enough time in this league to improve his shot. Its not there and likely never will be. If this team didn't depend so much on our role guys hitting open shots, the team could benefit from some of the things he does bring.
The question is how much can we improve with the very few assets we have to land a different maker? I don't want to sign some few players just to help us get past the 1st round. I want more than that.
The problem with hoping that Spanoulis and co. gets better is that you also hope that Van Gundy gets another year. He's like his master, Pat Riley. Only when the time is pressing and he has no other choice, would he go to his rookies or unprovens. It's by no accident that Dorrell Wright and Jason Kapono showed what they could really do in Miami. It was only because Riley had no one else to play. Same goes for Van Gundy. The problem is this: If the Rockets want to develop a steady bench and expect consistent production out of them, Van Gundy can't be apart of the equation. He ran his starters ragged and, when it came time for the bench to spell the starters, they fold because they don't know what to do out on the court.
I think the best thing is that players learned more about the game and themselves. I think another year of maturing will help what's in the head and hearts of our players.
Luther Head and Juwan Howard both played over 2000 minutes this season. They averaged over 25 mpg. You're telling me that they sucked because they didn't get enough playing time? Gimme a break. All the young guys on this team that didn't play in the playoffs will get their opportunities to break into the rotation, just like this season. Season to season, adjustments are always made (e.g. JVG correctly deciding to start Chuck Hayes instead of Juwan Howard this year). Snyder, Spanoulis, and Novak need to work their ass off in the offseason and be prepared to be consistent contributors for us next season.
Thanks durvasa. I knew you would see my point because you think like how 80% (you like stats and percentages so I'll throw that one out there for you) of the people on here think: that our bench was just Head and Howard. It wouldn't have been that way if Van Gundy would actually try and play Spanoulis or even to an extent Novak. A bench SHOULDN'T be comprised of just Head and Howard. Oh yea, nice to see that you forgot that both Head and Howard actually started a good part of the season. See you next time when your pie charts and line graphs comes up.
"I am disgusted and mad and angry and all of that stuff, but at the same time I'm not going to hang my head. I'm 25 years old, I've got a lot of years in this game and I will be back. All of this stuff I'm going through, it's only going to make me tougher. I will never fold. Regardless of being bounced out of the first round, I will be back, my team will be back, and we will back better and stronger." -- Tracy McGrady remember that quote? 2 years later and whats changed? thats right, we traded away mike james for rafer aslton and we have shane battier now. those 2 moves are the most significant changes to our roster since 2005. Now, after we've blown another 2-0 lead, do you guys think the front office learned its lesson? will they do something significant to turn the team into a playoff winner?
Another silver lining is that next year should address the three, or four dead roster spots. Between Sura, Bonzi, Snyder, Novak and VSpan, the Rockets had a lot of dead weight on the roster.
