all this talk about how deep we are this season... i'm afraid that it's all on paper. i've been worrying all preseason but i didn't want to say anything until the season started because i knew i would get replies like "we haven't even played a game yet." and i know i'll get a bunch of "it's only been one game." replies, but the fear remains. when JVG said that the rotation will be luther novak and hayes off the bench i was scared. these guys are so inconsistent that to rely on them is crazy. sure when bonzi gets back things will look much better, but we are still playing a rookie and 2 second year guys off the bench with a 3rd year guy in the starting lineup. i have nothing against young players, but they are inconsistent, they can dissapear, they can take a step backwards at times. we need bonzi back and we need to add at least one more solid rotaion player to have a shot at living up to our (the fans) expectations.
isn't that the problem, van gundy doesn't trust the younger guys. padgett came in and played some serious minutes tonight. i don't think tonight was any of the younger guys fault, van gundy won't give them a hard look unless his life depended on it.
i promise you guys, Bonzi will make a hell of a lot of difference... JVG needs to hurry up and play the man.. also, spanoulis should play.. i don't care if he gets turnovers.. Rafer missing shots are as good as turnovers.. Novak needs significant time, pulling him after 2 missed shots is not acceptable. As hesitant as i am to say this, t-mac lost his touch. he better be shooting 200 FT's a day and working on his jumper, b/c right now it is flat, and he is not getting high enough off the ground.. Yao is still sort of passive. he needs to be more aggressive and have the mentallity of taking over and that he WILL make his shots.. Then, we will be where we want to be .
I would have been less excited about this season if I knew Padgett would get significant mins for us....that MUST change.
The team's depth only show up when JVG didn't try to impose his will on the game play, like in the preseason. JVG's offensive plan sucks, plain and simple. He has no clue of offense other than giving the ball to Yao and TMAC. That is old school, to say the least. You've got to make more ball movement and penetration to create open shoots to be successful these days in the NBA. The rockets actually did that quite well in the preseason games but JVG has no guts to let them do that in the regular season games. JVG is out of date.
one player does not equal depth! bonzi can be a super-sub and compensate for snyder or luther dissapearing for a game. what about when front court players like novak, padgett, or hayes have a "do-nothing" night? juwon and deke are done! they can't step in a help. ---------------- tmac and yao will score about 50ppg. shane and rafer will add 25ppg. bonzi might be able to add 12 to that. you're looking at 87 points. after that it's all scraps...2 points here, 4 there, that guy didn't score... outside of our top 5 players (and i'm including bonzi here) no one can create any points. on the flip side, we are a small soft defensive team.
I will say this about our depth situation: Luther Head hasn't had his "head" on straight since he returned to the team. I would expect him to come around eventually. Dikembe Mutombo is clearly too old to play anymore. A 7'2" man with his wingspan should be able to dunk the ball. He's got the vertical leaping ability of a coffee table. I seriously find it difficult to believe, even with all the +/- evidence, that Howard is a worse option to backup Yao than Deke.
No one was talking about how deep we were before Bonzi signed. So if he doesn't play, logically, we have no depth. Juwan apparently is out of the rotation as well... I think people in this forum are panicking way too early. It was one game. Besides, the Jazz always start out their seasons this way. We'll soon see how they are flawed and the Rockets (barring major injury) will prove to be a contender.
we won't magically have depth in the coming weeks. luther may improve, but our entire bench is inconsistent.
i totally agree. basketball is more than just a game of statistical categories. i dont care how many turnovers he gets, the only stat that matters is the final score. the teams that win are the teams that want it (see the jazz last night), and players like spanoulis want it. the rockets desparately need a player to do what bob sura did for us in 2004: ignite the teammates. spanoulis is the only guy on our roster, and probably bonzi, that can do that.
Hm, would be interesting to see bonzi and spanoulis play at the same time then. Btw, I've seen how everyone said that the Rockets played good offence cause they scored. Why doesn't anyone attribute this to maybe bad Utah defence? Since they were obviously concentrated on their scoring? If a few mistakes, like not letting defensive-prone players play are rectified, it's possible this team will play much better. The team does have depth, Van Gandy just didn't want to display it. Maybe it's his secret weapon or something, with all the opponents scouting.
