Can someone tell me why Juwan Howard starts or even plays for that matter?

We need Stro and Rafer to raise their games up substantially if we are to contend this year. JVG needs to sit down with Rafer and Tracy needs to give Stro a "swift" kick.

Good discussion. Like your sig.

 

then we should just stick Head's @ss in there too!

 

I think we can all agree that SS is not the smartest of basketball players. He might not be able to pick up JVG's system as fast as we would like BUT all those things can be learned. The difference bw JH and SS is that SS has the raw talent that we need in a PF. The man can jump through the roof of the toyota center if he damn well wanted to and that is why we picked him up. We need athleticism in a PF not a jump shooting big man...we already have yao doing enough of that. Sure, stro picks up more fouls but thats because he actually plays defense! Can you picture JH swatting Alonzo's jump hook? Hell no. But SS def can do that in the lineup and SS and Yao in the frontcourt is so much more potent on defense and probably on offense if we actually gave SS more minutes to work with. I do not understand why people would give up on SS this early in the season because he's missing defensive rotations or doesn't know his spot on the floor. Only with PLAYING time in JVG's system will he be able to pick all of this up. When his familiarity with the system comes along with his sheer athleticism I think everyone will realize why SS was a good pickup.

 

You guys dont need to worry about Swift's PT. He's getting some. Once he actually starts playing better basketball than Howard will he start. Stro looks a little better each game so maybe it won't be long. But clearly Howard is the best we've got right now, and he does pretty good... Yall are seriously overstating his defensive deficiencies.

 

lol "i am a donut!"man eddie izzard rocks !i love it when he says:"hes american hes a donut!" LOL

 

I think we should give him time to adjust.It's not like the guard always pass to stro.stro does receive the ball on times when he is in a precarious position.I think JVG should give him plays similar to what Utah does during the times of Stockton & Malone.I think his jumpshots are too high arched.During switches,I think he tends to walk instead of running to a position or defender.He does look uninterested or unappreciated at times.He can be a taller,quicker Amare if he wants to.They should get Olajuwon to teach him.They should also hire Chip Engelland to teach our guards to shoot.

 

werent none of you guys were complaining when juwon howard swished all of those 15 footers against the mavs during the regular season last year.

 

Last year JHow sucked coming off the bench.
Stro is used to coming off the bench his entire career.

As somebody else said, we don't start Stro simply to develop his "potential." We have a chance to contend THIS season. We need to think short-term...not long term. We don't have time to develop our "star QB." Play your rotations to get maximum productivity out of all your players.

That said, it isn't who STARTS that is important...it is who finishes. Just leave the lineup like it is now until one player obviously outshines the other. Right now, we are getting decent productivity out of both players. We could get more but the PFs are NOT our problem right now. Depending on the night, one player may be hot or have a better matchup.

Right now, we need some guards to hit open shots. If Wesley, Skip, Head and Barry could be more consistent, things would be rosier right now and we wouldn't be talking about PFs.

Yes, and stop the frustration threads. Yawn. We are only 6 games into the season and TMac missed half of those. Calm down.

 

Swift has jaw-dropping athletic ability, but based upon what I've seen, his lack of fundamentals is not something that can be fixed with playing time. The best we can do is outfit him with a device that allows JVG to send him an electric shock every time he messes up. That's the best way JVG can succeed where Hubie Brown and Mike Fratello failed.

 

DA (27MPG) is slow for a starting swingman.
DW (27MPG) is small and slow for an SG.
Yao (31MPG) is slow for a C.
JH (27MPG) is slow for a PF.
RA (32MPG) is average to slightly above av in speed for a lead PG.

Of the leading minute guys, only Tmac (35MPG) has well above average athleticsm for his position.

Swift (22MPG) and Head (18MPG) simply need more minutes to provide balance in the line-up. Swift may not be a better player than JH, but we need more of what he brings to balance the roster. Otherwise it is too old and slow, and it is getting exploited.

Honestly JVG is holding his vets minutes up too much. I honestly think starting Swift, and maybe even Head too, is the right thing to do. If they have off nights, than you have your steady vets to refocus the team and let the young guys observe after having a taste. The Mavs largely did this strategy with Daniels and Howard (with vets behind them if they faulter), and the Spurs when Parker was mistake prone rookie and soph (guys like Claxton, Kerr). It doesn't work as well the other way around because if the vets start off uninspired the young guys are 50/50 to make it worse.

The total minutes and starting roles of the vets (JH/DW/DA) to young guys (Swift/LH) are inversed right now. JVG needs to correct his philosophy about this.

 

what about this guy?

 

Once again the effeminate ones of this BBS start speaking on EMOTION. Five games into the season and already the semiantics start. Juwan Howard starts because OF WHAT HE HAS DONE. HE is a viable contributor, Stromile doesn't know the defensive and offensive schemes yet, and we were winning with Juwan in the starting lineup last season. Lest you forget, that everyone and their dog (myself included) was proclaiming that we would have beaten Dallas last year had Juwan been playing with us. I don't know why people want to question what our coach is doing. It's becoming increasingly apparent to me that someone has stolen your balls. If some of you aren't married and you're still complaining, sheesh where did your balls go? At least the married ones have an excuse for losing their testicular fortitude. Relax already and quit complaining so much.

 

I'll go with your argument regarding Head, he makes mistakes but he's also earned his minutes and Stro simply hasn't earned the minutes he's getting. Just because we have a glaring need for more athleticism in now way justifies starting Stro.

Yes, I expected a slow start but I am surprised that our guards are struggling as much as they have. But aplostolic3 is right, our major problems right now have nothing to do with Howard. JVG said this morning that Rafe's outburt last night were not Howard's mistakes and I do not think JHo's even on JVG's radar screen as a problem right now.

It's easy to preach "athleticism" as a need on any team. But right now we have much bigger fish to fry, and Stro still needs a heckuva lot more time to figure things out.

Backhanded JVG barbs are also really easy right now, but I can't fault what he sees when Stro's on the court at all.

 

Oh my... this is what I've been telling my friends all along! Finally I see someone agreeing with me! Vindication!!!

 

It could be worse......


We could be starting T-Mo.........

T-mo blows.

 

I haven't done this but if you want to see who is better for the Rockets, Stro or Howard, compare point increase or decrease in a game. I personally think Howard is a much better basketball player then Stro. Stro has the body but Howard has the brain. Stro breaks the flow of the offense in my opinion. Too often he stops the play trying to get his. He also extends himself out too much on pick and roll defense. He makes a lot of mistakes defensively (to his credit he just started playing with JVG).

I think what made last years team sooo good was the intelligence on it. That team had a lot of smart guys playing on it. This years team we are seeing a lot of guys play who just dont have the same basketball IQ in my opinion. Perfect example is Stro, and i'm sorry to say perhaps even Skip to my Lou.

In my honest opinion, Van Gundy needs to make a switch in the starting lineup but its not with Howard its with Alston. I think Luther Head should start. Alston's number one problem is that he can't finish. If teams had to decide between guarding his shot or his pass he'd be a much more effective point guard but the guy misses a lot of shots and so teams play him to the pass. In addition, his D isn't all that great. Head may not be a "pure point guard" but the guy is a much better defender, makes more shots, and is clutch.

I dont think you can yank alston out just yet b/c of his contract and it takes a lot to give up on a guy who u are going to be stuck with for five more years but if in five or ten more games alston doesn't improve, yank him and slide in Head (no pun intended) and i think the Rockets will be a better team.