This team is going only as far as the Roleplayers can Roleplay We already know T-Mac can take them on his back and push the team to wins, but it is killing the man doing it night-in and night-out. You can argue "Thats what great players do" but whatever. Point is we already know what T-Mac is capable of, we already know he can carry these guys and he is up to the challenge whenever asked. BUT is JVG even asking him at the moment? This team will go nowhere when Yao comes back playing 2 on 5 ball. The roleplayers on this team need to learn their roles. They need to step it up and be the pro's that they say they are. They need to force chemistry, and fulfill the little minor jobs/roles they are expected to fulfill. Once these 'roleplayers' get/understand/play their roles THEN this team will go as far as Yao and T-Mac can take them, which would be a championship or close to it. ~~~~ Think the Rockets championship days. We had our stars and leaders but those teams would have been nuthin if the cast didn't play and know their role. Thats what made those teams so brilliant. Teams like that give the leaders SOMTHING to lead, and that is what T-Mac and Yao need AND deserve. Point is, I have FAITH in both of our leaders(T-Mac and Yao), I truly and HONESTLY believe if they had a group of guys who: Knew/Wanted/and Could play their part in the system that T-mac and Yao would: Know/Want to/and Would play their part of leader
Compare our role players to any of the league leaders, not even close. Compare to even the mid-level teams, and maybe even the worst teams. The Rockets did not put enough talent around their stars, period. Even when everyone is back, healthy, and jelled, still not enough. Mutombo, Barry, and Wesley gave us their last best year, last year. Alston, Swift, and Anderson were bad moves. Bowen, Moochie, etc. should be in a church league. Head has potential. Overall, a grim picture because millions of dollars are tied up in a comparitively untalented group of players. Without some major upgrades, last year is looking more and more like the "highpoint."
If our RPs aren't good enough than look no further than CD and JVG. They assembled this team. Look what the Spurs have been able to do with their RPs. They take players other teams say are done like Horry and his old knees and they play great for the Spurs. It starts at the top with the GM and the coach. Pop's players understand his system and they play their Arses off for him. If and when everyone gets back from their injuries maybe JVG can pull together the team he helped create.
i agree with you, but we are as decimated by injuries right now as any team ever has been. if the key roleplayers that are expected to be able to step it up from time to time were here that would be one thing. but it all comes back to injuries. besides our 2 main guys, even our key roleplayers have missed significant time (alston, berry, sura, d-anderson). not that they are jesus shuttlesworths or anything, but if we had even a couple of those guys it would be a totally different game. right there we are missing both of our point guards and our backup sg/sf's. its hard to make up those losses. right now we have 3rd stingers and 12th men playing significant roles...we just arent going to go anywhere with that. out of our top 9 players we are missing 6. its frustrating as hell, but if you think about it that way its a little easier to understand why we suck so bad. its going to take some patience, but these guys will start trickling back into the lineup in the next few weeks and hopefully we can get back on track and make some noise in the 2nd half of the season. EDIT: stromile swift sucks.
One thing you can note is this, The Spurs RP's came from winning franchises. They know what to do. Finley, Horry, all of them camer from winning teams. Our RP's come from teams such as the Raptors, or Hornets, or The Hawks... Losing franchises and losing teams, they don't understand and don't have the expierence. That expierance and knowing 'What is expected' and how you must 'perform' on a daily bases is important. CD needs to stop getting players with potentiol from scrub franchises and get people who have proven worth on winning teams even if they will never be "all-stars"
I am just tired of the excuses, on-line apologists, the 'wait till Yao comes backers'. This group of players are not winners, but I can only hold JVG and CD responsible for holding up a very poor product in front of the Houston fans. I don't like the group of players, I don't like JVG's system, and I don't like JVG.