http://clutchfans.net/news/1351/deal_with_john_lucas_III_could_come_next/ Thoughts... 1. JL3's agent is David Falk? The David Falk who was Michael Jordan's agent? David is slumming with an undrafted kid? 2. Whew... I was wondering why Novak wasn't signed yet, thought he might have been trade bait.
It's obvious they are just getting more important deals done first. I mean JL3 is going to be the 3rd string PG and Novak is going to be signed regardless, so it just wasn't priority over signing Spanoulis or James or whatever.
I'm shocked that Falk's representing Lucas, myself. For some reason, it makes me feel better about getting the kid. I just hope he can play defense better than Mooch, lol. Nice work by Clutch. Good to read about KillBill (or is it Kill Bill? inquiring minds want to know the proper nomenclature!), and enjoyed seeing Amel get his props. Clutch is great about stuff like that. It's why I always have my eyes and ears open when I go to the mall... you never know.
I don't understand why Lucas is the consensus 3rd string PG. Who is second? Spanoulis? After seeing JL3 in action in the summer league, we know that his court vision and basketball IQ are much improved as well as his shooting. I am not sold on making him a second string PG either but we really haven't seen Vspan at all so how can he be put ahead of Lucas so quickly? By the way, is Spanoulis a very good shooter? I haven't seen him shoot very much.
Yeah, the same Falk is John Lucas III's agent. I don't know if Falk takes all clients or not, but I'm not surprised he would take Lucas. Lucas' father, former #1 pick and Rocket John Lucas, was David Falk's first big client (and break) in to the business in 1976.
Hasn't Novak already signed. They had a press conference with him didnt they, and presented him his jersey. Maybe im wrong, not too sure.
I see... family connection. That explains it. Thanks! As for why everyone thought JL would be a 3rd string PG... well, his dad said so. JL Jr. said JLIII is ready for the 3rd strong role this year and will probably be ready for a backup role the next season. I figure daddy knew his skills pretty well.
Nice dig. I don't know how you found that out. You may have just dug up a piece of info that we'll here 15 - 20 times next year from the announcers. I don't know if you follow the Longhorns basketball, but the ESPN anchors always spout off the same story about a player from the notes. Like Sydmill Harris repeatedly got the story about his father the musician/speaks 4 languages/ from Netherlands It got pretty funny after a while... at least to me. The announcers would play it up like they just found this out from personal research, but I had heard the same story in the same order the week before. Anyhoo, this will get air time if I had to guess.
Lucas when he signs is going to be the 2nd string point gaurd. V-Span is a nice signing but most likley won't see much playing time if both Alston and Lucas are on the roster. Rockets have improved and this team is going very good next season.
JLIII dominated the summer league and should get more playing time than vspan who was a dominant player in europe? i think the clear cut edge right now is towards killbill. of course, it's all up to training camp and preseason.
Its not like the Euro League has more NBA ready players than the Summer League They at best . . are about the same Rocket River
Exactly. That coupled with Clutch's report that JVG didn't have much love for VSpan, and my guess is by the end of the season we will have seen a lot more of JLIII than KillBill.
One big advantage of KB is his size over JL3 regarding defensive matchups. If KB can't hit shots and JL3 can, then JL3 probably gets the edge. That being said, KB shot 63% FG last season. So it seems unlikely that KB's downfall will be offense. We'll see.
I don't get this notion that Lucas and Spanoulis getting playing time have to be mutually exclusive. Lucas is a small, lightning fast point guard. Spanoulis is a much bigger combo guard who is good at penetrating and working the pick & roll offense. He will likely get as much time at the 2 as he gets at the 1 anyway. His biggest obstacle is transitioning to the NBA game, but he does have a significant advantage of size, strength and experience over Lucas. And ultimately, both are going to have to earn their playing time anyway. I don't see the point of arguing who's going to get the minutes ... they are two fairly different players, and I expect the coach to eventually utilize them in situations where their respective strengths provide an advantage.
They are both PG's and Rafer will get the majority of the minutes. JVG likes to hold firm to only playing 8 or maybe 9 players regularly... per his own words. Everybody else only plays in garbage time or to cover injuries. Rotation right now: Yao TMac Battier JHo Rafter Snyder Head Hayes That is 8 already. I'd bet Novak gets some PT cause we need shooters. So playing JL3 or KB is in fact mutulally exclusive.
JHo still needs to go. We need to add a PF like Lorenzen or Ely to take his spot. I would even think Chris Mihm would be an upgrade to him. I would still do the trade with the Lakers to move him and then add another rotational player with what is left of the MLE if Mihm wasn't it. But Mihm and Cook for JHo and Head would be very good for us. Then we could use the leftover MLE to add JLIII and either Ariza or Woods. Personally, I prefer Woods. He's got a little bit of baggage but he looks like he could be ready to break out. He would be worth a small gamble for $1.5 of the MLE or possibly even the minimum since nobody seems to be showing interest in him.
You're forgetting that the Rockets MUST play a backup PG in the rotation. For crissakes, RICK BRUNSON was in the rotation at the end of last season. Unfortunately, he was so bad that the Rockets could only use him sparingly and had to continue to play Rafer big minutes. Unless the Rockets find a better PG to add to the roster (unlikely), or unless Luther Head vastly improves his PG skills (improbable), either Spanoulis or JLIII will be a part of the rotation for at least 10-12 mpg. Novak will most likely not be part of the rotation this year. Perhaps he'll sneak in a few meaningful minutes here and there by mid-season. My guess is that Ryan Bowen logs a couple of non-garbage minutes coming in for T-Mac at the ends of quarters to keep him out of foul trouble.
