Yep, and there's a pretty good chance neither of them will be associated with a pro sports team in Houston next season.
According to JVG's comments about the game the blame can be placed on him for not getting his team ready to play. At least JVG knows that what he has done has not work to keep this team playing well and just maybe he will trust his bench more because in the last few games our bench has been out played.
And who's job is it to execute these decisions? Players perhaps? Our bench has played like crap the last half dozen games. We are getting out rebounded, out hustled for loose balls, our pick and roll defense has fallen off. This is all due to lack of urgency by the players. Sometimes your arrogance blinds you.
Bad clock management, not adjusting to in game situations, bad use of timeouts, inability to work around problems, not being prepared for the game during timeouts, halftime, or before the game. I don't consider players missing wide open shots that were created for them by their coach's offense or by their leader on the floor the coach's fault. That's a lack of talent or execution. The Rockets actually have a few very good sets to get T-Mac open and to get Yao the ball. I've seen teams try to copy the same set without success because they lack Yao's size inside and McGrady's playmaking ability outside. Sometimes, JVG doesn't adjust quick enough in my opinion, and yes he's stubborn, but I think he responds well enough to adversity and he keeps the team prepared. In JVG's system, when the team lacks energy, intensity, and rebounding, the game is pretty much lost. It's a decent strategy (defense wins championships, need to out-rebound the opponent) but he's yet to prove it by winning a ring. Actually, technically, outscoring your opponent wins championships...
I really think it is healthy or good for us fans to continue to criticize constructively the flaws in the coaching strategy and other aspects of the game. Somehow If we keep believing the myths about how indispensable or how great a coach is we will end up like Dallas before Avery took over. In hindsight, the reason why Don Nelson was never replaced was because people started believing the mantra that he was such a good coach and that he could do no wrong. Now we know that was all a myth, for everything Don Nelson could do a better coach in Avery Johnson could do it better. It took them so long to figure out the piece of the puzzle that would transform their franchise into a championship caliber team because they were looking everywhere except at the coach. The Success of the Mavs and how they were able to achieve it should teach us a lesson about knowing the difference between a good coach and a great coach.
No arrogance at all...I get that the players are coasting...but it is up to the coach to get them out of it, or yank them out of the game. The players know that JVG is loyal to a fault and they are taking advantage of it. DD
I think it is more due to the lack of fire under their butts, because they are on social security and their jobs are guaranteed in JVG system.
The team looked worse recently than any Rockets team in a LONG I mean a LONG time. The PG play was absolutely horrible. The coaching was abysmal to put it kindly. So sorry some fans dare have issue with it.
wrong argument? IQ is about mind, but not about shooting hands. because RA doesn't have shoot touch but not because hehas low BB IQ, RA had a low FG %.
JVG did acknowledge the PG problem in the last game, and that's why he played Lucas who was out of the rotation for a while. You pointed out our problems -- lack of quickness on the perimeter and an inability to create our own shots (outside of T-Mac). Well, these are areas in which Lucas happens to be pretty good --probably the best amongst our PGs. The issue here clearly isn't that JVG wouldn't acknowledge the PG problem (I think he has done so), it's that he is unwilling to experiment with Spanoulis as a rotation PG. That's what you really mean, right?
DD- I understand and agree that JVG needs to hold his players more accountable. But seriously, we do not have the depth to do that. In a game where you are obviously getting below par effort from your starters, you can't just throw in VSpan, Novak, Hayes, Lucas and Snyder and expect to GAIN points. I just think that with our depth and players that are young and, let's face it, not that good right now, that he has to stick with the starters and hope that pride kicks in and they start playing hard. Just my $.02
i agree with everything you said except one thing....yes rafer has to take some of those shots he takes.....but not all of them.......on nights you start 1 for double figures SHUT IT DOWN.....PASS FIRST......only players the likes of yao and t-mac have the green light with a start like that!
Well, yes. I suppose you are right, if you consider running Rafer out there all season for 37 minutes a night, not decreasing his minutes, and yanking JLIII from the rotation for the prior 6 games was JVG "acknowledging" our PG deficit, I guess you are right. But, if you are going use the fact that he finally commented on our point guard problems "last game", that's a little late to the party. This problem has been going on for most of the season. You can't point to last game and the fact that he finally said something about the PG play and he ran JLIII back out there after yanking JLIII from the rotation for 6 games as evidence that he acknowledges the problem. He quit playing Lucas a while back because Lucas wasn't helping. All he was doing was jacking, and missing. But Lucas wasn't exactly taking minutes away from Rafer anyways. He was probably taking a few minutes away from Head and Synder. Now JVG is coming back with Lucas again and Lucas hasn't done anything to warrant regaining minutes again that I can see. Since January 1, Lucas has shot 35% from the field and 22% from the 3 point line and since January 17, Lucas has shot less than 32% from the field and 25% from 3 point land. Those numbers don't exactly reflect a guy that is improving or "earning" minutes. In fact, JVG pretty much indicated such when he didn't play JLIII in the six games prior to Toronto. Now, JLIII has somehow "earned" some more minutes and Rafer is still being run out there for 35+ every night? I just don't see it. I'm not against JLIII and I definitely don't think JVG has a vendetta against VSpan. I simply think that JVG is not considering VSpan because he has determined that VSpan is a high turnover player and he hates turnovers. I think he has gotten tunnel vision in regard to the other facets of the point guard play that make VSpan an asset and he is only focusing on turnovers. And JLIII has been a low turnover guy, even when he ain't shooting worth squat, so JVG goes back to his comfort zone of low turnovers and just swallows the bad shooting and the lack of distribution and lack of finishing at the rim and drawing fouls. What is really shocking to me is JVG has to know how bad JLIII is defensively. And if there is any aspect of the game that JVG has insisted on his players working at and grasping the team concept of, it is defense. Turnovers and defense are his primary focus. There is simply no way that JLIII has magically earned his way back into the rotation. JVG played him out of desparation because he knew he needed somebody that can create their own shot and not turn it over. Well, JLIII can create his own shot and he hasn't turned the ball over. Of course, he never passes the ball, so the only turnover he has to worry about is not dribbling the ball off his foot and since his feet are always moving in search of his next shot, yeah, he does keep the turnovers down. You're a stat guy. Have you noticed that we are now dead last in the league in free throws made and free throws attempted? Which, combined with our inability to finish at the rim are the two reasons we are now 24th out of 30 in points per shot in the league. But we are 7th in the league in 3 point shooting percentage and 2nd in 3 pointers made per game. Oh, but we are 25th in overall FG percentage. So, something isn't translating, is it? It's pretty simple. We aren't being aggressive enough, we aren't taking it to the rim and finishing and we aren't drawing enough fouls. In one word, AGGRESSION. We ain't got enough of it. Oh, but we got low turnovers from our point guards though. That's not championship basketball and it is gonna bite us on the hiney come playoff time. All of a sudden, the arms and chest muscles are a little tighter, the legs are a little deader, the shots have to be put up a little quicker, and teams that lived on the 3 point shot during the season, die by it in the playoffs. JVG has simply attempted to address the poor shooting and poor finishing by putting in other players that may shoot better or by coaching Rafer on how to shoot the teardrop and continuing to give him major minutes even when he is firing ACME. The issue of the lack of aggression to the basket on this team has not been addressed. It hasn't been addressed by playing VSpan. It hasn't been addressed by bringing in an aggressive finisher. This team, with the current roation, lacks aggression to the basket.
i think people are just reading too much into the losses. in atl, the team was dead and lets face it the rockets dont play well there, plus i think the team took them lightly. Same goes for boston. That game was lost on the court, not from the coach's box. Toronto. they just put it on the rockets and were on fire. it is possible to be outplayed by a team, regardless of coaching, rotations, etc. ooohhh, who am i kidding. jvg is a moron and we should only judge him by the last 4 games.
I think JVG believes that Lucas has a better chance of shooting a decent percentage than Spanoulis. Let's face it -- none of our PGs (outside of Luther) is even remotely efficient from the field. On that basis, JVG might as well just stick with Rafer. He's looking for a PG with a sure handle, someone who can push the ball and get some early offense, and who's quick/scrappy on defense. Perhaps most importantly, he's going to put players in roles he feels comfortable with. JVG knows what Lucas will give him as a PG. We had him with the team last year. He played in our summer league. There's a lot more uncertainty (i.e. risk) if you put in Spanoulis to handle the point. Clearly, JVG isn't interested in a potentially dynamic, flashy PG -- he wants someone who's steady and dependable. V-Span may not have been the PG on the floor much this season, but he's played point now and then on individual possessions. He's been in positions where he's had to do PG things. Generally, I don't think the results have been good. Maybe JVG gets more detailed reports on these possessions from Morey's people. It would be great if we could draw more fouls. But, actually, the relationship between drawing fouls and overall offensive efficiency is fairly weak. In fact, Phoenix, the best offensive team in the league, is also last in trips to the foul line per possession (we're 27th). Let's not exxagerate the importance of that. If Spanoulis is leading the team, we might get more foul shots and attempts in the paint. I think any benefit from that would likely be cancelled (and then some) by more turnovers and worse shooting from the perimeter. And let's also not forget that Spanoulis also has a penchant for committing fouls. On the season, foul shots attempted per 48 min goes from 22 to 25 with Spanoulis. Swell. But fouls shots attempted for the opponent also goes up 23 to 28. I disagree. Bonzi is an aggressive player who looks to get to the basket on most of his isolation plays. Putting Bonzi AND Spanoulis on the court together would not be good for our offense.
Look, VSPan draws almost 3 times as many fouls as Rafer does by going to the hole. That is significant in light of what teams are doing to us right now defensively. They are choking us out at the perimeter because they know we ain't goin inside and when we do, they know we ain't creating contact, drawing fouls, and we sure ain't finishing. Teams are begging us to dribble drive on them. Can't you see that? They are choking off the perimeter shots. Fouls???? Why sure he fouls. He's aggressive as all get out. And he will need to get some minutes to learn not to foul so much. Bonzi? You want to bring Bonzi into this? Bonzi has been a terribly inefficient player for us this season, with high turnovers, low shooting percentages, not to mention attitude problems and jacking around all season with the weight issue. But we're still running him out there. Because we know we need him and we are hoping and praying that he gets his fat can in shape to help us down the stretch and into the playoffs. And it looks like he may be starting to respond............finally. Forget about whether Bonzi and VSpan could co-exist. When Rafer is chucking and missing, and Luther can't get a shot off or is ice cold, and teams are playing up on our perimeter players and forcing the ball out of McGrady's hands, does it make any sense at all to keep lobbing the ball to Rafer so he can shoot it? What isn't co-existing right now is Rafer/Head/JLIII out there running around while McGrady is doubled out high and they are forced off the 3 point line. That's what don't coexist. You're smarter than that Durvasa. You are explaining JVG's "reasoning" for what he does. But that does not mean that JVG is right on every point. My point is.........we have seen enough of Rafer to know what we've got. When he is hot from the perimeter and when the shot is there, hey, he's okay. But when he's not hot from the perimeter, or the defense takes away the perimeter shot, hey, it's baaaaaaaaaad. And it ain't chang'n tonight either. He isn't all of sudden going to become Mr. Aggressive and take it to the hole and shoot 50% from the field. Oh, he may have a decent shooting night from the perimeter, provided the defense is stupid and their scouts and coaches haven't been watching tape of the last few games. Of course, we're playing the Nugz so Iverson may fool around and let Rafer get off a bunch of clean looks. Somehow, I doubt it. By the way, you can't look at FT's per possession and gain anything useful by saying Phoenix is the least fouled per possession. The reason being that a bunch of their possessions is a guy running up the floor and receiving the ball in mid-air for the throw down with nary a defender in sight. They have more undefensed possessions than any team in the NBA because of their pace. The majority of those FTs come off half court possessions. I'm sure JVG has felt comfortable with Rafer, at least up until recently. And I'm sure JVG wants Rafer to feel comfortable so that Rafer can perform at his peak. He's done all that. And we got us a PG that shoots 37% from the field when he is all relaxed and comfortable and the coach is comfortable with him. JVG, Rafer, and all of us won't be comfortable in the playoffs when teams are forcing the ball to him and forcing him to put it on the floor and take it somewhere besides the 3 point line. Then we will spend the offseason being uncomfortable until we either get another point or we commit to developing VSpan. And my point is there is no reason we couldn't have developed VSpan this year. He's not your typical rookie. He is a 24-year-old man who has been playing at least the equivalent of the NBDL for several years. He's not a 19 year old immature kid coming out of high school. We're basically wasting a season here.
I disagree with that. Basketball IQ is about shot selection anad about learning from your mistakes. Basically, a player with High Basketball IQ will not keep chalking up shots or will not keep shooting when it is clearly detrimental to the team. He will become a decoy , drive and dish and do other things to help the team win. I don't buy the argument that rafer has to take those shots by necessity, if he had good basketball IQ he would find a way to get more assists being a pointguard than trying to get more points.
There was a recent quote from isaiah Thomas on some under-sized point guard. i'm not sure if the player was on the knicks. paraphrasing he mentioned that he could use any 6-6 player to bring the ball up the court and pass. when a pg is small it's best for him to play all out to his strengths, ie just shot instead of playing more orthodox where his size will negate any positives.
A case in point would be Tmac. He realized he was not shooting it that well early in the season due to some back issues. Being a player with high basketball iQ, what did he do to adjust to it? He became a playmaker dishing out assists and defering more to yao. What did rafer do when confronted with a similar predicament? keep chalking up shots.
