Right now. V-Span is a better creator than Rafer V-Span is a better defender than Rafer V-Span is a better 2pt shooter than Rafer Rafer is a better ball handler than V-Span Rafer is a better 3pt shooter than V-Span Rafer is better at playing the passing lanes than V-Span Rafer is better at controlling the tempo of the game than V-Span Right now, Rafer should be the starter, but V-Span should be the backup, no doubt about it. Van-Gollum is being short sighted. DD
I'm sure I'm not the only one who keeps up with news and rumors around the NBA. Does anyone on here wonder why there's no mention of the rumor regarding V-Span? ITS BECAUSE NOBODY CARES! He hasn't proven himself to anyone on this continent. Perhaps I saw some potential during the few times I've actually seen him play, but I've also seen him turn the ball over a number of times, and I've seen him shoot bricks other times... This is hardly anything for anyone to be upset about. If he quits, fine. He'll probably never be a winner, and not because of a lack of ability or basketball IQ, but because he just doesn't have have it in him, psychologically. If he sticks around, MAYBE he'll prove me wrong and all of you guys right.
TBH, with the clip that Rafer is shooting threes, I'm not even sure that Vspan could do much worse, considering the volume of shots that Rafer puts up. Vspan is a much better backup than JLIII at pg. The only reason JLIII plays in the rotation at all is because head is out and he replaced his role of just running up the court and then handing the ball off to t-mac. I think we need a player that does much more than that, and Vspan seems to fit that role.
Are you stupid or are you just pretending to be? You couldn't be more wrong. KillBill has been a winner at every level and a fan favorite. So again I pose the question, "Are you stupid or are you just pretending to be?"
He's better at creating turnovers. And as far as his defense, sorry but when you get crossed over and taken to the rack by Kyle Korver, you're not a good defender. Gambling for a steal doesn't make you a good defender. Then Rafer would be one.
I am undecided about this if he quits because of difficulty or being lied to by the organization, you can understand that, if he quits because of frustrations over a standoff with the coach, that is unacceptable and a sign of a weak character. DD
The problem with V-Span is that he needs to be around the stars to be a star. When he tries to penetrate and dish, out magnificent scrubs aren't ready for it, while our starters will be. IMHO, JVG should, next season because it's too late now, plonk Vspan in the starting line up in the preseason games, see how he does.
This is true of almost EVERY PG.....if the people you pass the ball too can't catch the pass or make a shot, you are not going to look very good. V-Span playing with better players will make a huge difference. DD
What about the Euroleague (competition of the best teams in Europe), Spanoulis received 2nd all euroleague team honors as a rookie last year. As for the Greek league, the competition over there is pretty good, all 3 Greek teams advanced to the play-offs round of Euroleague and 2 of them to the quarter-finals that take place now. Many Americans who have played over there used to compare it to NCAA sweet 16 competition even back in the early 90s. I could go on with nbaers who've played and developed their game over there... IMO he's not to blame just because his agent is checking out alternatives for his future. Several reports and blogs showed that VSpan wants to stay and succeed in the nba. He has had the reputation of a disciplined and hard working player from reliable and respected sources like P. Yiannakis, the coach of Greek national team, who would never support or even play a lazy and egoistical guy.
That's fun to say, but in reality, if you are shooting 34.9% after any reasonable number of attempts then the likelyness of you making 3 of your next 3 attempts or 4 of your next 5 attempts isn't very high. Keeping that pace (not 3/3 or 4/5, just anything higher than your current percentage) is even harder, just look at Rafer. I wish the turnover comparisons would just stop. Players like Magic Johnson and Steve Nash average high turnovers because they run their team's offense for every minute they are on the floor, and their opponents entire game plan is based upon stopping them! That's incredible pressure, and they still bring in tremendous results. V-Span, on the other hand, plays against the bottom of the barrel of every team and mostly with a second guard in the line-up who controls the offense -- and still manages to turn the ball over at a tremenous rate. Realistically, in the 8 min's V-Span is in per game, the ball is in his hands for maybe a minute, and against the worst defenses who have no specific focus on him. That is not a fair comparison, no matter the numbers. Yes, in the preseason, he showed that he has some ability and some promise, though even there he averaged 4.1 Turnovers to only 3.4 assists in only 20.3 minutes a game. But look at Steve Novak and JLIII, who were consistently rated as two of the best players in the pre-season and summer leagues, and have shown little to nothing in real NBA games. Hell, Rafer Alston looked like a freakin' All-Star in the pre-season -- he shot better from the 3 then Novak did (52.2%) and show 50% from the floor, better than Yao and T-Mac. We all know how he is in a real game. Right now, V-Span's promise simply does not merit any real playing time, and certainly isn't worth putting him above our best three-point shooter in Luther Head.
Not really. He sucked (for a starter, at least) his first season or two in Dallas as well. He was always boo'd by Mavs fans when he had the ball because nobody thought he should be starting or playing so much. The Mavs just didn't have anyone else to do it. Then he turned it around and became solid, then good, then great.
But it takes PLAYING time and a coach willing to let the player find his way. If JVG is not going to let V-Span become the player he can become, then one of them should move on......any guesses which one I want to move on? DD
yes the better players will look worse, like they did in Nov and Dec. if you repeat the same lies again and again they don't become true.
Only people that have never played the game have trouble understanding the concept.....you know, people like YOU...Sam !! PG is a position that relies more on your teamates abilities than any other, your job is to pass the ball to your teamates and get them shots, if they can't make those shots, your stats are not going to look all that rosy are they? And, in case you forgot, V-Span was playing the 2 guard at that time...which has a completely DIFFERENT responsibility....but alas.... you obviously have no clue about the game of basketball. DD
I forgot, your long tenure as an intramural basketball point guard in high school gives you unique insight. So tell me if you are so smart, why are you a laughingstock of the bbs, a history too rich for me to chronicle here. Why do the mods regularly mock you as an idiot? You see DaDakota - that's the problem. NObody gives a sh-t that you proclaim your simpleminded opinions over and over and over again. It's annoying, and it makes you look dumb, but you're a cf.net member, you can do that. But then you claim you've got some brilliant set of "basketball knowledge", and then with the benefit of hindsight - and having changed and modified your opinion 180 degrees multiple times before - you pronounce yourself as some sort of genius. That's why people get pissed off and knock you down a few pegs and then you start crying and say "hey no fair i was just playing wah wah". He played with the same shotmakers everybody else does, yet he gets the special excuse. Tiresome. How about this new excuse "it's not fair to V-Span because he was always on the court with bad outside shooters, like Spanoulis." Anyway what makes yur stats look less rosy when you are a historically wild, turnover prone player who throws the ball into the stands with frequency. Yeah his responsibility was what? Run into the middle of the lane and toss the ball away? Jump in the air and have nothing to do? Shoot 20% from three point land? Cause that's what I saw him doing. Of course I'm not going to get in to the stupidity of being overly rigid with regard to labels, particularly at the guard position - though I have in the past, so look it up. If you can't understand this "you obviously have no clue about the game of basketball" No matter how much you lie or distort, you can't change the fact that he sucked. Now I know you will come back with some fresh batch of lies like "not fair he's not playing cause JVG hates rookies wah wah" but really who cares. Finally - let's note for the record that you're guilty here of directly avoiding the subject of my post (the fact that "he only played with scrubs" is an outright lie or distortion - in your case a lie since this has been explained to you before) in order to lob some personal attacks. That's what you always b**** about me doing.
I think elenp is Greek as well, IIRC, and this typifies the kind of crap I hear in the community. Typical of a "Greek player fan" and not a Rockets "team" fan. He doesn't "deserve" jack ****. He has done zero to "deserve" significant minutes on one of the top NBA teams. Should he have been given more playing time early in the season? Yes - in my opinion, if only to get a better statistical sample of his output. Then you could safely justify playing him more as a backup later in the season. But JVG is cautious - especially with rookies. And the limited minutes we've seen Vspan play have been horrid. It's pretty late in the season to be b****ing about him playing, or even for rumors of discontent - whether from him or from his agent - to be emanating from his camp. Does anyone here really think that the Rockets "lied" to him? I've heard this said in the Greek community too. Anyone really think that CD, Morey, JVG, Les, or ANYONE else guaranteed him a certain number of minutes or a starting/first off the bench role? Hopefully, he'll ignore the ass-kissers in the Greek community, as well as his agent, work his ass off, learn from the bench (and you CAN learn from the bench during a game), and then next season he should have a prominent role in the summer leagues and preseason. Considering our main backup is JL3, he should have a good shot at joining Head as one of the two regular rotation, backup guards. After that, it's up to his on-court play. JVG is not going anywhere for a while.
Don't ever forget it again ! The only one who mocks me has a grudge. Dr. of Dunk......I called him out a couple of years ago for booting me in the chat channel for asking a question and since that time, he has been on my case, no worries, everyone has an opinion. This is the funny part a lot of people agree with me, and a lot agree with you, that is what makes this a fun place...it is a FAN DISCUSSION board, time will prove out who is right and wrong here....just like Boki, or Vince Young, or Luke Scott, or Shane Battier, or Yao Ming or....well....The Knight of Right has proved his point. I do understand the game, thank you ! I never call myself a genius, I am just on here tossing out my ideas about how to make the team better. And my opinions do change as time and situations change as well. An example would be that I did not think Rudy was good for a Steve Francis and Cat led team, I thought he was too lenient on young players. But, now that the roster has changed and the players are more self disciplined, I think Rudy T would be miles better than JVG with this current Rockets squad.....see, times change....shades of gray little man...shades of gray. His responsibilty when he was in the rotation was as a 2 guard, you know to SHOOT the ball, and in this offense it is to stand at the 3pt line in the corner and shoot the ball....that is not his strength right now. Pure hogwash, he has not proven to be that turnover prone in the regular season, do you complain about Luther when he tosses the ball into the stands? Hypocrit ! Because that is all you are looking for, you see the negativity in V-Span, I see the promise..... You are overly rigid, you are stats boy, you miss the artistry....... He has struggled, but I have always said he would struggle and that he needs time ON THE COURT to get comfortable in the NBA and with his teamates. The difference is that a GREAT coach like Popovich gives players time to learn.......JVG....not so.... Fair enough, you do lob personal attacks.....that is what you are known for.....but you are correct I did the same, my apologies. DD
