Yes, I think CD lied to him to get him to sign on the dotted line. Just ask Rashard Lewis.... But, that being said, he is a man, he signed the contract, and is getting paid...so he should shut up and prove to everyone beyond ANY doubt that he should be playing. Bust ass in practice (The few that there are) play in the summer leagues, and then come into camp next year with an attitude of "I will show them" then he can get his NBA career going. DD
Wasting his time making 3 million dollars?! I don't understand all of this Vspan love. What has he done to earn playing time? Obviously nothing in practice, and anytime he gets in the game he is out of control. The Rockets and JVG owe him nothing! Except 3 million dollars of course. I guarantee on that contract it says nothing about playing time...He's a whiner and good riddance if he's let go. As far as I'm concerned he was a waste of half the MLE if he's not willing to actually work to earn playing time.
I don't think that work ethic is his issue. If anything, his willingness to "work" is partly what causes his frustration.
The responsibility of EVERY PLAYER not named Tracy McGrady or Yao Ming is to shoot the ball. This would not change if he was the backup PG. He's averaging .8 turnovers...in 8 minutes and he's not the PG. How is this not an indication that he is turnover prone? Luther Head, who you mentioned, is playing 3 times the number of minutes...and has double the number of turnovers. JL3, who you seem to dislike, is average .3 turnovers...in 8 minutes, yet you advocate placing Spanoulis in front of him? Here is a comparison of the two, just to help you out. JL3 Points - 3.3 Assists - .7 TO - .3 Rebounds - .8 Steals - .35 FG% - .408 3PT - .269 Spanoulis Points - 2.5 Assists - .8 TO - .8 Rebounds - .8 Steals - .21 FG% - .349 3PT - .2 I'm sorry, but Spanoulis hasn't shown he's better than even JL3. The argument that he doesn't play enough doesn't wash since JL3 is actually averaging less minutes (a marginal .1 less but still less). Artistry is when its actually productive...until then, its just being stupid. At this point, SamFisher has provided quite a few more insightful posts than your constant bashing of JVG and fanboy-obsession with VSpan. Don't get me wrong, I like VSpan, and I think he has potential, but as of now, he is NOT the best option.
CD and Lindsey wanted V-Span here 2 years ago an publically said he'd be here. Then V-Span got his "big-fat-Greek contract" (give me a break, loved the movie) and our "cap" money was mostly spoken for and CD said he regretted not having him here. Then they received very bad news about Sura's health. JVG wanted a starting pg whose name was not Mike James. Fun ensues. JVG doesn't want to lose James. CD gets the best deal he can and JVG pulls the trigger. We have an injury-ravaged season that renders thousands of thoughtful posts here more cosmically irrelevant than usual. More fun ensues. Les hires Morey, we relentlessly go after James, and Mike desperately wanted to be here. Supposedly Les gets pissed about chump change and discerning minds wonder why Alexander really said "screw this!". Meanwhile CD wants V-Span here even more after his performance against the USA team in the WC's. He speaks to the press. JVG gets V-Span into camp and dogs V-Span before the 1st preseason game. Mrs. JVG enters the ClutchFans.net lexicon. V-Span becomes a media disease. JVG throws him under the bus with acerbic humor. Les, CD, Morey and Lindsey watch JVG do what he does best and wonder where this franchise really is. JVG knows there's some friction somewhere, and knows he's nationally touted as a COY candidate and hedges his bets. The media never mentions "lame duck" as our coach is much revered. When we beat Utah (sigh) and give the Mav's fits, all will be right with the world (not for some of us here though). Billy will stop throwing bullets in Houston. Until he plays against us.
This is exactly my point, in order for him to develop he needs to be playing on the court. I do not think he is better than JL3 right now, but I personally think his ceiling is higher and he will be more productive as the years go by, so I am in favor of DEVELOPING him by giving him the backup PG spot on a consistent nightly basis. DD
Why can't he develop in practice and the exhibition season like other guys that aren't ready for the show? Meanwhile, you put the guys on the court that give you the best chance of winning.
See, I don't believe that it would be too long before he would be one of the best ones....the only thing holding him back is getting comfortable with the speed of the NBA game, and learning where and how his teamates like to get the pass. By playing him at backup PG for 5 minutes a night, more when he plays well, it gets him ready sooner, and this team needs another creator on the floor desperatly. I personally believe that V-Span can be that guy, for this team.....but he HAS to get on the court...... And IMHO, this team will be going NOWHERE as long as there is not another creator on the perimeter.....Mike James would be great....but JVG & CD wanted Rafer instead.....BRILLIANT ! DD
By the way, the original article spoke of a Monday meeting, a follow-up (as I mentioned) moved the meeting to Tuesday and just know it was announced that the meeting would be today. Journalists' crap I think... On a very interesting note however, the latest follow-up (few lines...not worth translating) mentions that the meeeting with Span's manager was set-up partly because of a Panathinaikos offer... It seems like the "meeting" (if it actually happens) is in order to figure out what the Rockets' plans are and what their thoughts on Span are so possible other options can be considered....
Well here is to hoping that the Rockets brass hold V-Span to the contract he signed, and make him earn his playing time here. DD
If he begs out of his contract, I will lose a LOT of respect for him. I would understand his frustration, but if he is committed to making it at the highest level, this is his shot. DD
SO what are you saying VSpan is lying. You don't think much of your greek community. For the record I am not Greek and I am a diehard Rocket fan. And I believe Vspan was lied to. Or perhaps a better way to put it was he was mislead to believe that they desperately needed his help. And at the time they did. We had no backup point. Luther Head was our 2 guard but JVG himself in the beginning of the season said he saw no minutes for Luther and Luther was a part of many trade rumors. SO we really had no 2 Guard. SO yes minutes in the backcourt looked plentiful and an opportunity fo VSpan's services looked very real. But unfortunately noone asked JVG. ANd he wanted nothing to do with CD's boy. He said early on that he would have to do some media control were Vspan was concerned. And that's exactly what he did. He claimed Billy said he was Tmac in Greece. Billy doesn't think he is as good as Tmac. What he said was his role was similar to Tmac's in Greece. Which is the truth... he was a creator for that team and a penetrator. But of course JVG twisted Billy's words to try and make him look bad. How can you say he has done zero and doesn't deserve jack ****. He has had more than a few good games and looked markedly better as the season progressed. He deserved another opportunity. Of course everyone will point to the San Antonio game and say he got his second opportunity and he looked like ****. ANd he did play poorly. But what did you expect. the Spurs where eating our guards up. They were playing stellar team defense and noone could do anything. So JVG saw this as a perfect opportunity to silence the media and all of the Vspan fans. He stuck him in the game early at the pg position. Vspan had not played the point all season and now he was feed to the Coyotes. I was rooting fo Vspan that game. I said finally JVG is going to give him some minutes to prove himself. But that was not JVG's intention. It was to prove to everyone else that Vspan was not ready. ANd yes he was proved right. Vspan was not ready to play big minutes at the point running the team against the premier defensive team in the leaugue without any experience at that position in the NBA. I was hoping Vspan could have disproved JVG but I don't think many inexperienced players could have done well under those circumstances. So Billy got his opportunity and JVG got what he wanted. JVG could sit him on the bench without having to here anyone claim he hasn't gotten a fair chance. But in reality JL# and Rafer have gotten 4th and 5th and 6th chance opportunities on end and while they have on occasion had decent games they have also had terrible games as well and Vspan sits.
I don't think the issue here is that Van Gundy hates European players but, for whatever reason, you all hate Jeff Van Gundy.
You MIGHT have a case for JL3, but as terrible as we say Rafer is, I happen to remember Rafer having more then "on occasion good games". I also happen to note that even 0-fer's most terrible games are probably equivalent to V-span's best games.
I don't hate him but I don't think he is the right coach for the team, and I am sure it factors in heavily in my thoughts. DD
Wow. Did JVG shoot JFK too? This has gotta be the most ridiculous post of the year. He had more than a few good games? Huh? How did we miss those? I don't think he's lying, I just think he was unrealistic as to what to expect and then whined (probably the most NBA player-like thing he HAS done)when he didn't get the minutes he wanted. The Greek community - at least those in it surrounding him didn't help by blowing all that smoke up his ass. Your post is delusional.
Artistry? ARTISTRY? Are we still talking about V-Span here, or did the thread get hijacked when I wasn't looking? If V-Span is an "artist," then you should realize you've expanded that definition so that it now includes Carrot Top, Pauly Shore, Gallagher, Paris Hilton and -- yes, you knew it was coming -- William Hung and Sanjaya. Artistry... you've got to be kidding.
