So now you know how JVG and Rafer feels... PS. all players aren't equal, to compare Sam Cassell and Tony Parker and Manu with our bench situation is like looking at our wives and wonder to ourselves "Why can't she be a Playmate?" We tend to see greatness in unrealized potential when most of the times it is what it is, just common and ordinary.
The argument is NOT whether V-Span or Jl 3 should have displaced Rafer. Far from it- the general feeling of people who dont agree with your opinion ( including me) is that we never gave the other guys a shot. You are going by a third party account of how practices went and claiming that to be your basis. How logical is that? The playoffs will be a 7 game series- the two weakness that they will exploit are the PG and PF spot. Take a look at the competition and see where we stand. The 53 season record is impressive- no doubt about that. Let us not forget Tmac and Yao are superstarrs- and any coach worth his anme would win half the games and will have a chance at a playoff spot ( for that matter pick any college coach). They are not the selfish kind who tune out the coach. JVG is a defensive genius- but from a player motivation and match ups point of views- he does not do well ( especially changes on the fly). Our playoff success is not just a function of Yao and Tmac- but how Rafer does? Does that make him the x-factor or the weak link?
Greatness is never ordinary. Anway why are we talking about "greatness" when we are talking about our PG situation.
Actually, JVG publicly stated he wanted Hayes but when it came down to Baxter and Hayes, he went with the larger Baxter.
It's better than making blind assumptions that ignore the "third party accounts". The coaches have lived and breathed basketball for most of their lives - they're going to be a lot better at this than us. This thinking is the same thinking that had people clamoring to see Maciej Lampe and Richie Frahm last year (and believe me, the DD quotes to this effect are easy to find!), because "we" needed to find out what they can do. If a coach is worth his salt, he'll have a pretty good idea of what a player can do without a whole lot of "real" minutes.
Nonsense. Unless DaDakota has seen said player perform for a full 48 minutes on the court, the coach's assessment is nothing but hogwash and he must be blamed for ruining said player's career.
Now I'm not going to come out and say you don't know the game because previous discussions I've had with you under a diff. name you demonstrated a good understanding but I've seen nothing on here in the last 4-5 yrs that would even hold a candle to the complexity of a typical low level DI-A college scouting report or game breakdown that I've been around the last year and a half. Plus the coach I've had experience with was a former DIII coach so it isn't like he stepped down a level, he came from the bottom up and has had no contact with upper level coaches to my knowledge. With the stuff we get from him I can guarentee you that no one on this board has any idea what a pro coach breaks down for a team. People on this board who've played organized ball for any amount of time know that the game the fans see is 10% at most of the work that the guys go through. These coaches are human, they still make mistakes, but personel mistakes over a long term are very rare and the majority of these cases are at the fault of the player for not proving himself when given the chance. These guys are getting paid big dollars and get replaced on a whim, I know I wouldn't put my million dollar plus job on the line for some guy who hasn't ever shown me he can come in and do something positive.
DD, I don't think V-Span is really a rookie like alot of people on this board say he is, yes he is a rookie in the NBA but not in my eyes especially after he schooled team USA in the world games. I think JVG should have been more patient with V-Span this season, the rockets could really use his his pick and roll ability and defensive toughness against a team like Dallas in the playoffs. If I'm Jerry Sloan or Avery Johnson, my game plan would be to force Rafer into beating me. Rafer plays most of the game and when Luther switches to the point I would put pressure on the ball. Force Rafer and Luther to drive to the basket and limit their 3pt shot attempts. The rockets are very 3pt. shot dependent and that can be a double edged sword in the playoffs. They could have really used V-Span's middle game even if he was turnover prone at times.
JVG didn't cut Hayes... They didn't have roster space for him. They had Juwan Lonnie and Stromile at the 4 position, which left Chuck as the odd man out. Plus they tried to get him back very early after they waived him. But Chuck had two injuries that they had to deal with before they could sign him to that 10 day in January. DD you have said that JVG cut him before and its just not true. Until all the injuries started last year there just wasn't space for Chuck to be on the roster.
Wait - was the interview on 740 am, like the original post stated, or was it on 610 am? Or were there two interviews?
Recap: Rafer is the best PG for the (not very varied - not judging whether that's bad or good) play of the Rockets under JVG. Span is bad as the PG under that kind of play (can't hit the 3. Personal opinion: it's a matter of minutes and confidence cause he is a good shooter.) What DD (and me to a certain extent) has mentioned throughout the year: Span could add an extra dimension to the Rockets' game if he is not treated as a drop-in replacement for Rafer.
I don't agree with JVG about Bonzi and the San Antonio series, I could care less how many points Bonzi scored as a 2 when Artest was playing the 3. The dood averaged almost 12 boards a game against one of the best rebounding teams in the league and that is just plain sick. The rockets still could have used him in some capacity, especially on a soft inexperienced playoff team like this.
Damn.. I can't edit posts.. Recap was referring to the discussion in the past couple of pages...Not recap of the interview...Apologies to anyone i might've confused...
The reason that Spanoulis did not get the minutes that Parker, Ginobili, and Cassell got: Parker FG% - .419 3pt% - .323 A/TO - 2.15 Ginobili FG% - .438 3pt% - .345 A/TO - 1.43 Cassell FG% - .418 3pt% - .296 A/TO - 2.05 Spanoulis FG% - .338 3pt% - .192 A/TO - 0.96 As you can see, V-SPAN is the worst in all three categories (I used only the ones that do not put him at an unfair disadvantage because of his reduced minutes), sometimes spectacularly so. You can't be a rotation PG if you have an A/TO ratio of less than 1, there just isn't a coach that is going to play you a lot of minutes with those results, especially if you can't shoot. I don't know why DaDa keeps mentioning these players in relation to V-SPAN. They got more minutes because they were better.
1. V-Span got his chance at the beginning of the season, he basically played his way out of it 2. Then Yao was out, so every game became important to us. meaning that less chance to develop a rookie 3. VSpan is better than Rafer? you are kidding, right? put pressure on the ball for what? to force a TO? But you don't even need to do that on VSpan, he does it automatically.
