Nice echo of my own sentiments. Process. Practice. Performance. I don't want Spanoulis to be plugged in (it didn't work early in the season when he did get PT). Practice is the key. I love how people think he is a good player based on his Euro and WC play. Everyone in the NBA was a superstar somewhere at sometime. But everyone has a limit to how good they can be. Have we seen Spanoulis's ceiling? Maybe. I believe he has at least one more year on his contract. Let's see how he does. If he fails in the NBA, it will be because of Spanoulis, not Van Gundy. The stuff at the end about JVG being a "?"? JVG brings it every night. You think he ever lets up on his game prep? He is a great coach. He knows what he is doing. Will he get outcoached? Sometimes. It happens. And Yao sometimes gets owned by Okur. But I don't think it happens as often some here would indicate. As the saying goes, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence."
i think vspan will have more play time and become a good player with other coach, but it's not gonna happen as long as JVG is here. he came to the wrong team.
Like Boki, he probably won't fail in the NBA. He just won't play and prosper under Jeff Van Gundy -- just like Boki.
Practice is totally different from playing in a NBA game. Yao did very well in the practice after his recovery but he played only mediocre in the first couple games. The atmosphere, the rivals make it a different story. JVG has done a good job in defense in the regular season but not offense. In the playoffs, he sucks at both ends.
During the regular season, I was a strong supporter of VSpan, because I believe in his potential and I had seen what he is able to do in Europe an in international tournaments. Throwing him now into the cold water however, and giving him responsibility in the most crucial game of this year, is a mistake in my eyes. Because if Span does not live to the suddenly high expectations, the fans will want to send him back to Greece.
V-Span ain't gonna do **** man!!! Look at all the people who were saying to put in JLIII instead of Rafer. Did you see what happened? It looked like someone's child snuck onto the court and played with the Rockets for two minutes. Hell, Ahmad Rashad produced more in that time with the Sixers than JLIII did. Vspan will just freeze up unless the Niko Niko's guy makes him a Gyro power shake before the game...
vspan is a big game player I think, He does not have nba playoff expierence but i think beating the US for the gold medal is good enough for me to show he steps up in big games. Personally I'd like to see vspan given a chance taking lucas's minutes as that guy is probably the most useless player we have. I also think gundy is a gutless coach, i personally believe he is the main reason for these last 2 losses, because he's just been way out coached as he has such limited game plans. Rockets will find it very hard to win playoff series because other coaches catch on to what gundy does and then pretty much finds the solution within a couple of games, and then its series over for the team.
I have been crying to play Bill for half a year but I am tired...have nothing to add to this thread but you brought out a very good observation... Win or lose, I wish JVG is not our coach next season, this Rockets team has so much potential, but I honestly think with JVG we are going nowhere.
Exactly what I said in the previous page...You play him now and you take a massive risk of destroying a player that could help a lot in the next few years
at this point, that risk needs to be taken. rafer cannot go 45 mins a night. john lucas has shown nothing in his 3 mins off the bench
If you love Vspan, you don't want him to play for JVG and JVG's dumb players who running circles on the court.
despite being a span fan, and despite his ok 3mins yesterday....i dont think span will show much more than JLIII because there are no plays for him.. If by playing you mean having JVG put him in and ask him to shoot 3s then no thank you... Even if he does get the freedom to run a few plays from JVG, I doubt these have been worked on through the year and will lead to fumbled passes/TOs and Span will take the blame for it....
span can drive in and make the defense converge. we dont have that...and im talking defensive end too. he moves his feet. he MIGHT be able to stay with williams.....and he can FLOP!
I would play Spanoulis because he is tough and he cares. I don't care about turnovers or shooting deficencies. No one on this team is a capable leader, and TMac & Yao clearly haven't been able to provide anything in difficult times. If Spanoulis can inspire his teammates, then any negatives will be forgiven. The turnover stats will probably increase, but I've always said that although Rafer doesn't turn the ball over much, he forces the team into more: 1) His 3 point shooting is essentially a turnover because of how bad it is. Shooting a shot that won't go in is a turnover in my book. 2) He pushes all shot creating duties to TMac, which doesn't leave any risk in his job. Of course his stats will benefit.
While I tend to agree, I think it is too late to put V-Span in there....JVG has chosen the guys he is going to ride, let's see where it takes us. DD
Ok...defense wise I agree with you...Offensively, yes he can drive and if he gets the "ok" from JVG to do it, he will. However he wont get to the basket/get a clean path every time which means he will need to dish it out. This has not been practiced at all. People won't be expecting his passes, he might not be comfortable with his teammates positions yet leading to fumbles and TOs as I mentioned above... And then, everyone will jump on his case... I'd rather not see that.
so far it's taken us to a 4 game sweep. we won game 2 cuz of freethrows and chuck keep us in it. game 1 we won cuz of tmac and freethrows.....both games we were outplayed. I only want vspan in for about 5 mins. alston cannot got 45 mins a night
JVG is the coach, and I have made it clearly known what I think about that, but at this point it is up to him to get the team to play harder, and better. It is all on JVG and Tmac - can they lead this team? If not, I am certain we will see a new coach. I hope that JVG figures out that Utah is packing the paint and being ultra physical and our guys are just backing down..... But, if not, maybe a new coach will next year. JVG has made his bed, now he has to lie in it....he had a chance to add additional pieces to this team to give it multiple looks.....he traded away Boki for basically nothing, he sat V-Span all year when it is DESPERATLY clear that this team needs a hard nosed energy player at the guard spot. JVG is doing what he thinks is right, I may not agree, but I respect that he is sticking to his guns...and if they get by the Jazz (and compete hard the rest of the way), he deserves an extension. IMO DD
