No more complaint about how they all disappeared in the playoff. But they will have the summer to train and improve themselves. Let's discuss why they will need to work on to earn them playing time next season. For now, I want to assume JVG will be back (this is to simplify the main topic of the discussion, so please don't make this another thread of debating why JVG should or should not be the coach). Chuck Hayes At the offensive end, does not have any game 3ft away from the basket. It is the major drawback that allowed other team to use the guy guarding him to cheat on Yao. Terrible, just terrible at Free Throw line. He will need to work to develop a decent mid-range shooting. No need for any fancy post move, just spot up mid range shooting. Practice hard is the only way. Change the FT form please!!!... Luther Head: Three major flaws in his game were exposed to the maximum in the playoff: Ball handling, passing (especially feeding the post), and defense. He also seems easily rattled on the court. So maybe improve the ball handling and passing is the key for him (and don't lose the 3pt touch). Also hit the weight room hard and gain 15 lb of muscle... Kirk Snyder His flaw is he has no outside threat. Lacks basketball knoweldge (i.e., Low basketball I.Q.). Shooting 2000 3pt per day over the whole summer? I don't know how do you improve your basketball I.Q? Steve Novak Can not defend anybody. No upper body strength. Sometimes looks lost on the defensive end of the floor. Stay in the weight room 8 hours a day for the whole summer? VSPan Terrible at shooting outside shoot. (His shooting form seems very questionable). Shooting 2000 3pt per day over the whole summer? Deke, Juwan Drink some more water from the youth fountain they have discovered in this January?
How many guys learn to shoot and dribble after they've made it to the NBA? If they don't have it down by now, they most likely aren't ever going to have it.
Bench? We need to worry about getting 5 legit starters before we worry about the bench. Hayes and Altson would be third stringers on most contending teams.
I don't quite agree with that. One example is Amre Stoudemire. The guy had no mid-range game at all when he joined the league. Now his mid range jump shot is fairly good IMO.
Com'on... Let's leave the coach out of the discussion here. Regardless, the players need to continue to improve themselves.
While I love your optimism dude, it's realistically not gonna happen. I used to think like you that all the players would go and work out in the offseason and come back great. While I acknowledge that they will improve a little bit, it will not be a dramatic difference. Case in point: Luther Head's weaknesses this year were the same as he had last year. Why can't he just do some "dribbling drills" or something in the offseason? Well, it's just hard to teach a player how to become NBA-level good at certain skills that they just don't have. It's different for "great" players like Amare. Somehow the great ones seem to improve every year.
It is about coach, not bench. Bench players just like pawns in the game of chess. When and how to use them makes great difference. A chess player who is not good at use his pawns might win some games. But it would be too much to ask him to win a championship.
instead of forcing Vspan and Snyder shooting threes , how about let them practice driving into the lane and finish? Why not use their strength? oh, because of JVG style which sucks and will be gone.
If you are one-dimensional (i.e., can only drive but not shoot outside shots, or can only shoot outside shot but not drive), it will be easier for the other team to shut you down. Again, this is for their own development, let's not drag JVG stay/gone into this if possible...
I don't know about Snyder, but V-Span hasn't shown an ability to finish well at the NBA level. He does draw a lot of fouls, but he's blown a ton of point blank shots. He doesn't have to shoot from outside, but he has to shoot from somewhere. Either learn how to shoot threes or learn a pull-up jumper. Otherwise, you've got little value on this continent.
Well, according to my Pops, all Clyde and Dream could do when they first got to the NBA was dunk.I dont know how true that was because I wasnt old enough at that time. I think Malone was another one.Steve Novak is the opposite isnt he? He came in knowing how to shoot. Too bad hes a rookie and is unfortunate to be drafted by a real good team huh?
because if you don't have that mid-range J, defender won't close in on you, meaning that you won't be able to drive by them so easily. you don't need 3pt range, but mid-range J is a must.
You said better than I can. But that's exactly my point -- no matter who is the coach, players need to be more than a one trick pony...
okay the one player i think that can have a drastic development and then could contribute regularly would have to be novak. the guy can shoot and even jvg said himself that he can defend. it was mainly that he isn't capable of playing up to par TEAM defense. wish the guy would use his height to rebound... on hayes, if he takes this entire summer and takes shooting lessons the entire summer, im sure he could form a decent jumper. on the free throws, that hitch can be fixed im sure of it. practice makes perfect, especially if you don't really know what your doing, i think if you tried hard enough anything's possible. the question is for all of them, do they really want it?
how about we upgrade our bench and get some new players that are experienced and are an offensive threat
