A read for JVG; Morey - Fewer Minutes = Greater Success

If my boyfriend is JVG, yours is Popovich. I man looks better than yours...though I would rather have the bling.

 

I think you have some good points here. I think JVG overplayed Mutombo when Yao was out. He also tends to overplay Battier and Alston. I really think Van Gundy has a very short term "win at all costs" mindset. I remember we would up by 15 with 3 minutes left to go and banged up Mutombo would still be out there playing his 30+ minutes a game. Look at how Deke is doing now. Even last year when our lottery status was firmly decided, JVG would insist on giving starters like Howard and Alston major minutes with really no emphasis on playing the bench at all. You really get the feeling from Van Gundy that each game he coaches is his last.

 

How you guys say that Riley doesn't use his players like Gundy does is crazy. The man INVENTED the 7-8 man rotation. Riley is known for riding with his stars especially in the playoffs.

 

What about the Suns? Their starters average more minutes than the Rockets and they have the 2nd best record in the league. They have a 7 man rotation. Van Gundy uses an 8-9 man rotation.

Marion, Bell, and Nash are all over 35 min.

Marion 38.3
Bell 37.5
Nash 35.4
Amare 33.0
Diaw 31.9

 

Dallas has the best record.

Nowitzki 37 min
Howard 35.8 min
Terry 35.6 min
Harris 26 min
Dampier 25.5 min

 

According to this article, only one team has ever won without a player averaging 35 minutes.

Every other championship was won with at least one player averaging at least 35 minutes.

The other teams that played their players less than 35 minutes never won a championship, with the exception of the Spurs. They have only done it once out of all their championships.

More minutes equals success.

T

 

Lakers
Spurs(2 of the 3 championships)
Heat
Pistons
Rockets
Bulls

Apparently, these NBA champs didn't get the memo, when they got their rings. There are 60 NBA champs since the 1946-47 season. Giving fewer minutes worked for only 1 in 60 of those championships. The spurs. They only did it for 1 in 3 of their championships.

 

Thats hardly proof of anything. Just because the Spurs are the first team to win it without a player averaging 35 minutes doesn't mean more minutes = more success. That could just mean that very few teams have had everyone under 35 min a game and the few times its happened they didn't win it.

 

JVG is planning each game as if it's his last. AND THAT IS GREAT!

Who care for long term? It's always this year or burst. If you don't think that way, you shouldn't be coaching.

Play your best players to insure a win or at least good sitting at the playoffs.

It is important to win that 1 extra game. Didn't you all wish we just won a few more and have the home field advantage now with Utah instead of fighting for it?

And JVG played the bench and they stunk. That's why the other bench warmers are not playing. VSpan supporters take note. He needs to get better or he won't get time in the NBA. I don't know but the Novak expirement is looking like a bust. He need to do more and his shot is off in real time. So no playing time for the real scrubs. Whats the problem here?

 

I have no problems with what you have said. We have Yao Ming who can bring us championship, but not with the shape in Hornet's game. Yao is just special, he plays best in first Q but not in 4th, which has something to do with tireness. More minutes does not mean more success for Yao, and this Rox team.
Yao should focus on defense in 4th Q, let T-mac and our 3rd option to attack basket. This requries energy and more than 8p rotation. With that, Bonzi can be added into our rotation, JHo can shoot more accurate with his midrange jump when he is not tired, and the best of all, Yao would not get too fructuated on off days, causing us a game. With a good defense, who can stop T-mac on the other end?
9p rotation game please, considering Yao and Bonzi!

 

this all seems so arbitrary...

face it people, teams use 7-10 man rotations. Rockets consistantly use 8-9. what the freak is the problem?

i guess some people just love to b**** and moan.

do the rockets have some of the most whinny fans?
I hate to think so but man, clutch might want to think about changing the site to the "Hen House" b/c thats what it sounds like most of the time.

 

error, costing not causing.

 

We can't go any deeper than we already are. Who are we going to play Novak? besides it too late in the season to add to the rotation

 

vaughn and bonner are playing exactly 10 mpg -- that's hardly rotation numbers -- notice our vmac who never plays is averaging 8 minutes. Oberto plays because they don't have a legit 5 and udrih is playing snyder minutes. I don't think Popovic is playing any more of their scrubs than we do at this moment.

so basically we are saying Popovic is using his #6-8 players a lot more often than JVG do. -- and this is definitely NOT what some of the Dadakotas and JVG criticisers are complaining about. They are specifically asking why the vmacs, snyders and novaks etc are not playing more. The next time they start complaining about why Head, Juwan and Deke isn't getting enough minutes, I would not argue they are using false statistics to support their claim.

but until then, my current feeling is some of the JVG criticisers are bashing him by creating phantom facts and are not getting called out enough for doing that



as of the point you raised, I agree that JVG is using less of his #6-8 comparing to Popovic. I have not decided whether this would be a bad thing or not, and I would like someone to do a research on some of the other elite coach teams to see whether JVG is the only starter-rider in the league.

Until then, I kinda remain indifferent on this topic

 

Exactly!

 

I'm pretty sure the Piston's coach rides his starters, as does the Suns coach, I'm pretty sure Riley does it. Really the only coaches I know of that are known for using their bench would be: Raps, Bulls, Spurs, Mavs, and Lakers coaches. Everyone else is kinda in the 7.5-9 man rotation zone.

I dont think you can conclusively say that if we played say... Vspan more, that we would have a better record, or that we would be that much more fresh. If the problem is we need to not play Alston as many minutes, why can't the solution be to give Head more than 25 minutes a game? Same with Battier, ect. The solution isn't to play Vspan.

 

Hakeem averaged 41 mpg in '94. Was he too tired come playoff time? Why can he do that, but Shane Battier can't average 36mpg? JVGs rotation is fine. No one is getting used to much with the exception of Deke, but with Yao out we didn't have a ton of options at center.

 

I think this criticism of JVG is more apt 2 years ago, when our lack of depth required heavy minutes from our top players, especailly T-Mac. But this year, JVG has been much better at resting his starters, Alston being the exception. Battier and T-Mac usually log ~35 minutes. Hayes and Howard pretty much split time at PF, making both pretty fresh. Head and Synder don't log a lot of time, and now Deke is back to his backup role again.

 

JVG even tried to win as many games as he could last year at the end of the season, even though we were lottery bound. That cost the rockets Brandon Roy who is a legit 3rd option that the rockets don't have.

 

Some of you are introducing facts into your arguments - that's liable to trip somebody up... watch it!