hotblooded, I've been wanting to say this for a while, but I have real issues with your sig. Yao Ming and Bill Russell have a lot in common. They both were guys who changed the way their position is played, both played center, both unselfish team guys and both fighting racial barriers. It's not to say that it was questionable that Yao be allowed to play, but there is some tension based on Yao being Chinese. To say, "Yao makes Russell look like Bradley", is pretty disrespectful. Bill Russell is one of the reasons that Yao is allowed to play basketball in the NBA. He made several decisions throughout his career to advance the rights of black athletes. He sat out of a game because a restaurant refused to serve he and his black teammates. He was the first black coach in the NBA. He was so much more than a basketball player. When Yao can score 15.1/g, rebound 22.5/g and dish 4.3 assist/g, then you can call them equals. Yao has got to do even better than that if you want him to look like Shawn Bradley. If you replaced Bill Russell with Shaq/someone-else, I'd be appreciative. Don't sweat it if you don't change it though. I just wanted to say something and make sure you know who Bill Russell really is.
sorry if i offended anyone if you know me from realgm which you probably dont, you know i am not some dimwit, I want to at least make my sig funny (or mildy humuours at least) this sig is by no means degrading bill russell, it is merely a response to what charles barkley said "yao ming makes shawn bradlye look like bill russell" So I have no intention of degrading one of the all time greats
Why do so many people keep saying that we need a real NBA point guard? Alston IS a real NBA point guard. The only gripe on him was his shooting% and he seems to have improved that(I know it's only preseason). I'm no expert on his defense so maybe i'm missing something here. Not every teem can have Nash. I don't think Spanoulis can start the year as the #2 point. His turnovers are horrible. He just needs more time.
Will Miami cut that Quinn kid from Notre Dame? He looks like a better PG than Lucas. No matter, I back off of my statements of Rafer losing minutes, but still think we are in good shape at PG.
I agree. I sincerely hope people are not thinking that an 0-10 night from Luther is worse than 8 TO's from our unproven rookie Vspan. We know what Luther can do in the NBA and 0-10 is not the norm for him nor will it ever be. However, Vspan has consistently shown that he can get 5+ TO's in a couple minutes of play. Luther just got back from a funeral for a family member and it is the preseason. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that his head was not in it. Chill the F out. I don't know how people continue to praise Vspan and think he will be in the rotation so soon. I love what he can do at times but if you think JVG is going to let him sniff the floor you are mistaken. He is a big Luther Head fan, except for his size, so he should be in the rotation at the beginning of the season. I am holding out hope that Vspan can crack the rotation by mid-season, but I really think if Luther is given a chance again this year to play he will show us again how much of a steal he was.
yeah vspan's turnovers does worry me if this is not too much too ask, can someone plese make a mix of all the vspan's turnovers LOL i cant believe i am saying this, but i want to see where are turnovers coming from then again, it might be easier if someone would so kindly as to describe it to me thanks PS:I have only watched one fully preseason game, and in that game he did alright
Luther Head will be the backup 1 this season. Head also might see some backup 2 minutes at the start of the season, while Bonzi gets it together. Head did better than expected last year when given the chance and deserves the chance this year as the backup 1. From the preseason games I have seen, VSpan has really struggled against the opponent's first team. His best O plays have come when he was playing the 2 against the second team. He has shown good defensive skills by looking for steals in the passing lane and off the dribble BUT his 1 on 1 D is NOT ready for prime time (and to be realistic may never be). His outside shot also is not ready for prime time. I think he will see some playing time that will increase as he gets used to the NBA game.
I have watched every game except last night's game. I am going to assume that last night's game was a fluke and he is really not that turnover prone. As DaDa mentioned, he gets a lot of carrying calls and for shuffling his feet. Probably half of his TO's come from that. Mainly cause of lack of respect and also the fact that it is preseason and they always call travelling a lot closer in the preseason rather than regular season. Depending if they relax the rule a little like the usually do when the season starts, it is going to take a while before he corrects it. His other TO's come from forcing passes in between players. A lot of this comes from not being used to the closing speed of the defenders in the NBA. Also, he is not used to some of the players and the other players aren't used to him. Hayes and him seem to have really good chemistry thus far on the pick and roll. It is actually a thing of beauty and is run flawlessly at times especially against a big slow center. He gets up in the air a lot with no place to go at times also. Another example is when he picks up his dribble to soon then makes a sloppy pass. His passes in the post to Yao have been pretty solid and it looks like he has the potential to be a good entry passer. It will be interesting to see if the refs call the games like they have in the preseason which they never do. It will be interesting to see if he improves enough to where JVG feels comfortable putting him into a game.
Just to demonstrate how short our memories are on this board. Luther has been shooting terrific all preseason, was player of the game TWICE and was 2nd on the team in scoring (ppg) before the Miami game. He was even demonstrating improved handles that made everyone go "ooh, that solves our backup PG problem. Just let McGrady run the offense". Then he suffers a death in the family and has to go away, comes back and has one bad shooting night. All of a sudden, we have a dilemma, because 0-10 shooting = disaster. I'm a great fan of Spanoulis and I think the starting PG job will be his sooner or later -- and I expect him to eventually become one of the best point guards in this league. But right now, I don't see any kind of dilemma. Luther will be the backup point guard and will mostly share the court with Tracy -- PG on defense, SG on offense. It's pretty simple. Spanoulis will probably get a few minutes especially in situations where a capable ballhandler/playmaker is needed on the floor and both Rafer and T-Mac are out, but otherwise it looks pretty clear cut to me. Spanoulis is not ready for significant minutes yet, not at all.
A) Possibly he was acting on JVG's instructions as the team was desperate for points ! B) Head isn't a Point Guard he is a Shooting Guard and just returned from a Funeral! We all know that he is much better than this game! C) He had 8pts which included 2 0f 3 three pointers and 5 assists. Regarding the 8 turnovers, V Span is a victim, as a new comer to NBA Basketball but hopefully as an intelligent guy, will adapt!
lets trade juwon to minny for hudson or jaric. bad contracts for bad contracts. juwon will have a nice role there. hudson or jaric would provide and nba ready handle on the ball and shooting.
I agree with jadesnake's description of the TOs. For every good pass there is a stupid pass (left his feet with no plan...stopped his dribble too soon while moving...simple passes that don't work against NBA defendes) and for every awesome steal he gets he also loses the handle on the ball for no apparent reason. Obviously, miserable asst/turnover ratios can be "alleviated," but I have to wonder at what expense. Can someone who shows "flashes" by making blind passes and jumping on fastbreaks assuming he'll find an unguarded trailer or spot up shooter reduce his turnovers while retaining his "brilliant" passes? In other words, when your % of flash = your % of boneheaded plays, is the only way to lower the negative % by lowering your overall attempts at flashy plays....ie become safer like Head and Alston. If so, does that make him Head with less shooting range? Seems to me, what is more likely to happen this year is Teen Wolf will have to reduce all his flashiness to reduce his turnovers enough to get more than garbage minutes. Then, hopefully, he can reintroduce his flashiness in much higher % of success by being more reserved in when he attempts the flash. All in all, I'd like to see him become safer. Cut down the risk. We don't need that on a team with Yao. We need very low TO numbers as a team. Don't take the possession out of Yao's hands by turning it over. He can play safe/boring (like Alston and Head) and be our best fastbreaker. Don't leave your feet on the fastbreak without a clear idea. He needs to learn the Nash move of dribbling through and back out if there's nothing there. He can also be a sound PnR man. He also looks to have a good midrange shot. Play it safe, Billy. Let the game go through Yao. Pick your spots, and run your fastbreak. You can do it!
With as well as Alston has shot the ball we are in decent shape at PG. I am fine with Luther playing a hybrid PG with Tmac or SB having more ball handiling duties if necc. I don't see a problem barring an injury to Alston/Head/Bonzi/Snyder (if we lose the latter two Head has to gobble SG minutes) or Alston going into a major shooting slump. VSpan is relegated to mop up duty/human victory cigar (to borrow a line from another poster) role with JL3 and whomever from Padget/Bowen/CS ends up making the team. VSpan is promising, but I don't think he belongs in a real game where the outcome is in doubt for right now, probably not until midseason if then.
I'll add to this idea. V. Spanoulis can still be Steve Nash in a few years. Nash was a 10 min, 42% shooter, 1 rebound, 2 assist, 1 TO, 3.3ppg guy his rookie year. There is no hurry for VSpan to become great over night. Give him a year or so and he'll be solid if he works at it and Vasillis is a much better defender.
He can work on it during practice. You just shouldn't waste actual game time for him to work out his probvlems. Glue his ass to the bench until he figures it out. It's not a one night thing, even before last night, his TO per 48 minutes was astronomical. In the mean time, the Rockets NEED another PG other than Rafer (and TMac), especially if one of them gets injured.
