[Chron] Spanoulis getting chance in Rockets' rotation

Every year, the BBS gets a hard-on for our rookies, especially the white ones, and insist they must play despite their obvious deficiencies. What about Luther Head? He was a rookie not long ago, and he's playing great so far this season. Where's the Luther orgasm? But live up the KillBill interlude while it lasts. When Bonzi returns, V-Span is going back to the bench.

 

Very true but he's another point guard with a spotty outside shooting touch so in that respect, he's not much of an upgrade from Alston. It's really quite simple: When the guards are hitting their shots and contributing offensively, this forces the other team out of the paint where they are usually camped around Yao. That then opens things up for Yao to dominate inside where the other team is often at a disadvantage. When the offense has bogged down this season it has usually been because the scoring from the guards has disappeared which allows the opposing team to forget about defending them and pack in around Yao. Don't know about you but I am tired of watching this scenario play out game in and game out.

For V-Span to make a true impact he will have to show that he can get off his shot and score meaningful points come crunch time. He will also have to eliminate his penchant for turning the ball over as you just can't have a PG who gives up the ball (anybody remember SFIII?). I still have to see how he handles playing faster and stronger guards before I can annoint him as the answer at point guard for this team.

 

The more I watch this team, the more I have come to believe that this is JVG's last year. He's coasted a long time on his "Knicks playoff coach" rep and unless he starts to demonstrate some flexibility and creativity in his approach to offense, then the Rockets will replace him.

 

I think you're wrong. I think we push the 60 win mark and he gets a multiyear extension.

 

Actually he is 6-4...
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/vassilis_spanoulis/index.html
http://www.paobc.gr/en/player.asp?type=p&year_id=56&player_id=95

without shoes...

 

yes. because his missed 3s are overrated.

 

What kind of of "true PG" turns it over every 4 minutes? If you think he's more of a PG than Skip, I might as well not argue you with you, that's insane. Vspan is a high energy guy who will give us good defense, energy, and penetration. I don't understand why anyone is getting hung up on the PG or SG label - being a SG doesn't mean he's going to camp out behind the arc. JVG and Vspan understand his game, he'll still be penetrating and dishing - a lot of JVG's positions are interchangeable, but I guess people will find any reason to bash our coach.

 

Either you don't watch the games or you are an idiot. My guess is you are an idiot!

 

prove me to be one then. how is he ruining vspan? whose minutes should he be taking? are jvg's suggestions erroneous? should he not be reducing TOs, penetrating, and being smart & aggressive on D? has vspan not been a TO machine in the games he has played (minus the last one)? is vspan's outside J not suspect? is that not an issue on a team predicated on inside play (yao)?

i undersand your dislike for jvg, but you pick the negative out of every situation and unfairly attach it to jvg every time. even if we win the championship, i know you will say it is "in spite of jvg". at what point will you be satisfied? specifally, please....

 

I agree, and I don't think it is a matter of Wins and Losses, alone. JVG's personality starts to wear out his welcome eventually, with, fans, players, management, and the media. Not putting Novak in the Bucks game for just a minute or two was just meaness. I think many coaches in the league would have done that.

 

i get a kick out of jvg's personality. he's an OCD, micromanaging, dry humor, quirky basketball genius. he's the anti-zeke.

 

hey I'm not white, but i do/did get hardons for boki and now vspan. I have no idea why, but they're just really easy to root for. And luther has been amazing. My gosh that Head did give me an orgasm. His shot is really coming. along.

 

Thank you for posting this because now I don't have to. To add to that Rafer is probably the best dribbler in the NBA.

 

VSpan does bring fire, even in threads talking about him. Relax,

VSpan is just a backup PG, who can bring different things for a couple of minutes. He has some defense and is very aggressive. When somebody like Udrih, Fisher, Bobby Jackson are lightening on us, we should try him.

 

I like Van Gundy's attitude. Alot. I'm confident that he will give players the minutes they deserve when they deserve them. Not playing Novak in the Bucks game is 'mean'? Are you serious? Is this the NBA, or a t-ball league for special needs children? JVG doesn't give 2 sh!ts about getting Novak in the game for the sake of a homecoming and I, for one am glad. I don't need a coach taking those things into account when he could be concentrating on producing a winning product. About V-Span, he is going to have a chance to produce now and some people are nitpicking over the pg/sg. That argument is so flawed. Kirk Snyder wasn't playing pg, but his replacement in the rotation should? Think about it, and be happy that a player with a lot of potential is getting his shot.

 

I'm completely with JVG on this one.

We all love V-Span's energy, but some of you are really letting that blind your opinion on his game. Turnovers are huge in the NBA, and you want someone who turned the ball over 4 times every 20 minutes against pre-season talent to run your offense? Before the season started, everyone was crying about Alston not being a good enough three point shooter to be our PG, now you want to replace him with someone who shoots sub-20% from the range?

Two-guard is the best position for V-Span at this point. It keeps a more controlled guard running our offense and doesn't take anything away from V-Span's game. V-Span's passing ability and playmaking is 99% half-court -- Alston often defers to the SG when an entry pass to Yao cannot be found, so that part of V-Span's game is still there in full. Alston will also be benefitted by having a penetrating two-guard at his side that will free him up even more than he already has been this year, which I'd love at this point considering Battier is standing in his corner for 30 minutes a game and leaving an extra help defender in range of Yao/Alston. Keeping Alston in the game completely eliminates any three-point shooting burden on V-Span too.

 

even though I really enjoyed seeing VSpan get some Playing time, I really didn't like the fact that he played the 2 and we had Luther running the 1 .. I see no sense in making Luther run the point instead of Span.. even though Luther didn't mess up that bad in NY game, I still think running the point is not a strength for Luther.. I would really like to see Tmac run the point more and give Span a chance to run the point.. he can create a lot of opportunities because of his great court vision and good passing..

 

I'm tellin you

you guys are overrating his TO ratio

most of them were travelling calls and passes where really no one was available...he got used to know where his players were standing, he didn't even look and he knew that someone in a particular corner is going to pick the ball up.....

his TO's will dramatically go down during the next 10-20 games

 

no way we can run that

Luther should be playing the two, Span 1, and nothing else

 

What is it to overrate a turnover? The ball is turned over regardless of how he does it. If it is traveling, or he got himself in a bad spot with no one to pass to -- you still didn't get to shoot the ball. In basketball, your number of possessions is a big deal. I think you are right that Spanoulis will bring his turnovers down in the near future. And, after he has done so, he can be trusted a little to bring the ball up and run plays. As it stands now, however, Alston and Head do much better jobs of taking care of the basketball and making sure we get a shot attempt.