[Clutchfans Game thread] Preseason: Rockets v Grizzlies 10/10/2006

my friend told me he heard on nbatv or something that are trying to trade howard. i was like man i been reading the forums and havent heard anything about it.

 

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS

 

TMac - Looked good, can't complain...hopefully his back lasts
Battier - I really liked what I saw, he is much faster then I thought
Snyder - Hmm, decent...nothing special, needs to adjust
Hayes - Who could not love this guy, he hustles and earns his money
Alston - Same ol Alston, I like the three he took, we'll see how it goes during the season
Lucas - Good ballhandling, but it looks like he does way too much, he needs to slow it down a little and make better decisions
Novak - Great hand, he def needs to bulk up at least 10 pounds muscle tissue, he will help us, if not this season, he'll do next
Padgett - Ughh, we didn't have to sign him, but again it's the first preseason game...everybody was nervous
Spanoulis - Tough, quick, but he does need to adjust to the NBA game, I also think it will not take him more then a month or two...he is a smart guy and wants to prove him self...I still don't like his shot...the way he switches sides is crazy...but like someone mentioned, he expects guys to be at certain positions, but they aren't and then he makes the turnover, he'll get that fixed
Azzbukkake - ......
Jacobsen - Ughhh..blah
Hairyass - Haha, well like I said, it's the first preseason game

2nd half was a disaster!

 

TMac's lookin' quite lean. I like it.

 

this was a great drive

 

Since everyone else is pitching in...

The Good:

I thought McGrady looked to be in midseason form. That was impressive. Battier is exactly what I expected - a hustle point waiting to happen. Alston is improved only because the squad around him has improved. He is built for playing point on a team where he isn't the first option. Hayes did a great job hustling and rebounding. I doubt he'll play a ton of center this year, but it was good to see him get minutes. Novak can freaking shoot. Jeebus.

The Bad:

Lucas played like a lot of young guys play - out of control. His shot was off and he looked a little uncomfortable out there. Snyder was fine until the starters left the court and then he tried to do too much. I love V-Span's hustle. I really do. But, he has a LOT to learn about the NBA game. Until he learns to play under control, he won't get a lot of minutes. He's a turnover waiting to happen.

The Whatever:

Azubike and Haryaz won't make the team, so I don't really consider their play relevant to the discussion. Deke was Deke. Nuff said. Jacobsen didn't have a good game, particularly shooting, but one game does not a roster break. Everyone knows what Padgett does. The fact that he didn't shoot well isn't really relative at the moment. Now, if he continues to suck, different story.

---

I don't think many conclusions can be drawn from one game, but I understand why JVG loves V-Span's attitude and hustle, I can see why McGrady thinks he is back, I get why T-Mac called Novak the best shooter he'd ever played with and I definitely understand the value of Battier.

No question our team is deeper and more athletic. It will only get better as Yao and Bonzi return. Some of the guys out there who struggled (Snyder, Lucas, in particular) did so because they were playing with scrubs. Like Alston, guys with average skills look MUCH better when playing with great players. Ask Steve Kerr or Robert Horry.

Given the depth and the skill on the roster, health is (as always) the only real question.

 

Nice recap, guys. I didn't get to watch it last night because of work, but I'm hoping R2K has the torrent up soon.

From what you guys have said, I find this first pre-season game to quite a positive. The young guys need time to get comfortable at this level. Other than that, the important players (including Novak) did their thing, it sounds like.

I'm happy with preseaon game1, and I didn't even watch it.

Thanks for the recap/analysis, everyone!

 

I was at the game last night. Here are my impressions.

First, the crowd: The Red Rowdies were great, seemed only about 30 strong. And were way too far back - about row 70!!! They need to be moved up to the first 5 rows behind the basket - screw Les's desire to milk the seats for $'s.

The rest of the crowd was typical stone cold silent 80%+ of the time.

The mood of the team: split between assured starters and newbies working to earn a spot. The newbies seemed nervous as hell including Padge. My impression was that VG had them under orders to move the ball so many times before shooting, esp. early in each half. Then later in each half they seemed to shoot sooner - not always with great results.

The team overall did seem younger and to move the ball much better than last year.

Tmac - fluid. Bonzi - not even on the bench - in the hottub working on his groin injury? 1st half with more starters in the game the team played well together. The Grizz could not buy a shot in the 1st quarter. Battier played actively and smoothly - one bad pass early. Hayes great rb's, position. Hayes and Battier seemed to be going for the same rb's a lot with Batt coming away with most - seemed a little faster - good sign.

Rafer played with confidence - stayed within his role, his shot looked nice with good arc, unhurried. What we want from him with Tmac and Yao on the floor - vs. playing with scrubs like much of last year which probably hurt him.

Snyder is not a catch & shoot man. He caught passes in the corner and even when he did attempt a jump shot, he would first raise the ball up 2 or 3 times in quick motions before shooting, which gave his defender time to move in and set. The newbies overall seemed to have this hesitation "hitch" - can I call it the Van Gundy caused nervous tick? I can see an assistant coach spending time with Kirk working on the catch & shoot. Seemed very active on D.

Novak - it took a while, again he seemed to pass first until the team had met its VG passing requirements before he started doing some of his pretty catch & shoot - really nice arc on the ball - a young tall Jon Barry. He seemed a little nervous but had energy - I did not focus on his D so cannot say how bad he looked here. But he did not dominate in rb's - hard to do from the 3P line.

Lucas played with energy but his shot did not fall. He seemed to work well with moving the ball to begin plays.

Jacobsen seemed to have veteran confidence but again his shot did not fall.

Padge hit a couple of shots after settling down and was his normal steady rebounder. But he did seem nervous as all get-out.

Matt Haryasz appeared even skinnier than Novak, got pushed around, and seemed out of sync. If we keep him he needs to go to the Toros definitely.

Azubuike I was hoping would make this team since he seemed like he could drive and dunk, and hopefully jump shoot as well - be athletic. He was nervous, hesitant, seemed slow to the hoop, hesitated when he could have made jump shots. Caught a couple rb's. 3 pf's in 12 minutes. Ouch. He probably hopes this morning that he gets another chance.

VSpan. I was encourage but he needs seasoning. An odd mix of hesitation, nervousness, head down straight ahead, some nice PG time, a nice pass here, a flubbed one there. But he definitely has that Sura attitude and seems to want to make the right pass to the cutter in the lane, etc. ENERGY! Very inconsistent shooting. he will be a project. I was encouraged by his D. Yes, he will be schooled by the better guards at times. But he did seem to fluster his opponent one time just by getting up in his face and being a split second ahead of the ball handler in the next move. And knowing that his teammate would cover (?) he went for the steal and over-committed once - then seemed flustered getting back into the D rotation. Another time you could see him like a leopard sitting still just waiting for the ball handler to reach a certain spot and then he pounced and stripped the ball.

After one mistake and a time out, the team went back to the bench and VSpan was treated to all of VG's attention. He seemed to take it well. he seems to have a strong back bone and a Sura like attitude which will serve him well.

I am looking forward to seeing Yao and Bonzi back in the rotation. It was nice to see Van Gundy get a chance to see the small ball lineup with Hayes at C. With Bonzi in instead of Snyder that squad might give the Suns some fits.

The Grizz - Miller flowed nicely, caused us problems. The guy is definitely different wearing a girl's hair barette. The 2nd half squad could not rebound well against the Grizz's big men. They got a bunch of 2nd chances in the paint. Rudy Gay settled down and played well. He played LONG! His long arms are one thing I noticed. When he settles down I think we will regret losing him. I hope Shane stays healthy for the next 10 years.
But as others point out Gay must prove it by doing it in the regular season against 1st stringers. But he played with such long arms!!!

On to the next pre-season game!

 

where is R2K's video? i wanna upload it to my youtube group.

 

Sweet...I'm glad its basketball season...Nice pics

 

LOL!


I'd like him to at least look at the basket!!

 

What happened to head? Bowen and howard were also gone. I smell trade in the works.

 

By the way the defense in the 1st half was crazy. I mean last year they ran and jumped around uneffectively, sure the stats showed they were a good defensive team but many time you would see the guard penetrate. So far it didnt happen. Looking good...the reserves looked lost, Ill give them another couple of games before judging. except for vspan, he is a ballhawk, not to be confused with a ballhog. that guy gets up in their face and plays a lot like shane, hes gonna have some floor burns.

 

it was great to see our guys in action again, and it's especially heartening to see everyone getting over that postseason depression. it's gonna be a great year. GO ROCKETS

 

Second tier players look so much better when playing with first tier players; this is a key point, and, no doubt, this team has enough talent. However, "health" is the bottomline as to the future of this season. And despite how spazed out VSpan looked, he has "it," that indefinable quality that makes him interesting. I would love to see him play with the "first" team at least once. I bet he would look much better, but Alston appears to very safe at present.

 

I was only able to see the first half online before my internet crapped out

probably best considering that we lost the game in the second half

t-mac looked great he attacked the rim something you rarely saw him do last season. just by that alone you know that he is fine.

novak when you see him shoot the ball you have this feeling that its always going in. pretty stroke

rafer played well i think he will have a great season this year with a better roster

battier and hayes were impressive as well

vspan you know he is going to have to adjust but what i like was his motor and also he had some nice passes coming off the pnr to hayes. hayes missed the layups but those passes were very nice and led the rolling player to a layup. Imagine that with Yao!

Overal the way our B team operated (no yao, bonzi, head ,howard) against their B team (no pau or swift, but we had more missing talent) was great. We absolutely destroyed them. I think once the cuts are made this team has a great chance to gel into something special.


Cuts imo: kelenna and haryasz
possible cuts: Jacobsen (i really hope not) bowen (I really hope so)

 

My thoughts ...

TMac is back. He is such a complete joy to watch.

Novack will not go developmental league. He can flat out shoot. His D is below average but not embarassing. He will become the next Matt Bullard (except he is a little shorter, better on the D, and is a better shooter).

VSpan is a lot quicker than I expected. He can penetrate with either hand off the dribble. I don't see him as a combo guard in the NBA. He is a point guard. His man-on-man defense was terrible, especially seeing how quick he was on O. Clyde said that VSpan had happy feat and I have to agree. He also several times left to his feet without a clear idea of where he was going next. He also actively looked for steals which lead to two steals and at least one travel. All said, I expected him to be ahead of JL3 in the depth chart, getting better as the season goes on as he adapts to NBA style play.

JL3 is 5-11? He struggled running the offense and shooting. He may be more a project than VSpan at this point.

Alston looks to be the perfect point for this team, as long as TMac is healthy. But if TMac is down, the Rockets are going to struggle to score points. This not Alston's fault but the team's lack of scoring options, outside of Yao. Battier should help in that regard.

Battier was as advertised. He will help our team every game.

Haryasz, Azubuike, and Jacobsen should not unpacked their bags.

Rudy Gay also did not impress much, fwiw, except during scrub time. His upside might be an average starting NBA 3. I don't think that it is a given that he will get there.

I will be interested in seeing how well the starters play when TMac is not on the floor.

My starting 12:

1: Rafer Alston, Vassillis Spanoulis
2: Bonzi Wells, Kirk Snyder, Luther Head
3: Tracy MacGrady, Shane Battier, Steve Novack
4: Juwan Howard, Chuck Hayes
5: Yao Ming, Dikembe Mutombo

IR: John Lucas III, Scott Padgett, Bob Sura or Casey Jacobsen

 

Thanks R2K as usual. Season starting means we will see you and appreciate you more.

Could someone upload the clip to yousendit?

 

You are the best R2K