People hated Lue when he was here too though. No question we need depth at the pg position but that's what they signed VSpan for. They just didn't expect him to be a huge bust. That's a mistake in the scouting department. We simply failed to aquire another pg at the trading deadline. Our other biggest problem is lack of tradeable assets. Really, all we had that people wanted (obviously Battier, TMac, and Yao weren't available) were Howard, Hayes, Sura ,Head and our picks. The problem is that you can't move Howard or Hayes unless you're getting back a quality starting PF (which we weren't) and we weren't looking to move picks or Luther (who has really tailed off too)
Here is the real problem with the backup PG. The head coach thinks V-Span is not ready and is too risky to play. The GM thinks that V-Span & or JL3 is ready and were both signed to be the backup PGs. The solution is on the team, but the coach refuses to deal with developing those players..... Ironically it would only make the team better. Someone said it in an earlier thread, but it was a very good take on JVG....he would sacrifice a 60 win 2008-9 season for a 50 win 2006-7 season. Overall that is bad for the franchise. DD
It really takes 5. And it needs the coach to organize the 5 to take advantage of double/triple team of Yao, but JVG didn't. I think he is just not good at offense strategy. Yao, although just in the 5th game from his injury, looked soft both mentally and physically. He should be more active on defense in the first three quarters to break Suns offense flow. Tracy should take less his low-percentage jump shot and attack the basket more to take advantage of Yao's double/triple team.
When they were signed we felt that we would be fine with Rafer, VSpan and JL3. The signing of players is based upon the input of scouts, the GM and the coaching staff and obviously the owner (in cases of troubled players which is not the case here). That group included JVG. JVG played JL last night. In terms of VSpan people either do or do n't accept that he isn't an NBA player. He's not on the bench b/c he's good and JVG hates him, he's on the bench b/c he isn't an NBA player. Lucas is a better player then VSpan. There isn't an pressure from upstairs to make JVg play VSpan or you would here about it and he certainly would be getting minutes or JVG would be having problems. We guessed wrong on both like I said. There's nothing there to develop. VSPan would definitely make the team worse. I don't know about Lucas. He's a good shooter but is yet to do it in game situations. I wouldn't be angry to see JL get more minutes when Rafer is struggling overall (meaning jacking up bad shots and not playing a good floor game). I can deal with the 3-8's with 6-8 assists, solid d and good floor game. Do you guys honestly believe JVG would sacrafice wins for his own personal motives and be allowed to do it? Come on now.
I think Yao's conditioning defintely led to his perceived softness last night. Suns have been relentless in running him. But my alarm went off when he missed the first layup 1 minute into first quarter...
we didn't hit wide open shots..thats why we lost...period...nothing else...it wasn't all JVG's fault...if we could hit open shots that are created with yao being doubled and tripled, we would have won this game and any other game against the suns...until our open guards can hit open shots, we won't beat the suns even if Red Auerbach was coaching this team.....
It had some value but for what we were looking for we needed to attach value to it. We also had to face the reality of this being one of the worst trade deadlines ever. Very little movement (at least effective). We didn't contact Memphis looking for Jake, we were looking for Chucky. It really sucks that we couldn't grab him because he would be absolutely perfect right now.
I'm one of the biggest JVg supporters here but he failed to make adjustments last night so it was partially his fault. Rafer, Battier and Lucas were all getting torched by LB and when they went over the screen there was no backside help. Nothing but wide open layups. LB just took Nash's spot and he didn't adjust. We held the Suns down for the most part and had Amare in foul trouble.
jopatmc and the rest, I just don't buy that Yao can rain in the 17 footers all day long. I haven't seen him hit those shots with any consistency during his career. Even his rookie year, he wasn't hitting that shot with high percentage. People always point to Vlade Divac and the success the Kings had with that sort of offense. Look, Yao isn't Vlade. Divac was actually mobile. He could put the ball on the floor and pass of the dribble. He was a good decision maker passing the ball. Yao is not close to that level as a passer. And he isn't as consistent a face up shooter from that distance. And he can't put the ball on the floor. If you want to move Yao away from the post when that clearly isn't working, fine. I even agree that we should replace our midgets when they are clearly struggling from the outside (as always seems to be the case against Phoenix). But I don't for a second think we'd be more effective running the offense through Yao in the high post. Edit: Hotzones shows Yao's shot distribution and percentage from various areas on the court. Looking specifically at the center 3 zones above the foul line extended, Yao is a combined 12 for 48 the last two seasons. He's actually 3 of 7 this season (mostly from those out of bounds catch-and-shoot plays, I imagine), but overall he's shooting 25% from those areas the last 3 years. An optimistic expectation might be for him to hit 45% of those jumpers. As a defense, all you do is fall back and let him take those shots. He isn't a threat to put it on the floor and attempt a runner. I just can't forsee that working well. But who knows; maybe I'm greatly underestimating Yao's ability to handle the ball and make deft passes 17 feet out. 04/05 season 05/06 season 06/07 season (so far)
Yao can consitantly hit open 15-17 footers. He has proven that. I think we need to establish Yao in the post if possible at all times but if he's being outworked or doubled there's nothing wrong with adjusting to a high post scheme. Guess I was wrong. It seems he makes those though. It still would give him a break and let TMac run of the high post (something that he would excel at)
The Suns are the Suns...they have an offence that can take over any game...if the Rockets had better role players they would be able to keep up in games like this.
You forgot to mention that most of those 17 footers weren't designed plays for Yao. They were mostly rushed shots from broken plays.
One night, Rockets shoot the lights out, another night, Rockets shoot brick walls. When they shoot well, they beat Spurs/Mavs by 20/30, when they shoot bad, they gave Celts a deperated win. The things that I hated most is TMac's mouth. I just hate it when he talked about no team wants to face Rox. Come on, be real, play hard until you win champ and keep your mouth close.
