I am not talking about vspan plays 20+ minutes, in a situation when alston exhasted, head shoots 0/5 and abused by fisher, jl3 just too small to guard any1, can we at least try vspan for like 5 minutes? just ask him not pass, not shoot 3, just defend, attck the rim, or give the ball to tmac, like a hayes type player.
With V-Span, I've been more on the side to give him more PT along with Novak, Snyder and the departed Bonzi. I believe if JVG did a better job of giving them PT we would be a slightly more dangerous teams, having V and Snyder going to the basket aggressively, while we would have Luther and Novak for the 3s and long range shooting. But JVG seems to never change his gameplan on offense, it is always Yao or T-Mac, no one else. I also think Battier and Alston are getting too many minutes, it should have consisted of Mac moving to small when Battier is out bring in Snyder, Wells at SG and V or Head at pg. If we lose this series, I can see a small blow up of this team , players and coaches. We should really be down 1-3 in this series, because we got outplayed in the first 2 games and we have never lead at half time in the series. So everyone stop complaining .... we are very fortunate. TO JVG, Play Snyder and V, because it can't possibly get any worse, our team shooting sucks, we have no aggressive penetrators, and the Jazz only have to play against 2 players on offense. Snyder and V can save the series for us.
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DKTYcQYvFzo"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DKTYcQYvFzo" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> Hope they r right about Vspan. Good Luck!
Gundy needs to be fired on site if he plays one more minute of JL3, but not VSpan and Snyder, in this series.
His handles are fine. The blow out games are what is used to slowly break people into the pace of NBA basketball, so that they are at least somewhat ready by the time you call on their number and rely on them to perform in tight situations. Then you slowly put in He just needs time on the court, and he hasn't gotten enough of it to feel comfortable with the pace. Everything needs to be gradually kicked in, and we could of done that. In terms of the fouling issue, isn't that the same with Chuck Hayes? He is just as foul prone if not more. I'm totally cool with using Vspan's six fouls to at least give Williams differnt looks and at make it harder for him to penetrate, as opposed to having him slice through us like bread. Speaking of short memories, If JLIII and Head can't shoot threes, they are also useless, in fact they are even worse than Vspan because they get consistently overpowered on the defensive end. I don't see how Vspan is any worse than the aforementioned two, and they are now the embarrasment for the team. I mean blowing up a wide open layup and missing layups?
Every Rocket fan should listen to that, and they will understand why it is that a lot of us think he is going to be great. But....BUT...BUT......It is too late now for Billy to come in and play......and the series is only 2-2...... We can still do this...don't lose faith. DD
I think it is...because V-Span all year has been playing the 2 guard.....and now without any experience we are going to ask him to back up Rafer? That is setting up the Rockets and Billy to fail. I don't like that scenario on any level. DD
I am not sure why but I see nine guys getting minutes tonight and I see Billy being that guy. IMO, JVG does not trust Snyder at all. The only reason JL3 got minutes in game 4 was Rafer needed a rest and T-Mac was in foul trouble so you were not gonna let Luther handle the ball so JL3 got in. Now I am gonna go out on a limb and say JVG thinks Spanoulis can d-up on Williams with T-Mac running point for the Rockets. 2-5 minutes each half.
Patience... Utah held serve. We must make sure to do the same tonight. It is not time to abandon the plan. That's not to say it's guaranteed to work, or even that it's the best plan... but you can't go second guessing yourself now. I'm not saying that giving VSPAN ANY minutes will hurt, I just agree that it's too late to expect him to win games for you, and might do more harm than good to him AND the team if you try to get that from him now. I, too, expect that our shooters are due to increase their productivity, and am hoping the crowd gets to the arena on time tonight (I will) and gets them back in a comfort zone with some rowdy red home cooking. Roleplayers typically shine at home, so I think we're due for a bit of that. To take them out now... well... I just don't really see that as a dependable or sensible option, and would seem a bit more desperate than I think we should be at this oint. As someone pointed out before... those who have proven to be decent shooters and earned their spot in the playoff rotation have shot poorly in this series. Of course we're going to be looking for an answer after two straight losses... but throwing vspan into the fire expecting him to be the difference right now is not it. Be thankful VSPAN went in and played decently when it couldn't hurt. Maybe it will happen again... maybe he'll contribute. Maybe it will increase JVGs confidence in him. But don't think he's the answer, or that there even IS an answer, except to stick with the plan and EXECUTE. It's not that JVG thinks JL3 is better, just that he thinks he gives us a better chance to win with the current roster / game plan. Like it or not, it makes sense when you consider who's on the floor, and what we need from each player in the respective situations. That said, I'm all for throwing a minute or two his way a few times per game if only to get Rafer a breather. Might help his game a bit if he wasn't playing so much.... but there's a reason he has to.
People keep saying we need to make the open 3. I beg to differ, what we need are slashers to the basket to put pressure on the defense. We need him to draw fouls from the Utah bigs so that they are not playing it easy on defense. It also frees up t-mac to be a scorer as oppose to be a playmaker. I hope he gets some minutes deserve it, because no on in the pecking order before him can do anything.
NEITHER!!! I would want them to pass it up and create something else at the rim. Span can't shoot the 3 and if they aren't hitting the 3, they shouldn't be shooting it either. Lucas is just not that good a shooter from anywhere to begin with. He is best at the midrange game and he's got to be open. Luther has to have enough time to get his feet set and square up for his accuracy to be there. There hasn't been that amount of time in the playoffs, hence his atrocious numbers. We would be better served to pass up the shot and look for something at the rim, which, in that case, we would be best served to have a guy that can actually finish at the rim taking it ot the rim. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen this year. We can only hope for next year. Spanoulis is a foul magnet. When he finally gets minutes, he is going to change our offense and make us so much more dangerous because of his ability to draw fouls and finish at the rim. Can you imagine being in the penalty with 6-8 minutes to go almost every quarter with Yao and McGrady on the floor? Spanoulis is the dude that will make Yao an MVP because of Yao's ability to hit foul shots, Spanoulis' penetration ability, and Spanoulis entry passing ability. Spanoulis may be the best post entry passer we have on this team. If he's not the best, he's on the short list of 2 or 3. He just minutes and his teammates need minutes to understand how to play with him, that's all.
I can't agree more. I think he also best at the PNR, because he actually either looks to make the pass, or drive to hoop, instead of pulling up for a 16-18 ft jumper.
Utah is clogging the paint, and doing it aggressively... and getting away with it. Yao needs space in the paint, if he's going to get position and have room to adjust. TMAC needs room in the paint... if he is going to do what so many people think he needs to do, which is have his complete arsenal of shooting and slashing at his command. This is why our other players NEED to shoot well from the outside. He doesn't. No, the others haven't been, but they are more likely to than he is. While I agree that VSPAN drives/slashes/ and even finishes somewhat well, he is somewhat of a square peg in a round hole when either of our stars are out there... and we don't really have a game plan, or worse yet, the personnel, to support such an endeavor. Certain plans might utilize this, but playing to our strengths, which is Yao and TMAC, right now is not the time to force something out of this... not in any large capacity anyway. None of us are really getting the calls we'd like, not in Utah anyway, so expecting VSPAN to be a foul magnet isn't really believable. Not saying it couldn't happen, but not something I'm willing to count on (again, in any capacity) to turn a game, or a series, around.
Exactly. Hotblooded: why are you still hanging on to the hope of making those 3s---a mission we failed in the previous 3 games? Is it better to stick to the 3 point shootings because well it has not worked so far, so it gets to work some day? Or is it better to change the gameplan a little bit and play some penetrations with Vspan? I can say two immediate advantages using Vspan instead of JL3. Points from penetrations and better defense on Deron. I am not suggesting Vspan can finish like Deron, but he surely can draw some fouls and finish at FT line. And Vspan should defend much better than Alston, who was abused by Deron in game 4.
