[David Aldridge] What Bonzi's "Personal Issues" were...

I was more then happy to give Bonzi a clean slate when he joined the Rockets but that is soon disappearing, I would look to trade both Bonzi and Howard for a decent power forward that can contribute to the team and will actually be motivated to play some basketball in a Rockets uniform.

 

I love it.

JVG has been a loyal coach wherever he's been. Bonzi burns bridges with all the teams he's played for. Somehow, this is JVG's fault because he's not coddling Bonzi.

If Bonzi is not willing to show up to games, he should be willing to not cash his paycheck.

For 2.1 mill, Bonzi was worth the risk. Unfortunately, at the same time, I was going to be surprised if it worked out well. Looks like I was right.

 

since when does just a coach (and not a GM/coach) have the right to basically suspend a player indefinitely for not appearing at a preseason road game that he isn't even activated to play in? sounds bogus to me, and even if said coach had such power, what a stupid a$$hole of a coach. such a coach should be immediately fired.

 

He reported the Damon Stoudamire to Houston trade (from the Raptors) as a done deal, which of course never ended up happening and instead caused a lot of disruption with the players who would have been in that deal. I still remember the ESPN.com headline: "Houston, Damon is about to land".

 

Jerome James working out in the playoffs = PAY DAY.

Bonzi will do the same, no doubt in my mind.

And no one is saying JVG isn't a loyal guy. But sometimes you have to put up with certain players when you look at what they do on the court. You have to manage all your players differently, whether in public or private.

 

wells has to be counting that thirty six million dollars every night he goes to bed. I wouldn't be surprised if he is really depressed. He really screwed up.

 

You guys wanted a new Mad Max. We got one.

 

If I remember correctly everyone was reporting that - including the local reporters. Everyone thought it was a done deal until the Raptors pulled out at the last minute when they were bombarded with offers after they accepted the Houston deal..

 

..Yep..

 

Yeah, and the best way to fix it would be to have a great season and then sign a huge deal. He needs to get it together.

 

Let's not make this out to be more than it is.

At the same time, we can't discount it.

Seems that Bonzi's agent isn't always there to save Bonzi from Bonzi: "If the coach asks you to go on a team trip, he isn't 'asking', so just go. I can't get you a great deal next year if you're perceived as a coach killer."

Hopefully Bonzi will drop some of that junk from his trunk, play well for us and the season will be cool.

Otherwise? Play him sparingly (16 mpg?) until we can include him in a trade with Juwan. Plenty of (playoff-bound) teams would want the guy, especially if they have a good chance of re-signing him.

 

Yeah, brilliant. Let's waste an entire year getting nothing out of him (a contract year) so that JVG can have this "PRECIOUS" for another contract year of waste.

 

is he tradeable? maybe this is a good bait again for Troy Murphy.

 

Looking more like a 1/2 year rental. Just hope its the last 1/2 of the year that includes the playoffs.

 

ya but if all this is during preseason, Bonzi has gotten minutes in 2 games, i think he is going to round into shape and work his way into the rotating during the first 20 games.

 

or double-assed.

 

The guy is making $2,000,000 this season. While that is cheap by NBA standards for someone with his ability, it's still a HELLUVA lot of money.

All, as far as we know from the DA comments, is that he asked him to take a 50 minute flight and spend one evening with his teammates. It isn't as if we were playing in Seattle or something or embarking on an 8 day road trip where Bonzi wouldn't be playing.

If you make 7 figures, that isn't much of a sacrifice.

Also, if this was a player that didn't have a history of being a locker-room cancer and disrespectful to coaches, then it would be a different story. I thing JVG was showing Bonzi that if he wants to play and end up with a good contract next year, he better improve his selfish attitude.

That being said, I hope Bonzi does indeed get into shape and ends up being a great 6th man for this team...because we do need him in the long term.

 

If you trade Bonzi when he isn't playing and has an attitude problem, then you're not going to get much. You def will not get any draft picks when he contract is so short (if that team isn't willing to pay him what he wants, what will make him stay?).

Slowly increase his minutes from week to week and make him work for it while he deals with his contract/money/depression issues. If he starts to be productive then you can decide if you want to keep or trade him off.

I like Bonzi as a player, but he sucks for the chemistry of the team right now. JVG was right to "ask" him if he wanted to join the team for an away game. JVG doesn't want someone on the bench who is only thinking about himself when the rest of the team is thinking about the team

 

God help us

 

why make such a big deal out of this? Its probably not even true. If this happened in the preseason, why would he have played in the Dallas and NO games? When he gets into game shape, he will be the 6th man on this team and will really help us a lot.