For Rocket GM: develop a plan to play V-Span and scout for more European Players. Most NBA coaches including JVG don't like play European and oversea players, but it is different time right now, with the US haven't won any title in Olympic and FIBA championship, you have to wonder what goes wrong. Last night, you all saw Andrea Bargnani, and European players rich Toronto Team, but what you don't know is early in the season Raptors' coach Sam Mitchell never wanted to play those guys seriously, his future plan included Chris Bosh, TJ Ford, Fred Jones, Joey Gramham those type of players, and Coach Sam got spanked by GM Colangelo (this guy is genius), he politely talked Sam to play Bargnani and Gabajosa heavily, and you can see, it is paid off now. Still many good deals in European Players, they are cheap, but they have higher basketball IQ, their passing, open field running and shooting are all above average, thus my suggestion to Rockets GM is go get some those type of player, with the current stars like TMac and Yao, and JVG's defense, Rockets can play better basketball and win more games.
I agree with that. But I think the player who made the biggest impact on this team is Jose Calderon. When Tj Ford got injured and Calderon got the minutes, things just went up for the raptors as Calderon brought his World Championship caliber play to the raptors. TJ Ford has that arrogant swagger like he's so freaking good... he is probably one of the most overrated PGs in the league. This raptors team is gonna contend especially since they are in the eastern conference. Vspan should be given another chance, JVG should bury the hatchet and do whatever it takes to win even if it might include playing Vspan.
The Raps are simply really good. The rockets are better, but at some points..even though i dont like saying it..the raptors are smarter than the rox.
hey pacman, you are the man, you said exactly what I want to say, Jose is playing like next John Stockton, and TJ is NOT even close to his game, in plain english, TJ sucks, and I couldn't see any upside potential for him. Vspan is a smart player, I can see it from FIBA world championship games, he not only deserves more playing time, and I think he should be starting PG for Rockets.
this would be the perfect time,to revolt against Gundy and all the supporters of Gundism Seriously,V-span needs at least 13 minutes on the floor,on a nightly basis.
It should have been happening all year, and it is what I have been in favor of from day one. Perimeter footspeed and PG creativity are two of our biggest weaknesses, and V-Span could help us out in those two areas if he can just get comfortable in the NBA game. I have been saying all year that the team should be developing some of it's younger players to help with our speed weaknesses. I was encouraged by JVG's press conference where he said he has to find a rotation that brings energy, perhaps this crisis is opening up his eyes and he will give V-Span and Snyder a chance....I hope so. DD
the worst part of all this is the 2 mins he lets vspan play, he puts him at the 2spot and parks him behind the 3point line. ??
Garbajosa is a bad example. He was used right away. Garbajosa was their 6th man and is a euro. He was getting 20-30 minutes a night, since preseason and in his first regular season games. Garbajosa was getting more minutes than Bargnani. Bargnani was playing only 5-15 minutes a game in November. Colangelo talked to Sam Mitchell only about playing Bargnani. He is a 29 yr old vet. Another euro Anthony Parker has been a starter since the beginning of the season. He is a 31 year old vet. Calderon was still languishing on the bench for less than 20 minutes a game. He didn't get a starting position and 40/min until TJ Ford was out with injury in January. It was either Calderon or Darrick Martin to start. The choice was clear. *smile* It's funny you say that Sam saw the american players as the future. When Nesterovic and Anthony Parker were starting, and Garbajosa was their 6th man. Nesterovic is a scrub euro that should have been used as a backup off the bench. Garbajosa eventually took his spot though.
Anyone want to bet that the Chronicle writers don't have the stones to make a comparison about rookies playing for Toronto and contributing and rookies sitting all year on the bench for the Rockets? DD
Right on. I think almost everybody can see JL3 is going nowhere except JVG, and I will settle with Bill play with whatever time JL3 gets. Freaking JVG annoys me here by hopelessly playing JL3 instead of developing Bill, a potential good PG---which is something we really need. Nothing wrong with being stubborn, but if you are stubborn in a obviously wrong way, that is called plainly stupid.
Actually, I think the Rockets are a bit disjointed with JVG and CD.... With Rudy, you knew that he was the one making all the calls and the shots from a playing time perspective all the way to a player personel perspective. With JVG & CD, it seems that one group gets the players while the other one coaches them. I am sure they communicate, but you have to wonder if they are both singing from the same hymnal? DD
Just forget it...Vspan is not ready to play major minutes yet. Heck we can't even trust our starters or our key backups to perform at a level we need to win in this league. We are in a title race and we can't be giving quality minutes to untested and untrusted players. The Rox have to play their best every night. Also...Vspan hasn't shown, (in the limited time that he has received), that he is ready to play or take minutes away from any of our other players. I don't see the ball handling skills that would make him a point guard and his defense is certainly not up to JVG standards. Look...I think Vspan can play in this league and I feel he has a future with the Rockets, but it's not going to happen this year at least not while we are in playoff contention. And the same thing goes for Novak. We just can't trust these unknowns.
This is where we differ and go off course I guess. I think the Rockets want to be in a title race, but just don't have the horses yet. We will see in the playoffs, but our PG and PF spots are really really weak, IMHO. DD
JVG is just a complete r****d on this issue. Spanoulis is just plain better than the following players: Rafer Alston John Lucas III Luther Head Yet amazingly all three are ahead of him in the rotation. You could probably also make this same argument in the case of Snyder, although it is different positions since JVG insists on playing Head at PG. But I guess he has to do that because otherwise he would have to play Spanoulis at PG........ you get the idea. At this point we have a backup PG (Alston) a 3rd string PG (Lucas III) and 6-3 one-dimensional spot up shooter (whom ironically fans here believe is better than Redick) and they ALL are ahead of A true PG with size, speed, quickness, natural play-making ability, ability to create for others and himself, to finish, to penetrate, go one on one get to the foul line and lock down on D and over a big athletic strong attacking aggressive player that can also hit the 3 and lock down on D and who as believe it or not more ability to create pas and dribble than our backup PG Head does (and Snyder doesn't have a whole lot of that to stress the point) But JVG has his "set rotation" UNREAL fans here think this guy is Coach of The Year, yeah I am sure Jerry Sloan and Avery Johnson are convinced he has done the best job of any coach.
These are the tyes of posts that baffle me. He has shown over and over he is quicker, better D, more handles, better point ability than Lucas or Head (Alston as well in reality) yet you argue he cannot play because you have to play your best players? How can anyone argue that Lucas ESPECIALLY Head is a better option at PG and really be serious? Do so many fans really believe that JVG just doesn't hate Spanoulis because he's a Euro and he's really so much worse at PG than Lucas or Head? I just can get it, because if so many fans do believe that then they apparently watch games, then erase what they saw from their minds and then repeate JVG catch phrases in their heads over and over.
all the raptors have is youth. all their players are young. OF COURSE the young guys get PT. The oldest player on their team is 30. let's see. calderon isn't a rookie. Re Chron comment: why would they? toronto has the #1 pick playing (who many of you are comparing to a second rounder who has totally different skills based solely on the fact that they are both from Europe) and an experienced player who is 29, rebounds well and has a sweet stroke
I think you are too much into this playoff chasing race thing. I for one really don't think playing Bill a little bit (at least give him all the JL3 play time) will hurt this team's standing in the playoffs. And something you don't realize is that, we are one injury away from COMPLETELY SCREWED. For instance: if Alston is injuried, you figure, even with Yao back; or if Tmac goes down if the doctor from Waco isn't a magician after all, you may say we still have Yao but we have nobody to bring and pass the damn ball to Yao. You don't really think we are a serious contending team with Alston at PG right? It is not a "trust" issue, a better PG or a good backup PG is a must. Now, go back to my first statement---playing Bill with all the JL3 time is not too much to ask.