(Houston Chronicle) Spannoulis draws teammates' high praise.

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Oct. 23, 2006, 1:23AM
Spanoulis draws teammates' high praise
Van Gundy won't rush rookie still learning ropes


By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

As much as breathless, even nonsensical hyperbole is a preseason ritual, Yao Ming went for the early, insurmountable lead.

In a moment of unrestrained giddiness, Yao compared Rockets guard Billy Spanoulis to Steve Nash.

Upon hearing this, coach Jeff Van Gundy turned to the cinder block wall behind him and hit his head against it.

"He needs to be checked on that statement," Van Gundy said. "There should have been a straitjacket."

Yao did not go so far after the Rockets got past a ragged start to pull away for a 93-72 win against the pseudo Spurs. With Spurs stars Tim Duncan, Manu Ginoboili, Tony Parker and Bruce Bowen at home, Yao led the Rockets with 24 points and 10 rebounds. .

Even if Yao did not feel the need to gush again, Spanoulis' style — full speed, high energy and somewhere between daring and reckless — tends to inspire strong reactions.

A comparison to Nash, the two-time MVP — an incredible shooter and sure-handed ball-handler — might not fit a rookie who is trying to find a shot and has been prone to turnovers.

Van Gundy's concern was not with Yao's ability to describe teammates, but for escalating expectations for a rookie likely to face growing pains while dealing with the pressure that comes from having had success in International and professional basketball.

"A lot of players from Europe come over and it doesn't work out right away," Van Gundy said. "It's a hard adjustment. If he (Spanoulis) stays mentally strong, doesn't let others' expectations or questions about what is happening distract him, he'll be fine. These guys, already professionals, feel a lot of pressure externally.

"He's gotten better. I like that he has a natural intensity. He has a great passion for the game, a good engine. Now it's about harnessing that into being a productive NBA player. How long it takes, I don't know. If he stays mentally strong, I have no doubt it will happen."

Spanoulis' play was fairly typical, with a turnover on his first touch, a pair of quick fouls and a slick baseline drive past the Spurs' Jacque Vaughn, a move he reprised in the second half.

"For every European player, there is an adjustment when they came here," Spanoulis said. "You must play more from your teammates. You must learn your teammates better. They must learn you better, how you penetrate, where you like to pass."

In his first four games, Spanoulis has 14 turnovers, averaging 9.3 per 48 minutes. On Sunday, he had two in 20 minutes before fouling out. He finished with four points and, after getting eight assists Wednesday, had two Sunday.

Still, Van Gundy raves about the improvement. But in some ways, that indicates where Spanoulis was when he began the preseason, and how far he must go.

"He makes some (turnovers), you're head-scratching," Van Gundy said. "You're saying, 'I don't know what you saw on that.' But ... he is a heck of a lot better today than he was the first day of training camp and the first week and the first 10 days to two weeks.

"He played basically as poorly as a guy could play in that 10-day stretch. What I was impressed with, as were the other coaches, was his lack of getting down in that stretch."

That said, a better comparison for Yao might be Spurs points guard Tony Parker. But not to the All-Star Parker so ready for the season that the Spurs left him home Sunday, but rather to the Parker who arrived in San Antonio in 2001 as a teenager with nearly as much to learn as Spanoulis.

"Nobody even knew who he was in a lot of ways," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "He wasn't a point guard. He was skinny, didn't really know what the position entailed. And here he walks in the door with David (Robinson) and Tim (Duncan) standing there and he's supposed to run the show.

"That was tough for him, but because of his toughness and his intelligence, his ability to handle criticism, mainly from me, it made it tougher. We thought he was good enough as we saw him through the preseason that if he wasn't going to fold on us, we had one hell of a player."

But Spanoulis was not ready to argue with Yao.

"I want to take something from many players," Spanoulis said. "It is good to hear this from Yao.

"I like how (Nash) is the MVP. He's a great player, maybe the best, one of the best in the league. I like the way he makes the right decision every time, the way he can pass the ball and to who at the right time."

jonathan.feigen@chron.com

 

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