He never said that. He only said he was given promises of an opportunity. The Rockets had lost out on Mike James and had no real prospects at guard and CD told BIlly they needed him and at the time it seemed they did. So Morey and CD coerced him into leaving Greece for a great opportunity to play in the NBA. And everyone thought that's what they would get. I mean he looked awesome in the WC's and afterwords Battier told him he was a great player and later Yao said he was like Nash. But all JVG could say was I have to do damage control and my wife hates rookies. So now Billy is speaking out to the Greek media. But it's not to whine about the situation. He shutup during all of those times that JVG was singling him out for a b****ing and while he was being forced to be a spotup SG. But now he is bench fodder and he isn't begging for playing time... he just wants out away from Jeff Van D i c k... And can you blame? Yeah I know all of you JVG lovers can.
No it's not. JVG kept saying the bonzi thing was a conditioning thing. Not only till weeks later did he finally admit it was more than just basketball that kept him out of the lineup. However, it's not surprising that some people believe everything JVG says like it's gospel.
One or two games is not an accurate indicator. More often than not, he's not a foul machine. Maybe just an average to good defensive player. Point is, I really find it hard to believe JVG would hold a player out based on some personal grudge. Then again, like I said, who knows why? If I'm the coach, I wouldn't care if McGrady hated my guts- he's gonna play, regardless. Who knows.
I'm not saying he is foul prone, but sometimes it is the timing of fouls/turnovers rather than the turnover/foul itself. That foul on iverson was just stupid. The blake one I understood because he was flying out to contest the shot and accidently clipped his arm. But you want iverson taking a 3 rather than blowing past you to the rim. He's far more deadly in the latter scenario. Also consider he gets beat a lot on the dribble and he has mutombo or yao back there to block shots. That would explain why he gets few fouls. Instead they get the fouls to cover for his blown assignment.
No no no, he's not McGrady Back Home, McGrady can be a spot shooter if he likes to. Vspan should improve his shooting instead of complaining, learning something new is not bad thing. Well if you can, what's wrong to be a lawyer and a doctor at the same time?
Look, you have no credibility whatsoever with these distortions. When did JVG ever say Bonzi wasn't playing ONLY because of conditioning? You have a quote to back that up? And there is nothing wrong with choosing not to publically bring up feuds between a coach and player. That's something any responsible coach will keep out of the media, if he can help it.
Well then..the chatters neglected to mention that fact...keep on bashing away at those foolish people!
Well, at least VSpan is the only person who has the guts to tell his displeasure about JVG. Not sure if that's good or bad though. Bonzi + VSpan for ???
No doubt that was an awful foul by Rafer. He screwed up, and I'm sure he heard about it. I'm to the point where I'm wishing the Knicks would buy out Francis, and at least see how hard we go after him. I suspect we'll end up with Francis or a guy of the Chucky Atkins caliber - not really a clear-cut upgrade over Rafer, but at least someone capable of really minimizing Rafer's PT when he's playing like garbage. Van Gundy defensive schemes have always been all about forcing contested jump shots, not fouling shooters (remember Van Gundy berating Snyder?), and generally a "no layup rule" inside. That's why Hayes' fouls can be more or less tolerated, though I'm sure JVG wishes he could limit them. Myself and others have commented how Spanoulis in his minutes did not follow these schemes. Even in garbage time, he would consistently pick up fouls 25 ft away from the basket when the other team is in the bonus. That just is not consistent with the Rockets' schemes. You can disagree with how he's used offensively, and if the ultimate development plan does not include making use of his penetration plans, I'll disagree with it, too. I really think this use at the 2 is all about limiting his turnovers, and giving him a chance to succeed. But if Spanoulis has a problem with the Rockets' defensive concepts (which he seems to imply with the whole "I used to pressure the ball spiel), when we're the best defensive team in the NBA by practically every possible measure...he needs to get over himself.
JVG was pretty unprofessional in taking shots at vspan saying he wasn't mentally tough enough, while saying novak was. I like the fire vspan has and he's not comparable to novak cause novak wasn't someone the rockets traveled half way across the world to woo and convince to come over and play.
That's precisely why JVG has him at SG. And THAT, of all things, should be clear evidence that Van Gundy has no faith in him as a ballhandler or a player who can run a team and make smart decisions. We all know he's not at SG because of his ability to score or make shots.
JVG has always relied on veterans and stars. As long as JVG is the coach, not many rookies will flourish in this team. Also we all expected Span to be the creator and running PG, using pick-n-roll offense and passing. Why is JVG expecting him to be a spot up shooter all sudden??? Obviously Span is not a great shooter....thats just not his game. I support Span in this one....Alston has been terrible in majority of the games this season so I dont see why Span does not get any minutes to play??? JL3 also played good in few games but he too sees limited minutes. Novak is a great shooter and he too never gets any playing time. IMO JVG is just too stubborn and scared to use rookies. Every players/rookies makes mistakes....that does not mean u just sit them out....atleast give them some minutes.
JVG should play more of the bench in the regular rotation for two major reasons: 1. It will give the young players opportunities to develop 2. It gives the starters time to rest and can stay strong through 4th quarter and OT, if necessary. How often do we see Rox leads through the 1st half, only to lose it at the 3rd and 4th quarters? There are other reasons, I am sure, like mental strength, but I am sure a lot of it is due to being tired. A fresh Alston is better than a fresh Vspan or JLIII, but a tired Alston makes more mistakes than a high-school rookie. Granted, when the bench is out there, we tend to lose some of our leads. But heck, losing our leads in the 2nd or 3rd quarters is much better than losing the leads in the 4th. Plus, we don't have to play the bench all at once anyway, hence limiting the damage. Some case in points for other great teams' and their starters minutes: Manu Ginobili: 27.8 mpg Tim Duncan: 34 mpg Tony Parker: 33 mpg Nowitzki: 36 mpg Josh Howard: 35 mpg Jason Terry: 35 mpg Compare with: Rafer Alston: 37 mpg Battier: 38 mpg Tmac: 36 mpg Didn't seem like a huge difference in minutes here, but they obviously make a big difference to the players. Having 3-4 additional minutes of rest around 2nd and 3rd quarter, timed strategically (between quarters, around timeouts and foul shots, etc.) can mean fresher legs when it really counts at the end of the game.
NBA players need to be very good at all aspects of the game to be successful. Any deficiencies are magnified in this league. Rafer, for example, despite being a very good overall player, struggles at times because he has weaknesses that he can't seem to overcome. V-Span's case is similar. He has some pretty major weaknesses when it comes to turning the ball over and shooting. Though he may have been able to succeed in Europe despite those weaknesses, he cannot replicate that success in the NBA so easily. Now, that may not be a big issue if he were willing to improve on those weaknesses. But instead, he whines and blames his problems on the coach. If JVG tells you to learn to shoot, it's because you are useless unless you can shoot. It has nothing to do with whether or not he understands your game. He does. Better than you do. Grow up and learn to take some advice. That's why Rafer is the number one guy at PG: he works on his weaknesses so he can fill a role on an NBA team. V-Span's attitude is fine, if he wants to be mediocre for his entire career playing no more than 20 mpg on a perennial lottery team. It won't work for a contender. It won't work for us. That's why V-Span is not playing.
LOL, go ahead and hit "find more posts by Luffy1" and you're going to find the textbook on that subject.... Spanoulis actually seems to share that characteristic. Shut up rookie. If not you'll never get off the Ignore list. Oh please, shut up about that already. The next game he got HIS OWN ASS torn a new one by Calderon and Navarro. In previous weeks he got played to a standstill by the Aussie National team. Can you name their guards? YOu shorten up the sample size and anyone can look good. Hell even Kelvin Cato managed to look better than Bill Russell in a lot of games that didn't matter, though were probably more relevant to the NBA than the FIBA biannual all star exhibition tourney. Listen, if you want to just take ONE game, I can prove to you that LaBradford Smith was a greater NBA player than Michael Jordan.
Oh by no means do I think spanoulis should play or is the answer. I just think we have to have another player to push rafer/make him accountable when he plays like crap. Ideally the rockets pg would be in the mold of derek fisher in the LA days. And i'm sick of 5-18 shooting nights that consist of 2-10 inside the arc. It baffles my mind how a guy can hit a 3 better than he can hit a mid range jumper or layup. And his other attributes really don't make up for it. Only problem is right now, there is no better option. But I bet by february there will be another pg added.
I'd expect that kind of response from a JVG lover. You guys can't think for yourself and can only think what JVG tells you to think.
