On 4/17/2006, Rockets beat Nuggest at home and effecitvely put them one spot behind TWolves in 2006 NBA draft. As the result, Rockets was one spot too late to get the eventual ROY -- Brandon Roy. Looking back, the fate is son ironic. What if Rockets lost that game and drafted Roy... this will be a much balanced team to say the least. We will still have Stromil Swift, who with all his shortcomings, would have provided the much needed athleticism in the playoff against Jazz. Roy would have provided the much needed 3rd score option.... errr, fate, all starts on 4/17/2006...
uhh...JVG loved Roy and we had the deal in place where we would have gotten Roy, if possible. I was telling my friends after the game in front of toyota center about that Denver game, which made up miss out on Roy. I like Battier a lot but Roy is a baller and a half
I've been a Gundy supporter the past 3 years, but I'm starting to question him now, especially in light of the recent playoff failure. The game illustrates a serious flaw with Gundy, namely his seemingly complete inability to plan long term. He micromanages each game as a must win. I wasn't telling him to tank, but why the hell would he play scrubs like Alston and Howard 35+ minutes in a meaningless game? I would rather see him try to play those who need valuable game time experience. Gundy also effectively downgraded Swift into having negative trade value, when we could have gotten something more useful for him rather than an afterthought in the Battier trade. Roy would have been a huge boost to this team, far greater than Battier IMO. He would have plugged our PG hole and brought another dimension to our stale offense. Not to mention he is probably a better defender than Alston anyways.
Man, I had the same sinking feeling about that game too! I thought at that time, damn, this is going to come back and bite us. Sure enough, it bite us big time...
Battier was a very good addition, just came at a high price. I remember how bitter I was at the time of the win over Denver, but unfortunately not much can be done now. Just seems like a good time to bring the photo back up ...
So true, opportunity slipped away in front of our eyes just like this season -- not much can be done about it... I have nothing against Shane, he has been great. But if I had a choice, I still would pick Roy (and keep Swift by default).
JVG didn't only make us miss the 2nd round.... ...he also is the number one reason we didn't get a better player in last years draft....remember the few games we actual won instead of just loosing ok, we got Battier, but, what if we had Brandon Roy? who can clearly play the PG/small forward position, we could have been at a better position now.... how about Randy Foye? a pure PG who likes to penetrate, is strong and willing to take the contact?
It's not a broke n record ... you're just playing it at the wrong speed. It's not to late to get it... JVG's Rocket's underachieved BIG TIME! BUY A T-SHIRT
so now we are looking back to the end of the 05-06 season? what is loosing by the way? is that a way of playing loose?
How about the season before we could've tanked a little at the end of the season to avoid the Mavs in the first round of the playoffs? But we didn't. JVG is probably a man of decency, but doesn't not always make the best decisions for the team in this kind of situations.
JVG has been on record in the last couple of days saying part of the reson he was emotionally frustrated with the team and the outcome in the playoffs is because he had been left out of several personnel decisions. That sounds to me like perhaps where we are today isn't soley JVG's fault.
I like Brandon Roy, but last time I checked, he's a SG. Our main flaw in the Jazz series was the PF position. What does JVG have to do with that?
What we were lacking was a PF AND another playmaker. If you've seen Roy play, he knows how to set up an offense and penetrate and dish. And the guy can also finish too. Name a player besides Tmac that can do that for our team?
That just makes it sound more like it is JVG's fault 100%. So he had a nancy when he didn't get the players he wanted. He screwed the players and in the end, the Rockets by not playing them. Maybe he was the one who deserved to be in the doghouse.
The biggest problem JVG made this year is wasting our bench. We could have been developing V Span, Snyder, and Novak, instead of wasting them on the bench. The may not turn out to be superstars or even starters, but with JVG, they don't even have a chance. No pain, no gain. Even though we probably would have lost in the first round, at least we'd have a couple more young, athletic players for next year. JVG is so afraid of losing his job, he sacrificed long-term gain for short-term wins. ...and now he's going to lose his job. oh the irony.
