Concerning his interviews/quotes, I'm going to cut him some slack because he's from a different country, speaks a different language. I grew up overseas with a Japanese mother and a American dad and I can't tell you enough how many times miscommunications happended because of a simple error in translation and the different ways of thinking between my dad and his new in-laws. It took years for everybody to get it right. And can you imagine what that would be like if you're as passionate as Vspan here in America? And, no telling what his old friends are saying to him about his situation. My bet is that he learned a good lesson. He'll settle down. I just keep thinking if this would've happened if Yao didn't get hurt. RR
Yes, we're title contenders, even with Rafer running the point. I think we are good enough, with everyone healthy, that we can get it done with Rafer. Besides his horrid shooting, everything else he does is decent. He doesn't turn over the ball too much and his defense has stepped up. If Yao/T-Mac stay healthy, we can hang with anybody.
And against bench players (probably not the 1st-man-off-the-bench type of bench players). If his stats is bad against them, why would you think his stats will be better against more capable players? I remember in one (only one?) of those early blow-off games where he played a lot of garbage minutes, he got a few turn-overs by trying to do fancy stuff. JVG got mad at him. Span later said that he was surprised JVG got mad. In my opinion, the biggest mistake Span made is: he think he does NOT have to prove any thing (as quoted in Feigan's recent article ). JVG treated span like any other rookie player: you have to prove yourself in any occation you are given, doesn't matter if it's in practice or garbage time, while Span thinks otherwise. If Span doesn't change that attidude, he won't see much playing time any time soon.
My impression is Span hasn't played much for quite a while, not just after Yao went out. Correct me if I am wrong.
I can't believe some people can still defend alston. Alston can play terrible all year and you guys love him, but span can play not great in limited time and you guys already say he sucks. Frankly, I would take the guy who hasn't played much and can play better than the guy who has proven he sucks and should not be a starting pg in the nba.
i find those stats interesting not so much because they implicate vspan's negative impact on the team (any statistical analysis of him is going to be flawed because the sample size is so small, and that sample was him playing sporadic and meaningless minutes), but because they imply that lucas should be getting a lot more playing time. to show you how unhelpful those stats are: rafer with a net 5.1 and win % of 61.5 , lucas with a net of 14.3 and a win% of 52.4, span with a net of -3.2 and win % of 64.7. so what does that tell us? not much. is lucas the best, since his net is the highest? maybe, though my guess is that the net calculation puts a premium on points scored, and lucas likes to score more than dish. is spanoulis the best, since his win% is greatest despite a negative net? probably not, since that win % is probably just skewed by the fact that he only plays in garbage wins. you can read those any way you like, so i'd prefer not to read them at all. the bottom line for me is that we have 3 point guards. 2 of them are playing at this point, and those 2 are struggling, mightily. we haven't even GLIMPSED spanoulis since the start of the season, despite these struggles. his attitude about the whole thing isn't great, he shouldn't be mouthing off to the media because he's just a rookie and he hasn't shown anything yet. but if thats the only reason he's not playing, when he could be helping this team, then spanoulis isn't the only one with an ego problem.
Proof: Spanoulis ON court Pts. scored/100 possessions 94.5 Pts. allowed 94.8 NET -0.3 Spanoulis OFF court Pts. scored/100 possessions 107.4 Pts allowed 101.1 NET +6.3 http://www.82games.com/0607/06HOU4D.HTM The Rockets outscore their opponents by over 6 points for every 100 possessions when he's NOT on the court. When he is on the court, the Rockets' OPPONENT outscores the rockets by a fraction of point for every 100 possessions. The tremendous dropoff in offense is pretty obvious and needs no explanation. Why? Because you say it is? 180 minutes is not that small, and the line that he only played "sporadic and meaningless minutes" doesn't hold water. During his November-December tryout, he was the 2nd guard off the bench for a 3 week period, played 10-20 minutes a night, and spent virtually ALL his time with either McGrady or Yao on the floor next to him (these stats are verifiable - contrast this with Lucas III, who has played very little timie with those players and had a lot more success in aobut the same amount of minutes).
I agree, Jeff has to get this team past the first round or else bye bye. That's probably the reason why he's not going deep into his bench.
The point is, IN THE TIME HE'S BEEN GIVEN Vspan hasn't proved jack crap. In fact, JL3 hasn't played too much either, and his stats are FAR better than Vspan's. As for Rafer, I don't bring him into the debate as JL3 vs Rafer, but as to why he's starting instead of Vspan. You could also argue JL3 should start based on stats (especially the shooting stats), but I think classical scouting things like height on defense plays a big factor in that. The good thing is, JVG has given JL3 more minutes the more he's proven that he can play well. It's a whole 'nother story for some 2nd round Euroscrub to be demanding minutes after playing his way out of the rotation.
If Tony Parker can play PG for the Spurs, then V-Span can play backup PG for the Rockets without hitting 3's. Tony Parker doesn't even average 1 3pa per game anymore. The difference is, the Spurs ALWAYS have two shooters on the floor. Ginobili is a good shooter, Finley is a good shooter, Bowen is a good shooter, Barry is a good shooter... They always have two sweet-shooting swingmen on the floor. Manu is the worst shooter of the bunch and his WORST 3-pt shooting season (his first) is better than T-Mac's career average. Not to mention that Manu has improved his 3pt% so consistently for 5 seasons now he's at 41% this year. Coincidentally, for 5 years straight, T-Mac's 3-pt% has gone south. I'm not bashing T-Mac. What I'm trying to say is that T-Mac plays 36 minutes a game. He's going to be on the floor a lot. For a team that goes through its low post big man, there should always be two 3pt threats on the court. The day we got a defensive stud who could hit the 3-pt shot (Battier) we hit the jackpot. You'll find that stellar defense and excellent 3-pt shooting are UBER-difficult to find in one player in this league. What I'm trying to say is that V-Span and T-Mac shouldn't see the court together unless we have a shooting 4 (Padgett, Novak) and a shooting 2/3 (Battier, Head) on the court as well. Since Novak and Padgett NEVER play, this doesn't happen. So we're looking at the 12 minutes that T-mac doesn't play, because that's probably when Head and Battier are both on the floor. Both of those guys are good passers and good shooters, which is a tremendous help. But none of them are PG's - which is exactly when V-Span should be playing. Give him the ball and let him do the one thing no one but T-Mac can do on this team - penetrate - and let someone else worry about shooting. V-Span should be getting 10 mintues. But if I'm coach and I figure this out... but oh wait, Billy opened his mouth to 3 reporters over the weeekend... I tell Billy to sit down, shut up, and learn to keep his mouth shut before he sees the floor again.
I got higher standards for my Rox than you! I won't settle with Reefer, when I'm going into battles with the elites of the West, I want my team to be strong everywhere, I want no weak spots where my foes will capitalize on them, I want my team to have a fighting chance. With Reefer running my team, all I want to do is CRY!
Per 48 minute stats are useless for someone who plays so few minutes. Plus why didn't you mention the significant drop off in defense when he's off the court then?
this might just be a difference in the way you and i view the game of basketball. i watch basketball because i love the game, because i enjoy the ebb and flow of each possession, and because the thrill of winning is enhanced when it is your team, the one you identify with and project your hopes onto. but on top of that, the game is one that lends itself to 'oohs' and 'ahhs.' those moments put the exclamation mark on a good run, they fuel the momentum, and they highlight the game itself. sometimes, the fancy play is worth the risk. its not fundamentally sound, and it might not be the smartest move, but if it succeeds, it pumps up the teammates, the crowd, and demoralizes the opponent. that x-factor, that swagger, is what this team has missed since the 04-05 season. i know jvg isn't the only coach that would have gotten pissed at spanoulis for trying a move like that in garbage time, and i disagree with those coaches too. there is a certain point where the game needs to just be played for what it is, and thats entertainment. in garbage minutes, who's really learning anything? the other team certainly isn't playing that hard, so its not like the experience is anything more than in practice. and there is also a point where making your players afraid of making mistakes makes them overanalyze and more prone to make mistakes in the end.
vspan and mcgrady on the floor together is NOT what im asking for. im saying vspan will be serving the role of playmaker when mcgrady is out of the game. you saying that he spent most of his minutes with tmac just proves my point, that he wasnt allowed to do what he is best at, and that's handle the ball as a playmaker. obviously, if tmac is in the game, he should have the ball in his hands. lucas is a scorer, not a playmaker, i think we can all agree about that, so its not going to matter who he is on the court with, he's going to put up his numbers.
Spanoulis is a scorer too, not unlike Lucas, it's just that he can't shoot from outside. Spanoulis has never been one to put up a lot of assists. He drives the lane and tries to make a play, which more often than not is shooting. The myth that he is a natural PG "playmaker" who distributes the ball a la steve nash has got to be put the rest - the guy was not one for Greece or Panthanikos. Why would he magically become one now?
and just to see how significant and sufficient those 180 minutes vspan played are, lets look at those stats that everyone loves so much. 1. Head-Spanoulis-Battier-Howard-Yao 35 59 67 -8 4 5 44.4 thats 35 full minutes on the court with yao. the equivalent of about 2 minutes less than rafer gets every single game. we're willing to chalk a bad game for rafer up to the fact that he had a bad day. well, the culmination of span's minutes with the 5 man lineup that he has spent the most time with amounts to less than one of rafer's average minutes per game, so would it be unfair to chalk this up to 1 bad game for span? is it reasonable to say that 4 or 5 minutes with different groups, once in awhile, isn't enough time for him to get a feel of his teammates or his role?
i'm not arguing about off the court work ethic, i definitely agree that he has to put in his time working on his game. whether or not he was told he'd see time on the court i'm not sure, but the fact that at the beginning of the season he stressed working hard in order to help the team, i see this venting of frustration more as an indication that he WAS told he'd be playing regularly. the rare moments when i've seen vsapn in the game, i've mostly seen him at the 2. i dont get to watch all the games, so i can't be completely certain about it...i simply take whats reported on the board. from what i have seen and can remember, he is rarely the primary ball handler and basically just sets up in the corner to start many of our plays. if the sample of games i've seen is an aberration from the norm, then i stand corrected. as far as stats go, i see vspan as more of an intangibles guy, much like battier. he's not gonna put up a ton of points, but he could impact the game in several different areas. i'm not gonna say vsan is ready to do all of that right away, but with the way rafer has consistently stunk this year, i dont see how it benefits anyone to leave vspan at the end of the bench. now if JL3 and rafer find a way to fulfill our pg needs, then i have absolutely nothing against giving vspan more time to develop in practice....but i just dont know if thats the case.
