DD, with all due respect you have no clue what you are talking about. JVG is the leader in the clubhouse for coach of the year. Let's play that game again last night with a healthy Bonzi and Yao then take out Stack and Dirk and play it in the Toyota Center and things turn out different. On to your point about the bench, yes only 2 guys got minutes last night but if Yao is out there Hayes starts and Howard is on the bench and if you pair him with head and Bonzi/snyder (whoever wins the minutes) that is a nice 8 man rotation with Deke also getting some minutes. Last night, you wanted Bonzi (did not dress), Snyder (they are bringing him back slow), Novak (LOL) who the hell is Novak goona gaurd? As far as Lucas3 and Billy, Lucas is what he is and should only get minutes is certain situations. I agree with you that Spanoulis is the point gaurd of the future (if he gets a shot) but forget the turnovers with our team we need spot up shooters to make double teams pay. I do agree that he should get a few minutes to see if he is an upgrade over Lucas but he will improve his shot and get an extended look next season. As far as playing starters lots of minutes, well IMO we did not have a better option. Healthy rotation YAO/Deke Hayes/Howard/Battier Battier/Wells and or Snyder/T-Mac T-Mac/Head/Wells and or Snyder Alston/Head/T-Mac We are fine, we are a matchup problem for the Mavs when healthy
I am going to throw out one last point of logic and then I'm done arguing with the religious right. Had Van Gundy been regularly playing bench reserves such as Novak, Spanoulis or JLIII since Yao went down, we could easily have 3-4 more losses. We haven't been blowing every opponent off the floor. We need every win we can to weather the storm until we get Yao back. This is not the time to play around with on court player development. And I'm sorry to point out that I trust a coach when he sees more of a player than I do. I just have this funny feeling that maybe, just maybe, Spanoulis isn't ready for nba minutes. I know stu, that is one silly notion. To feel that a second round pick isn't ready to contribute to a championship caliber team on his first go round in the nba. But hey, weirder things have happened. You know, like dan langhi sucking donkey balls after dada crowned him our savior.
Guys, I am NOT blaming the Dallas loss on JVG....I am saying that him not developing the bench is going to: 1. Leave us even more prone to injuries 2. Exhaust the starters 3. Waste a year of some players development JVG needs to take a longer view...he focuses on one game....winning that game...and while that is admirable, it is short sighted. Especially with a game the next night against Phoenix. At the very least....play Bonzi...... DD
In that case Rockets might win this game. However, in the long term, you need to play young guys/bench more to improve your bench depth, which is crutial for the playoffs. JVG
Conjecture !!!! Or, maybe those close game we would have won by 15 points because the bench responded and Tmac and the starters were rested. See how the guessing game goes? There is no guarantee that the team would have lost... I am glad the team won those games, but if you think the team can win in the playoffs with a 6 or 7 man rotation, I believe you are mistaken. DD
It could be, but NO one knows what triggered his back DD. Last time he jumped up to block Arenea's shot and we didn't see him till 8 games later. Look, I don't mind seeing the younger players too...BUT AT THE RIGHT TIMES. We are in the West....EVERY win counts. Games like these need to be won....not experimented with. Although I see your point, I also see JVG. He played his starters for extended mins because they the team the best chance at winning.....simple
And developing young guys are done at the right times....not when you're trying to stay in a race with two division rivals who are also leading the whole league in wins...lol...it's like a double edge sword. I do understand what you're saying and I know you say you're not blaming the lose on JVG, but it comes off that way to other readers that don't know your font. I understand what you're saying and agree to a degree, but consentrating on one game at a time has worked....it works for a lot of championship teams. Right now, we don't have the luxury of a healthy deep squad....we have to make due and one game at a time it what's working. We can't jump ship behind one game
How did JVG only play 7 guys when JL 3 and Hayes and Head all played throughout the game? Thats 8 right there By the way I definitly understand where your coming from, Avery was switching guy in and guy out to try to find a suitor for T-Mac immdediaty when it didn't workout. Snyder/Bonzi on Stackhouse or somthing would have done wonders. V-Span on Devean George would have been good aswell. JVG Please try different match-ups, come on dude
Your argument only had one flaw: we didn't win. So playing his starters for extended mins might not be the best chance, there might be a way that we could actually win by playing more bench players, like AJ did. Now I don't even want to argue about the vs Mavs game. When you get guys like Bonzi, Snyder, Bill and Novak, you need to play them more to build some depth. It concerns me that JVG INSISTs that he had to overplay some (if not all) of his starters to ensure every single win; or he is worrying about we would have lost every game if he played some of his bench for over 5 minutes. And I am not a big fan of JL3, everytime he steps on the floor, he makes the rockets look like an AI team. When the bench players finally get some time, he owns the ball all the time, it is totally worthless/unfair for the other guys.
The problem is we don't seem to have much of a bench, but, I agree, Bonzi, VSpan, and Padgett need some minutes. I like the "smurf squad" who ate into the LA lead. Why not give them another shot. But the time to develop the bench is not against the league's elite. That is the time to use a bench that has already been playing significant minutes.
I agree with your point that we would have had more losses had JVG played the bench significant minutes since Yao has been out. What I don't agree with is in the game situations, when you are watching the game and you can see we are going up against a deep team like Dallas or Phoenix and you know you need to get something from the bench, and you obviously have a matchup problem with quickness and athleticism, and one of your primary bench scorers is giving you nothing and playing like he's got sphincter cramp, and you continue with that matchup. We ain't deep enough against Dallas and Phoenix with just a short rotation, especially with Yao out. And their perimeter quickness and their ability to keep bringing in players to create mismatches was a huge factor in last night's win. We were fortunate that Rafer played so well and McGrady played off the planet to keep this one even close. It should have been obvious after watching Luther a few minutes and after watching Hayes a few minutes that we needed to see Bonzi and VSpan to have a chance. And when JVG threw in the towel, VSpan still didn't get his warmups off. Instead, we wasted two minutes of training/practice watching JLIII go 1 on 5. Even after the game was decided. What is it going to take for VSpan to get another shot?
We didn't win ONE game, forget about that 9-2 record...come on man. Tear down the system....the system don't work cause we lost. I don't see it like that and to say use our bench like avery did is not fair. Dallas bench is deeper, experienced and BETTER than our bench. GUYS....we lost. I doubt that playing V-Span, Padgett and Novak would have made a difference in the out come. He didn't play Bonzi and that was his choice.....hell, I don't understand the facination with Bonzi anymore. He doesn't play D and still out of shape. Our best chance to win lies on our starter carring the load and delivering...especially now that we are unhealthy
Technically, the Rockets used 10 players and Dallas used 9. I am guessing, though, that DaDa is talking about guys who played more than 10 minutes...in which case we played 7 and Dallas played 8. But, yeah, Bonzi is still hurt from his back - backs are not made better by playing. Snyder is still not really allowed to have much contact on his hand so he is not ready. Lucas gets the most time of the scrubs because he is a pretty decent scorer. Novak is a shooter who cannot shoot in games right now and VSpan played himself out of existence, apparently. Personally, I would like to see the final minutes of a blowout with Span at PG and Lucas as a Calvin Murphy sized 2. As someone said, Luke will never pass the ball in scrub time because he is like Calvin as a rook (who has always said, "if you gave me two minutes I was shooting eight times").
JVG is a great coach with a very good personality. I like him. But two things really bug me. 1. He only uses 7 rotations. TMAC and Yao won't save you if they are too tired. 2. Evertytime he calls a timeout automatically means we won't shoot the next ball in or the oponent will easily shoot the ball in.
LOL!!! Now Thats Dam Funny and straight to the point, overall great assesment on Bonzi, Snyder, Vspan and Novak. Way to go!! BTW Here we go again with all the JVG Sucks, its crazy when the team looses an almost unwinable game without Yao, some people go back to the JVG Sucks posts, its a dam shame,
These threads pop up after every loss. So pretty much once every 5 games. Give JVG credit where it's due. 94% of this forum hoped we'd hover around .500 without Yao. JVG has played .800 ball since. Quit hating.
Firstly the only way we were going to beat Dallas, is if all of our well players were clicking on all four cilinders. Unfortunately Batttier, Alston and Head were not quite their normal selves and played below par. Secondly the only way we are going to get top notch performances is if Tracy McGrady makes his team perform that way, by concentrating mainly on his own performance he was not giving his best as a playmaker. He needs to balance performance and playmaking. His 45 points was a great individual effort but left the team with limited playmaking and possibly has tweaked his back through playing too hard. Common sense must prevail! JVG is at times so limited, his faith in Chuck Hayes and Padgett is bewildering at times! When D. George showed us having a mismatch, he should have moved Battier over onto George and brough in Bonzi Wells to sub for Mutombo. JVG's non development of Novak and V Span is not acceptable as is his win now at all costs senario. When Yoa Ming comes back into the line up, I just hope ther starters won't be worn out or injured!
