How many games has Stromile started this year? I think JVG should take a look at a rotation with him as a starter. Some people thrive coming off the bench - others do extremely well as starters. Stro has never been given that chance and I think his slumping play is magnified by his limited minutes. Now if his limited action is due to issues at practices where he just doesn't show effort and so forth, thats another story. But I'm just suggesting mixing things up in the smallest of ways by letting Swift start. Skip (1) Tracy (start him as either 2 or 3) Stro (3 or 4) Yao (5..when he's better) Juwan (4) or Wesley (2) depending on what team you face..... Why not? We should try adjusting out lineup You got (Juwan), Chuck, Bax and Deke as back up front court help. (Wesley), Luther, DA, even Moochie as back up g/f's. My point is - give him a shot as a starter... I believe they'd fare off better....
pumbum, There are a TON of Stromile bashers in here, but Im NOT one of them. I kind of agree with you to a certain extent. Stro should get a chance to start, but NOT at the 3. Obviously what we have done so far hasn't worked, so why not change things up a little bit? Also, it would definitely help his confidence. He is the type of player that needs confidence boosters such as more PT. Yes he looks lost at times, yes he might look like he doesnt give a crap, yes he may drop a pass....but LET THE GUY STAY ON THE COURT!!! It would be interesting to see his stats in games that he played 27+ minutes. It seems to me that everytime he has played 27 minutes he has performed very well! Look at the Minnesota game. Look at the Hornets game about a month ago. Look at the few games before his eye injury. Another thing....did anyone notice yesterday that JVG kept the same guys on the court for nearly all of the 3rd quarter, even though Miami came out and increased their lead to 16? But Stro got YANKED after 3-4 possessions both times he checked in? WTF? Come on JVG do something different, out of the ordinary...mix things up a little bit. Maybe it was just a match-up problem type pf thing, but I dont know. JVG used to bring in Stro with around 6-7 minutes left in the 1st, but yesterday he didnt even come in until the start of the 2nd quarter.
This team is too desperate to experiment. Maybe it's the other way around: he played well, so he stayed. I think so. Baxter and Hayes got more rebounds than he did per minute wise. Even when he played well, like in Wolves game he was not much a rebounder and rockets desperately need rebounds. Plus, Baxter and Hayes (especially Hayes) have much higher b-ball IQ. Swift will have to fight for the pt and rightfully so. He must prove that he deserve paid more than Baxter and Hayes.
I've noticed JVG's weird subbing pattern with Stro the last two games as well. Like someone above said, there was a certain time he came in and out every game. Now that he back from "pink eye", he barely sees the court for any extended period of time. He makes a mistake, he gets pulled. He makes one or two nice plays, he gets pulled. Even if he just came in a few minutes earlier. He plays 20+ minutes against the T'Wolves, but a lot of that came after Hayes fouled out midway in the 4th and he got some starter minutes with Juwon out. He only saw roughly 8 minutes on the court against Miami. It's just very odd to me.
The whole PF position is a mess, you have guys that are great rebounders but don't score, you have a guy that can score but is not a great rebounder and finally you have a guy who works every other Thursday. We need stability at the position and I think JVG is trying to find the right combo/chemistry and may be trying to find out if the Hayes/Baxter can cut it so they can trade SS before the trade deadline. Every time I listen to a road game announcer, I hear them mention that SS has done nothing as a Rocket and you want him to start???
JVG is partial to players who can rebound, finish, and D up. When Stro figures out how to do that, night in and night out, he'll get more minutes than he knows what to do with. And we don't see how he plays in practice. That is huge, with any coach.
Agree with you, when Miami was thumping us by 19 or so in the 3rd quarter JVG brings in Stro then yanks him. Just piss poor coaching. At the beginning of the season Juwan had several strings of miserable performances and not once did he ever try out starting Stro.
What we've done hasn't worked so far? What's that?...letting our star players play and get hurt? We ARE about the change it up a little. We are going to get our starting lineup back.
What we have been doing so far hasnt worked. Looking at this season realistically, the season is basically over. He has shown, that with decent PT, he can be good. What do you expect him to do in 10 minutes? How do expect him to play well when he knows that if he screws up, he's out? Either way...he got the minutes and he did well. I agree that he will have to fight for PT, but have you noticed that when Baxter or Hayes screw up that they stay in the game? Why does Stro have to get yanked when he screws up? Lets face it...Baxter is a good rebounder, but offensively I'd rather have Stro. Hayes is good on both ends of the court, but he is small. I'd just like to see more consistancy from JVG. If you yank one, yank 'em all when they screw up.
Just as we need rebounds, we need offense. Stro or Juwan are the guys for that. Baxter and Hayes only score when Tmac sets them up for an easy lay-up. Stro can creat his own shot (i.e get to the bucket) AND he is a good interior passer.
Ding ding ding ding, we have a winner! Stro and whomever else (and/or our first rounder) are expendable if we get the right player(s) in return. Hayes and Baxter can board and pick up garbage baskets and still give you the stats (if not the shotblocking) of Stromile Swift. I want the guy to succeed; sometimes you just have to give up.
The big problem with Stro is rebounding. If he could get better position, he could take minutes away from Deke, who just kills us on offense. I'd like to see a lot more Baxter and a lot less Deke on the court. But Stro doesn't rebound as well as Hayes and doesn't score like Juwan. He moves like lightning, but it doesn't translate into anything. Still, it's hard to make a judgment on him during this horrible, horrible season.
My take? Stro makes too many bone-headed mistakes on the court. The result? When it's a close game, JVG doesn't trust Stro on the court so he gets yanked. If we were up, then I'd bet Stro would get more time on the court to grow. But sadly that's rarely the case this season. JVG needs guys he knows will make the "right" decision on the court. And Stro doesn't fit that bill right now. Hey, maybe starting him WOULD give him a better chance to grow ...
What's Stro worth in trade? What do you think we could get for him? Stro & Moochie for Al Harrington? You might lose Al for nothing at the end of the season, but if JVG rates Hayes ahead of Stro, why not?
Hell Yes- because we can convince harrington to resign becaus eafter being in Atlanta he wants to win and we could get him at a reduced rate hopefully juwan is starting to get older and harrington would be a great third option for the future to contend with SA and Det
So, if a player plays great in the back-up role, he earns a crack at the starter's job. And, if he sucks in the back-up role, we give him the starter's role anyway to see if he'll do any better at that. Makes sense.
