JVG to Swift: Welcome to the Doghouse

Yes, indeed. That's a back hand aimed at Swift

I guess the No Show is tougher to coach than Van Grumpy thought

 

Yeah, there are definitely times where Stromile seems like he has ADD or something. I don't understand some of the things he does. I was at the game in Dallas in person and both he and Yao had some of the more boneheaded plays I've seen in a while.


edit: I really wonder if Stromile has some type of ADD. He reminds me of a very talented basketball player on my HS team. The guy made 2nd and 3rd team all state, had loads of talent and athleticism, but he could never maintain his focus. The guy had major concentration problems. So much so that at times, it would be hard for him to shoot free throws because he couldn't focus on shooting the ball in such a calm situation. I don't know if this makes any sense, but I just think it might be something that the Rockets should look into.

 

The last part of the quote seems to exhonerate Rafer when he talks about getting "perimeter guys healthy." Now, he may just mean TMac and Barry, but I'd be willing to take it as a good sign that Rafer is really injured.

 

Very true. I don't see how this could be aimed at anyone else. Certainly not Yao, and JVG loves Juwan Howard's professionalism. Deke is still a beast in limited minutes so it's not him. He just alluded to the fact that Ryan Bowen might see more minutes. He couldn't be talking about Baxter, who has hardly seen any minutes at all. So that leaves one person: Slowmile Swift.

 

I hope we don't have more Bowen on the court. Don't get me wrong, I like the guy's hustle, but he's a liability out there more often than not. He is not starter/extended minutes material.

 

I guess Ryan Bowen has those magical "intangible" qualities that only untalented white players seem to have. Everytime I look at the box scores from the previous nights games I see RB with 0 points 0 rebounds 0 assists and 0 blocks, but some how he's this great player. I'm not saying Stromile Swift is a great player but he gives you more than Ryan freaking Bowen.

Jeff Van Grumpy needs to look in the mirror maybe and learn that his coaching leaves much to be desired. There is a reason his teams always have terrible offenses.

 

I said this before, Swift is nothing but a loose cannon.

 

I really wish other people would play with Bowen's intensity, because he sucks otherwise and is a liability to us on the court.

 

Sadly, there is a possiblity that Stromile is not smart enough to know it is directed toward him.

I like the ADD angle.

 

I'm at work so I can't verify it but I thought Swift was on the floor when the Rox cut into the Bulls' lead?


EDIT: Checked the tape. Yao, Bowen, DA, Luther and DWes.

 

haha exactly what i was thinking!

hopefully, with time, he will learn the offense and defense. that way there is no thought needed. it will be second nature. then we can see how good he can become.

until then, if it ever happens, he will be a nice backup.

 

I'm still amazed that 1/4 of the respondents still think he needs to start. Betcha if Stro took a baseball bat and whacked Tracy in the back, ending his career, 1/4 of the people here would still say he needs to start. What a joke! LOL

 

imo,

the guy is very athletic and has some raw skills, but unfortunatly his basketball IQ is near r****dation levels

 

We knew all that when we signed him. We signed him for his athleticism, speed, quickness, not for his post defense. He is supposed to be the weak side help defender, coming over to back up Yao in the post. Why are we now expecting something else?

 

Actually, a lot of people thought he was here to "protect" Yao. But to protect, you need a tough guy like Oakley or Thorpe. Swift is no tough guy.

 

A front court with Yao and an Oakley/Thorpe type would be far too slow to compete. In today’s NBA game, it’s crucial to have big men that are fast, athletic, and can run with the guards. Having a physical front court player to protect your star is much less important now than it has been in the past. It’s a guards game now.

Regardless of how well you think Swift has played, he is not the reason the Rockets are in the predicament they are in. The power forward position is, by far, the least important position in this system. This team was able to win last year with Weatherspoon and Bowen as their only power forwards. The backcourt is what drives this team. We could start Bowen, Baxter, or Swift at the 4 instead Howard, and the results would be exactly the same.

The primary reason Swift was added was because our front court big men (Yao, Howard, Mutombo) are all extremely slow and unathletic and we needed an athlete. He could not improve at all and I would still consider him a good signing, simply because of how badly this needs an athlete.

 

Physically he's not really much bigger or stronger than TMac. Many years ago (and yes I do realize that it's different, but the general principals remain) I played on a high school basketball team with a guy who was the relative equivalent of Swift; he was a slightly short and not at all muscular guy to be playing inside, but he was an insane leaper and was always doing incredibly athletic things like blocking shots from out of nowhere or dunking (again impressive relative to the competition).

When I first started playing with the guy I remember how impressed I was with him as a basketball player for our team, but in retrospect these many years later the thing that sticks in my mind after a year of practicing against him is the way in which I never felt the same general unease about driving to the lane against his side.

Sure there was a significant chance of being thoroughly embarrassed by having your shot blocked, and it was probably statistically less effective to drive against him. But with the more traditional tall wide bodies you knew you’d get smacked around a bit, you’d definitely have less room to operate and you had a reasonable chance of getting the crap knocked out of you.

In retrospect I can only remember how frustratingly ineffectual having this outwardly impressive shot blocker was on the floor.

IMHO, I think Stromile’s game might be better suited to lining up beside someone like Shaq. I don’t even know if it’s really so much a case of “protecting Yao” as it is finding a guy to complement Yao’s game. On the surface Swift’s shot blocking and ability to play a bit away from the basket would seem ideal for a team with Yao, but really

Of course, I don’t really think Juan Howard is any kind of solution either. He’s essentially a caricature of all of Yao’s faults in a shorter package.

The ideal match I now believe would be what the hockey people call a “mucker and grinder” but with a bit of a midrange jumper and some rudimentary perimeter skills to allow Yao room in the post on offense. The aforementioned Oakley, Brian Grant of 4 years ago, early (like 85-86) Kevin Willis, or (it pains me to say it) Showtime era Kurt Rambis.

In fact, “Showtime” might make a good analogy. James Worthy and before him Bob McAdoo never meshed real well at PF next to Kareem. McAdoo left and Worthy took his PF skills to SF in order to get Mitch Kupchak, Kurt Rambis, AC Green, Mo Lucas, and Mychael Thompson on the floor.

Actually I think it's easier to go with a big guy what with the zone D. The real problem with quickness is on the defensive end. Unless you're talking about a freak like Kevin Garnet, even the quickest of PF's are almost never on the wing finishing the break.

Also Thorpe was a fast PF end to end when with the Rockets. The two images that linger of him were the big windmill onehanded palmed dunks both on the break and half court driving around people and his incredibly pathetic form on shots from outside 3 feet. He was definately faster and quicker than someone like Rodney McCray who was pretty fast when he got going, but took 1/2 the court to get to full speed.

 

I am not advocating an Oakley type PF to protect Yao. I am just musing about the naivety of some people here that an athletic guy like Swift would somehow "protect" Yao.

To me, Swift was a good signing only because of the price. He came in relatively cheap and it's good. But Memphis let him go for a reason. JVG is a system coach. And Swift is not the brightest guy in the world to learn a system. I think given time, he can still be good for the team. But right now, we need someone who knows what's going on on the court.