So a big lead in the 3rd quarter and you don't mind it possibly dwindling down 3-8 pts? When you hold a lead, you want to win. Taking him out after 1 minute and possibly giving up a bit of the lead and make it a game again isn't an option. So maybe the Bucks run off 2 3 pointers and make it a 14 pt game. It's a game again. Even with 20, it was still a game because they have 2 outside shooters that could nail the shot at any given time! Trash minutes are what they are, trash minutes when the game is over. The Rockets can only blame themselves if they wanted Novak out there that badly. They coughed up most of the lead and Luther Head have some horrible turnovers. He was deadly from the 3 pt line too last night, but it's those turnovers that kill any lead you could give a team. A quick shot here, a long rebound, etc.... That's how you lose a lead. So, you put Novak in there. Was he suppose to shoot the ball as soon as he gets it? How do you draw a play where he gets it with 4 seconds on the clock? You'll stagnate the offense and lose any momentum that you were on at that time. If he shoots it early, you ruin the game plan. This was a game! The Bucks were down by 5 until they choked it with a 5 second inbounds turnover. So, yeah, 1 minute could make all the difference in the world. Novak's a deadly shooter, probably one of the best I've ever seen, but he's not exactly perfect either. A few long misses and that lead could be down from 20 to 12 in a minute.
hotblooded, that is an obnoxious post. Basically renders the page unreadable. you probably don't have edit privileges to fix it, which makes it even worse. don't make the page stretch like this again, please.
yes.. that's really annoying because it stretched the browser's width to an irritating size.... As for the comment just before this. Apparently, winning's not enough, so there's something else to complain about.
Did I say let the lead dwindle down to 3-8 pts? We had a 20-pt lead. Even if Novak blew two defensive possession in a row AND the Bucks took advantage of it AND made two consecutive 3s, we could still hold a commanding 14-pt lead. That's assuming Novak blew EVERYTHING and was TOTALLY WORTHLESS out there, including offensively. That is quite a stretch. Besides, it's not like our TIRED team without Novak on the floor were doing great keeping the lead at that point on. And as I said, there was a potential advantage of having Novak the home town hero making a couple of dagger 3s to demoralize the Bucks.
He came into the NBA one year too late. If he was on the injury plagued Rockets roster of last year, he'd be starting right now probably. Keith Bogans as a starter..I still get nightmares.
Novak is a phenominal shooter and I'm in favor of him getting the minor minutes depending on the game situation, but he's not ready for major minutes yet. Novak is still a liablity on guarding strong power forwards on defense and this will force Yao to pick the slack and help out. Yao is a more important piece, as we need him longer on the floor and we want Yao out of foul trouble. For Novak to earn more minutes: 1) The key thing is to get stronger and play better defense and rebound rebound rebound and then rebound some more. 2) It would not hurt if he also practice his post up and drives to the basket in order to keep get to the foul line more often and keep his defender on their toes. This not a major requirement, but it should be a long term goal which he can work on during summer time. For short term goal, just work harder on defense and rebound like a mad man and I guarantee you his minutes will go up and he will even play during the clutch minutes
Well, as a rookie, it's tough for one to play as a veteran could or should. Problem is VG is giving chances to veterans that maybe don't deserve it to cut minutes from rookies. I can understand Spanoulis' case, to a point(with two guys coming before him), but for Novak it's a puzzle to me. It is possible that Novak will never learn to play defence(some just can't). What then, team doesn't need his shooting skills, of course it does. Defence MUST be there only if he's meant for a starter, but you can't make a starter out of every player. Michael Cooper, or Byron Scott of the Lakers never really played fefence but their role was to shoot, which they did very well. Could be said for the Bulls shooter, who was that, B.J. armstrong? If you demand from me more, I'll ask for a higher contract if I'll deliver. Now, if JVG just doesn't like rookies and the time it might take them to develop, I don't understand why all the team's draft picks aren't traded for veterans, or at least loan them rookies for free to a bottom-level team that they'll have opportunities to play for and develop. It's a strange tactics. I'm wondering if there is a plan behind it. I'll wait till the playoffs to see how this turns out to be. Maybe he wants to bond the starters first??? Give the starters ability to play their game and develop as a team before starting to insert new elements to the teams game???
Agree on almost everything you said except for two. Michael Cooper was a defensive specialist for the Lakers in the '80s. He was the opposite end of Byron Scott. John Paxson was probably the 1-dimensional shooter on the Bulls team in the early '90s, more so than B.J. Armstrong. BJ was more versatile than Paxson. IIRC, Paxson could shoot the lights out if given chance. Most will only remember his last second shot that sent Barkley's Suns packing in the '93 NBA Finals. But he was equally deadly in Bulls first title run against Magic's Lakers in the '91 Finals.
Hm, okay, Cooper is a too old for me player to remember acurately, I suppose he did play d if you say so, I got to watch him when he was old anyway. Maybe I was too young to remember that element. Paxson was the guy coming in for the shots? I couldn't remember if that was him or Armstrong. I do remember the other PG that wasn't a super shooter at first, improved very much later on, in that area(I hope I remember that accurately)
Cooper was also a three point shooter, he held several records back in the 80's, including the one for most 3's in a finals game before Kenny broke it.
Oh, I love this guy. I want him appear in the match as often as possible. At any rate, he should have had a chance in his hometown, whatever JVG has in his foolish discepline and way of developing a rookie
if you want to give skinner so much credit. yao had some nice looks, he looked a little bit tired past seasons, skinner hasn't been able to do anything against yao
A real question is that what would be happened to Yao during the rookie year if JVG was in Rockets. If JVG still played Yao lots during that year (we know he had lots of problems in the first year), then that may prove that Novak is not just ready to play now.
You can't learn to play sitting on the bench. The rockets had one of the best team defenses in the league last year and didn't make the playoffs. Defense is very important but it is OVERRATED as compared to the need to be able to score points.
I believe this thread is not about playing rookie or veteran but mainly serves the purpose to let Novak play. In other words, rookie and veteran thing is used as an excuse to blame JVG for not playing Novak. This board has evolved from SF is the man ---> YOF ---> YOH ---> TMac is the man ---> Yao is the man ---> Novak love fest. If I know nothing about Novak, I will get the impression he is the second coming by reading some of the posts here. If Rockets is having a huge lead in 3rd quarter, I will prefer them to choke the life out of other team by playing tighter defence, especially if other team has someone like Redd. Win or lose is not your responsibility, therefore, it is easy for you to embrace the 'Develop Rookie' philosophy few games into the season. For those who cannot stomach JVG's style, well, try to cool down, keep your fingers cross, he might be kicked out of town at the end of this season, for not wrapping minutes to Novak during Christmas. Mean time, just wait for the 3 points competition during All Stars, you can have Novak's arc all you want. Or better still, start Novak in your NBA Live or NBA whatever.... See, it is no big deal.
Jeff Van Gundy is too stubborn to let the rooks play. VSpan has gotten 0 minutes this year, and novak has gotten 0 minutes this year and it is unbelievable that in a game where we were up by about 20 in the 4th qtr, that none of the young guys got a chance. a lineup of yao novak battier tmac and rafer would be RIDICULOUS or putting tmac at the point and letting bonzi or snyder play the 2 just to add some athleticism to the lineup. lol i swear i could be a coach :/
We didn't make the playoffs because Yao Ming and McGrady were out. Do you seriously believe we would have been in the lottery with Yao and McGrady healthy? Scoring points is overrated. Winning is better. Here is something using your logic. "The Jazz/Sonics/Knicks had one of the best team offenses in the league last year and didn't make the playoffs. Offense is very important but it is OVERRATED as compared to the need to be able to get defensive stops." I imagine that's probably what the Jazz, Knicks, and Sonics fan boards sound like. Knicks 23-59, worst record in the league.
