I'd like to see Novak at least get some chances at some point to play good minutes. (Hopefully we can get some more blowouts to get him some minutes... saaaaaay... this week? ) Because obviously, a you cannot develop a player very player for NBA basketball very well if you never let them play NBA basketball... ... BUT, let's be honest here. There really just has not been much of a need for what Novak brings to the table yet. Most of our role players have been shooting very well from outside so far this season. In fact, I bet our roleplayers (as in everyone except T-Mac and Yao) are shooting +40% from three.
Wow, I really messed up the last sentence of my first paragraph in that post... sheesh. Wish I could edit it. Anyways, this is how it should read: "Because obviously, you cannot develop an NBA basketball player very well if you never let him play NBA basketball..."
this will be discussed either his defense is bad so don't put him in there(how can anoyone not see this GOSH!) , or he needs to learn and the only way is to put him in there(van gundy you are so stupid, let the kid play!) , and he can;t possibly worse than jhn or padgett. one has their side, the other is equally convinced they are right. it has been discussed in detail. if you have nothing new to say, please move on
Oh son of a b****! That sucks! Man, this reminds me of when Howard went down in 04-05... (He was actually a fairly valuable member of our team at that point, haha). We had basically no back-up PF to replace him with... And it led to a mini losing streak before we got things together (and then I think we actually went on a big winning streak without him ever returning to the lineup). Hopefully the Rockets can adjust quickly. We still have a crapload of talent... just a gigantic gaping hole and power forward...
Oh damnit... I'm making so many newbie mistakes. I meant to post that in the thread about Chuck Hayes' injury. I seriously have no idea how that happened. Sorry. These newbie mistakes are compounded by the fact that, as a newbie, there's nothing I can do to fix them.
JVG listen: Play Novak and Span!!! JVG listen: Play Novak and Span!!! Novak shoots >50% at 3p line. Is that reason good enough for him to play 10 to 15 min? If it is not enough, Span led his team to beat James+Melo+Wade! Is that reason good enough for him to play 10 to 15 min? If that is still not enough, remember T-Mac and Yao were out for 56 games last season? And the whole team had 283 person-game injuries? Today we lost Chark Heys, who konws what will happen tomorrow? You always say that they need experience. But how can they get expereince with 0 playing time? We know you had great pressure because last season the record looked so bad. But for long term, for the Rockets can go not only into playoff but further. I strongly suggest that: Yao and T-Mac should not play more than 35 min and occasionally even less. Other starters, too. Give Novak and Span at least 10 min. So they will be ready when difficult situation comes.
JVG has been coaching more than 10 some years in the league, a winning coach. But apperantly, you know more than he does.
JVG knows what he's doing. he doesn't wanna give easy minutes to rookies, he's makin killbill and supernovak earnin them. as the season progress, we'll see them on the court. word.
When a team is winning, my suggestion would be to let the coach continue to do what he is doing. I would love to see Novak get some minutes as well as Span but let's wait until Van Gundy needs to tinker with the lineup when things are not working. You'll probably get your wish now with Hayes out for a few weeks but I'd let the coach continue to do what he's doing... I like the wins and prefer to keep the status quo going until the wins start turning into loses.
Finally someone brought this issue up. Why has no one mentioned it before? Along those lines: Van Grumpy needs to speed up the offense. What's up with Badiane? When are they going to unveil the new unis? When is Yao going to "Get It?" Francis needs to start passing to Yao.
Don't listen to him Jeff. The team is clicking right now. No need to fix something that ain't broke. KillBill and Great White Hope show promise but they are still rookies -- and not of the highly-touted consensus #1 pick variety either. Don't let fans' hard-ons for rookies distract you from making the smart play: vets who already know how to play.
I absolutely agree with you. JVG should wonder who should replace Rafer and Head if they get injured. Isn't it better to have ready alternatives to take over their jobs adeuately? I hope we won't have these problems this season, but a good coach takes this risk into account an is prepared for all possibilities...
Sorry, but I have to disagree. The most important thing is winning, straight up. If Rafer and Head give us the best shot of winning right now (and it's in my personal assessment that they do), then you have to go with them. This is why Garbage Minutes are called Garbage minutes, and this is what practice is for. When the win or loss is neither secured, you can't afford to be messing around and getting your rookies time in; especially to prepare for something that may never occur. It's Novak's and Span's responsibility to be prepared whenever their number is called, and that perparation must come however they can have it and whenever they have the opportunity to do so.
JHo was OK at times and then horrible at times in the last game when Hayes went out. I'd like to see Novak get a few mins just to get his feet wet but I'm sure JVG will be moving Battier over to the 4 more and giving more playing time to Luther and Snyder which is the smart thing to do from a defensive standpoint and defense wins games.
We've won 4 our of 5 games, including blowouts of dallas and miami, and people are whining about JVG not playing Novak? Some people aren't happy unless they aren't happy.
