This is my first thread created... and I thought this article was a good way to start (if it's anywhere else please lock) Chron Article Injuries reduce options, leading to familiar failings By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle The Chron title's this article "Rockets bench not holding its own" seems a bit misleading. At this point the bench is only two people. Howard, no matter how much people here want to trade him, is giving the most help off the bench. Bonzi is still getting in shape, but he's improving. Deke is at most playing 10 minutes (mostly around 5 minutes) So my discussion question is this... we are using basically 7 people in the rotation during this losing streak, would rotating Scott Padgett Lucas or V-span into the lineup to help with the "40 out of 48 minutes" problem? Or do we just have to wait until our injured players come back? And if JVG isn't using them now, when we are shorthanded.. what are they even there for? Discuss amoungst yourselves!
I'm wondering why a Hayes fan would put Bench anywhere close in the same sentence....... I think Hayes would fit very nicely on the bench and his stats fit right in or rather ON....as in ON the bench with the rest of the one dimensional players.
He's punishing them for playing great in the first laker game. He's got his system and he can't have reality interfere with it. I really have no idea what his logic is sometimes. Rafer isnt staying in front of his man, try Billy! Need some quickness, try JL3 or Billy. Give them some incentive.
I'm curious if they practice a lot of plays where Yao is not on the floor. At this point everyone still looks lost and they don't have any confidence w/ out a superstar. Instead of covering their heads and weathering the storm these guys need some focus instead of playing hot potato. Compared to last year, it's a big difference though. Even w/ Yao carrying the team we had no chances in most of our games last year. At least this time around we're losing them in the final minute. And yes, we need someone else in the rotation off the bench. I'm not putting it strictly on JVG to just start subbing more guys. Those guys trying to earn a spot have their best opportunity now, when Tmac and Snyder are still out and Bonzi is not exactly 100%. It's not a good sign that some of them (Vspan, Novak) are still not cracking the rotation when we're so undermanned.
Yes, try billy. It is a must for a ring run unless sura back. Head can't be the point. a point Head really hurt the team.
I agree, and nor I understand JVG's thinking. He supposed to be a basketball genius, but his understanding of people and how to motivate them leaves me cold.
sigh. i mean is this guy really surprised that the bench isnt playing well, when the only minutes he ever gives them is in garbage time. jvg is completely unwilling to go through the growing pains that young players inevitably suffer in order to get better. its like he expects rookies like vspan and novak to be mistake-free. good coaches realize the nba season is a marathon, not a sprint. letting your players develop early on pays off later in the season. instead, we wait until the'yre "ready," but by then its already too late because our starters are either injured and worn out. and saying 'they should be earning rotation minutes in practice' is ridiculous. without actual game experience, these guys are not going to magically improe (see darko). the sad thing is, everytime lucas and vspan have been in there, the team has actually looked pretty good. they mess up and turn it over, sure, but so do our starters. and novak has gotten all of what, 1 minute of playing time this season? obviously his defense isnt going to be great but youve got to make a tradeoff somewhere. even if he gets scored on every single time, we all know how deadly a shooter he is. utilized properly, he could be out there draining 3's , enough so that his output more than makes up for what he gives up. instead, jvg wants to see him play defense. cmon, this guy is never going to be a defender. he's a shooter. let him shoot. and whats the worse that could happen....we lose the game? we're losing anyway now that tmac is out. try something new. who knows, maybe the bench will actually IMPROVE once they get consistent minutes. but we all know that isn't going to happen...once they get solid minutes, the second they mess up, they're back in the doghouse.
THE BENCH CAN KISS MY ASS! They are third tier nba players and they couldn't thrive in a YMCA league! Poor JVG forced to take criticism for guys the critics have killed before the players ever got to the NBA. JVG please: Play D for Novak Hold on to the ball for BILLY Teach the midget to defend guys a foot taller Block shots for Padgett Fix Snyders hand Get in shape for Bonzi Give JHo some athleticism Massage Sura to the court or into retirement Give Deke some geritol Give Hayes a jumpshot or an easier layup more like it-SHOULD BE ON BENCH!
I made a thread over this, remember the LA Lakers game in Houston and JVG went into that deep bench line-up and we went on somthing like a 24-1 run? He never tried that line-up again since that quarter, why not?? Our bench may not be that bad after all, they just got to play with guys they are comfortable playing with, so JVG needs to play that 5 man combo again, they atleast earned that sheesh
Why do you all say this? Did you watch the game? Phil Put the starters in when we were down by around 10-12 points, we continued to make it a 2 point game, holding Kobe to 6 missed shots. Half was against the bench yes but the other was against the starters
Yes I watched the game. And I said our bench had the run against their bench. I didn't say our bench scored all the 24 points against their bench. If my memory didn't fail me, Phil Jackson put his starters back when the lead had been cut to less than 10 points. I guessed you were confused by my last sentence in which I gave props to our bench for the 24-1 run.
Toushe as we did start the run against their bench, but we did continue it against the starters, while we caused Kobe to miss 6 shots. Yes it could of been a one time fluke, as I'm sure it was, but what they did and the hustle and passion they played with merits another chance to see if it was a fluke. Thye had chemistry and mediocre players with chemistry can be good. They can't do worse any worse then the current combo that finishes the final 3-4 minutes when JVG takes Yao out then the team that is in there now does, they are pitiful~ try somthing new. I'm not saying give this group 20 minutes a game, all I'm saying is give them another chance to work their way ups, they showed potential.
uuh first of all the rockets WANTED these players. its not like lucas showed up and jvg was like 'omg wtf i thought you were 6'7, why are you so short.' make no mistake, jvg is getting the players he wants, and the players he wants are ones he think are 'savvy' and 'trustworthy.' he is unwilling to take risks or put up with some stupidity in exchange for athleticism. that is why we are by far the least athletic team in the nba. snyder is the only guy on our team with athleticism. assuming t-mac never gets back to 100%, which is a pretty reasonable assumption. and as for the bench: they're bench players for a reason; they don't need to outplay the other team's starters, they just need to hang with the opposing benches, and if we're lucky, they'll play better than expected and actually improve upon the play of their starters. but most of the time they will not be nearly as good as the starters, but at least they are giving the more important players a breather without causing too much damage. but you have to play them. let them cause havoc by running; lucas and spanoulis are quick and we should be using that to our advantage, instead of playing to expose their weaknesses. this is jvg's fourth year in houston. last year he gets a pass because tmac was out and yao had not emerged. this year yao is dominating, he got his dream player in battier, for whom we gave up a potential star in rudy gay and a flawed but useful 4/5 in stro, and he still can't win ballgames without tmac. after years of trying to get players that fit the coach, it would be nice if the coach tried adapting to the players.
It would be nice if the athletes we could use would be COACHABLE for the millions they don't even EARN half of the time. We have guys that are locker room guys and are coachable (however like us you can understand every play but without athleticism we are where we are). These guys are supposed to not detract but compliment our stars......trouble is these guys are one dimensional and do not thrive when given the chance. We don't see these guys practice and I think if we did we have the same reservations JVG has. BTW, I do not include Bonzi in that earlier group of locker room guys and I am all for bringing in a better coach but I feel JVG is better than a lot of coaches out there and that the rockets have smart players but have no heart or athleticism or creativity. Once again our bench is weak and so our staring PF and our SF's offense.
what chance? the last time lucas got significant playing time, he and head led a pretty inspiring comeback and almost stole a game from the lakers. i think that counts as thriving, especially compared to the ineptitude of the starters. yeah they are weak, but every NBA team is weak at some position. it would be easy if we had stars at every position, but unfortunately the NBA doesn't work like nba live. what we do have is a true superstar in yao ming, yet we can barely compete with the portland trailblazers. even without tmac, that was a game we should have won. there is something wrong with this team, and it isn't just the players.
JVG and his fans are living proof that Frank Knights great insight regarding uncertainty is still valid in a world of 21th Century. In another words, they have no mental capability of rationally making inferences from random events. I am willing to give JVG a chance: To my surprise we havent been blown out in any of these matches. At least teams are showing spirit, and desire to win unlike last year. However, I have a feeling Les is scanning through the possible coaching list. JVG may be have to bye bye to 7 figure salary.
These guys get a chance in practice every week, if that can't make their point against half speed teammates, then why would they do any better against opposing players in a cut throat enviornment? JVG deserves a 7 figure salary a 100 times before 80% of the players in this league. Rockets fan with or without any of them!
ahhh remember the good old days of about 2 months ago? Back when the majority of us were sucked into proclaiming this team was deeper than what we've had in a long time? Whatever happened to those days?
