You might be on to something here.... When Tmac first came here, JVG went on about how they needed to surround Yao and Tmac with "pitbull" like players. That "pitbull" playing heavy minutes now is Rafer. When Rockets took a beating in game 7 against Dallas, JVG emphasized surrounding Yao and Tmac with speed and youth. The answer was Rafer. Damn! Screw the Koolaid. Pass me some beer.
That jersey is going to become a collectors edition worth about 50 cents when Billy is back in Greece next season.
Rookies make mistakes. Actually if JVG has any sense in him at all, he would let Vspan play out the remaining games to develop him. Since we have no hope in my eyes to catch up to Utah for the 4th place, we are basically locked into the 5th place spot since the teams behind are pretty far behind.
I hope so it was good to see him on the court last night....he played fairly well.....took a charge ininitated the offense. The 2nd half he struggled a bit....but the more he plays, the better he will get. DD
I thought VSpan was our most effective player defensively last night except for possibly Shane. All the rest of our perimeter players were leaking sieves.
His manager comes in from Athens and meets with the team two hours later Spanoulis is playing. Look IMHO Lucus should never get min's over Spanoulis period.
v-mac really showed something last night. Glad to see he's been practicing more than just his mouth. but defensively he was solid
I talked to the Greek Consolate (the one based here in Houston) at the game last night at halftime and he mentioned the meeting two or three times.
I hope the meeting had nothing to do with it and V-Span just got in the game because he was ready. Maybe the Rockets are going to give him a real look to help them make up their mind on whether they let him go or stay. DD
I really don't know how much "inside info" the guy has but he kept saying "all we are asking for is 10-15 min a game" I don't know if "we" is Spanoulis fans or Team Spanoulis Hey the Toranto GM told the coach to play the Euro's or else but I really don't see CD doing something like that or JVG letting someone tell him what to do.
This is my main issue with the Rockets. Clearly JVG is going to do whatever he thinks is in the best interest to win that particular game, and that is HIS job, but the GM needs to be thinking farther down the road, for this year, next year, and the year after. If the GM feels that a player needs to be developed he needs to step in and tell the coach to play him some minutes. That is why Colangelo is the best GM in the game, he knows that the team needs to develop the talent it has..... CD and Morey need to insist that JVG utilize some of the young guys and see if they are part of the future or not....becuase right now they have no data on them going into the offseason where they will be responsible for filling in the team's holes....... We need stronger vision from the GM for developing this team for the future..... IMHO, realistically the team is not going to win it this year, so why not use that time to find out whether Span, Novak, Snyder, JL3, Head etc...are going to be integral parts of a championship team, if not trade em, or replace em....but having them sit is not going to give the GM anything to evaluate them on. DD
Wow DD, that isn't a very good attitude... Would you really be alright with JVG saying, "we're not going to win this year" - in the beginning of the year? Would anyone?
I agree with DD. Trying to go for a championship run when we don't have the right pieces, is a short sighted maneuver. We need to cultivate the right pieces. If we get wins in the process, great, but you need to sacrifice the short term for the long term.
Well first off the Rockets do have a legit chance to win it and infact I predict as of right now they lose to the Spurs in game 7 of the WCF. If I am correct that means we came very close to a title ie. a championship contender. All of those guys minus JL3 have a shot at being key members of the Rockets in the future. Novak=not ready we need him to bulk up and become an assasin off the bench. Snyder=got his chance to start and now he is in the rotation. Head=all year a rotation player So your beef is with JL3 and VSpan, Well I personally don't think JL3 is good enough to be a rotation player on a title team. As far as Spanoulis, he had a shot when Snyder got hurt and Bonzi was not playing but was too inconsistant so I guess my only beef with Van Gundy is he did not play Span at point where he should of. My perfect senario would be Yao-backed up by Deke and Jake (say vs Miami) when matchups dictated to stay big Hayes-backed up by Howard/Battier when we went small Batter-Bonzi T-Mac-Head/Bonzi Span 5 min w Alston on floor Alston-Span 10-15 min Nine man rotation minus Deke/Jake When you play Big with Deke than you sqeeze Span/Head/Bonzi whoever is not performing. By all indications that will be Span as of now. Small team Yao Hayes Battier Mac Alston bench- Head Howard Bonzi Span Big team add Deke minus Span
I'm just saying, I don't think we should expect that kind of mentality from our coach, who the players look up to. Think about what T-Mac or Yao would think if they found out that JVG said "I'm going to develop players this year because ... realistically we don't have a chance to win at all this year." These guys want to win now.
No, the coach should do everything he can to win now....the GM should take a longer view. This is what I said in my post.....the GM should be the guy looking out for the team's future, while JVG should be trying to win each and every game. The GM has the final say however, and if he thinks that developing a player is important he should step in and say so. DD
Let me add, Snyder and Span are the future not the present but Span should get some backup point time and Snyder steps in for Bonzi like he is doing if the Bonzi thing does not work out.
even tho Span looked cool last night, he still trys hard to impress the coach in limited minimal minutes All I'm asking is 15-20 minutes 10 games straight, and lets reevalute the situation
