The original comment made me look up their average stats... Adjust Span's stats for Rafer's minutes and the difference is VERY small...And that's ignoring the fact that overall, players tend to get better stats if they get a consistent fair amount of minutes rather than garbage minutes...With 2-3 mins you hardly have time to warm up... The only big differences in those adjusted stats are TO (span's work out at 3.8 in rafer's minutes with rafer having 2.1) where my opinion is that Span's are inflated due to his really bad adjustment games in the beginning, and 3pt% where the sample size for span is quite low...(I've already mentioned what his normal shooting stats were like).... Before anyone chews me out on this, i am NOT advocating starting span over rafer or that span is better than rafer (although I think he could end up being)... Just pointing out some facts...
If this is true, he is a serious baby and had some major delusions about what he could expect from his first year in the NBA. With the state of the ROX PG situaion, if he was playing to any decent level at all I am confident even stubborn Van Gundy would give hime some time. He only has himself to blame. I hope he takes this to heart and the anger he feels from it motivates him. We will see what V-Mac is really made of in the offseason.
So many players need a change of scenary or coach to make it work. IMHO, V-Span is far too risky a player for JVG to ever get comfortable with him, especially in a contract year for JVG. Players like V-Span are high risk, high reward, they do things outside the box, make great plays and then boneheaded ones......Popovich recognized a similar style in Ginobli and realized if he could just tone down his mistakes a little he would have a game changer on his hands. I wish JVG would do the same with V-Span. DD
If I was VSpan I would look for a place where I could get some playing time. The business side would have to be worked out. If JVG is retained, VSpan will be gone via trade.
I would take V-Span over JVG..... Give me Adleman and V-Span over JVG and his myopic ways any day of the week. DD
If vspan took the place of Marcus Banks on the Suns... He would turn into a borderline all-star . He fits perfectly into the system. Along with his defense, that would make him the best backup pg in the league.
It's going to be difficult to land home court now that our best opportunity to secure it in more than twelve years has passed us by. With that said I think we should give guys like Spanoulis/Novak etc some important in-game minutes so that we have a better idea of what our playoff roster should look like. I think Jeff is going to be quite adamant with sticking to his Head backup one role with JL3 mixed in intermittently to match speed. However, I think it would be wise to attempt different things on the scoring side of the ball because V-Span is really the only guy who knows how to create, take contact and score. The ability to get fouled and score from the free throw line is gold in the grind of playoff basketball. I don't think any of these guys will play a single playoff second but I believe we would be remise not to anticipate every variable. In 05' we didn't have the luxury of inserting fresh, young legs for a few minutes when it was clear guy's like Sura was hurting us cause they weren't 100% out there
I don't have any information that I can post here, but when I read this, the overall point that V-Span wants to return to Greece -- I believe that 100%. I would guess the Rockets and Spanoulis are going to work something out. V-Span got no real NBA experience this season. Virtually zero. Think about the Rockets next season. They almost assuredly will still have Rafer Alston. They will make getting another point guard priority #1, in my opinion. What room is there for Vassilis Spanoulis?
This would be stupid on the Rockets part to just let him go....UNLESS they truly believe he will never amount to anything. If they think he can develop into a player, they should actually PUT THE WORK into developing him. The Rockets track record of late in developing talent has really suffered under JVG. DD
JVG developed #11 just fine. I'd take 3 second-round scrubs that he allowed to rot, if he could develop the franchise center from a jumpshooting perimeter player into a beast. Yao has more talent than Spanoulis, Lucas, Novak, Snyder et al. combined, and JVG has figured out how to get to it.
Yao has a ton of talent, and JVG should get some credit for fostering Yao's talent. But, JVG was forced to play Luther due to injuries and found out he could play. But JVG wants players who will operate within his system at all times.....and V-Span is probably too risky for his taste. V-Span can become a very good NBA point guard.....I can't believe that teams give up on players so fast. Nash took some time to develop, so will V-Span.....he just needs court time to get there. And if he isn't going to get it here, trade him somewhere and get an asset back...but don't negotiate a buy out...that would be DUMB DUMB DUMB on the Rockets management part. DD
Shhhhh!! If VSpan hits his next 3 shots, his shooting percentage will bypass Rafer's. Turnovers are such an anal statistic. The best point guards in history, Magic, Stockton, Zeke, Tim Hardaway, all of them average a turnover every 10-12 minutes.
EXACTLY !!!!!!! JVG though, will not play a potentially high turnover PG...... V-Span could have made the difference on this team this year with his aggressive nature and fearlessness. If he gets bought out and returns to Greece or signs somewhere else it will be another player that the Rockets let slip away for nothing. Who is running this team anyway.....you can't keep GIVING assets away... UGH. DD
I like V-Span and I like Novak but now isn't the time to be playing them. Its too close to the playoffs and we still have something to play for. Putting those guys in now will disrupt our chemistry. V-Span and Novak aren't starters or even 6th and 7th men but what they are is good situational guys. What pisses me off is we didn't develop them to come in in key situations, like bringing in Novak to bust Phoenix's zone or V-Span to harrass the other teams speedy point guards. Its too late for this season and we've got to live and die with JVG's rotation.
