JVG has no respect for players who aren't motivated, and will treat them that way. Swift will be out of here like Eddie Griffin. Let's just hope he doesn't start shooting at people so he will have some trade value remaining.
They're up tempo with Gilbert running the floor and throwing up bombs. Stro could get some put back dunks there just by running the floor. Write it up.
motivation is the issue, i think. he just doesn't seem to enjoy either the game or the competition. a problem many big men face (olowokandi, joe smith, brendan haywood, cato, kwame, etc.) have faced once they got to the pros and were handed a guaranteed paycheck. he probably also gets yelled at a lot in practice, which wouldn't help his desire to play basketball. also, he faces too many physical disadvantages. the man is probably closer to 6'8" than his outrageously listed 6'11" at draft time, and he apparently weighs less than mcgrady. there's no way you can play power forward with that body, unless you have the strength and attitude of someone like kenyon martin.
i like arenas. he's an impressive player, talent wise. but he runs the fast break about as well as steve francis. again, it's not like either of them are inherently selfish with the ball, but that neither of them are really trained to look for the open man as a first option. arenas, more often than not, will look to score on a fast break rather than dish to a trailer. his time as point guard is coming to an end before too long, in my opinion. not to harp on the wizards, but the last thing they need is stromile. they are already filled with players that either can't or won't pass (arenas, jamison, butler, haywood, etc.). also, i don't ever recall stromile being the type to get down the floor quickly in transition--that takes some awareness and initiative.
I can't believe it's come to this. I honestly thought he was the final piece to the puzzle during the offseason. I thought his problems last year were because he was coming off the bench and/or playing out of position. This guy is a total mystery. How can you be so athletically gifted and so unmotivated at the same time? I don't understand it.
Don't expect enybody to give us Ron Artest, Peja, Ricky Davis for Stro so if you were CD would you take lesser talents such as Jerome James, Dannie Fortson, Etan Thomas or Brendan Haywood for Stro.
again, not to turn this into a wizards-bashing thread, but etan thomas and haywood are just as frustrating as stromile. thomas seems to more concerned with his poetry career than getting a rebound, and haywood refuses to defend and rebound if arenas doesn't give him some touches at the beginning of the game. thomas also is usually injured for half the season, even though he only plays about 15 minutes a game. both are physically equipped to play in the low post, but neither seem to enjoy the game of basketball very much. james--from what i've seen, same as above. perhaps even worse. fortson--well, you know you're getting a rebounder, the best in fact. what you also get, apparently, is a brute who everyone else on the team is scared of.
Yeah, we need a brute to bring in as the hatchet man when things get a little bit out of hand. He's got one year left. Let's send Seattle Stro and Moochie in exchange for Fortson and Damien Wilkens.
Once, quite a while ago, Mike Newlin was subbing as a broadcaster in a Rockets game. I don't remember who he made the following remark about, but I have never forgotten the remark itself: 'That player has an ignominious physiognomy.' Now if you have ever heard Newlin speak, you know he has some kind of a speech impediment, so this was remarkable enough as it was. But the point he was making was that, even though the player had a certain rather disinterested, unhappy look on his face, he was still a fiery competitor. A lot of times this season, just looking at Stro's face when he is playing, he simply looks as though he is having an absolutely awful time, like he is not only not enjoying himself playing this game, but that he is actually suffering in some way. It's the look that some athletes get when they know, deep in their hearts, that they are hopelessly overmatched, and that they believe that there is no way they can come anywhere close to meeting the expectations which have been placed on them. It's not that Stro doesn't TRY - he tries pretty hard, as far as I can tell. But effort without skill or intelligence does not equal success. It's frustrating to us as fans, because we can see how close he sometimes is to doing the things he needs to do to succeed, but we also can see the times where he just looks hopeless and lost. It is also obviously frustrating for Stro himself, but I think for different reasons. Stro does not appear to have come to possess the knowledge even of what it is he is not doing. In other words, he doesn't even seem to be aware of exactly in which ways he is failing. His frustration is the frustration of a person who simply does not understand why everyone seems to be yelling and disappointed all the time. As long as Hayes is on the roster, Stro should probably never see the floor again for this team. And I would not worry too much about his trade value - he went for less than market value when we picked him up (so many people seemed surprised, meaning that a lot of people clearly had a value in mind that was higher than we paid for him - they were wrong then, they will be wrong again), even though his value in Memphis was roughly what it has become here. Some coach/GM/owner will convince himself he can get through to Stro where JVG, Hubie, and Fratello could not. Stro has become nothing but the next model of Piatkowski. In and out of here in a flash.
If he had talent he would be playing, I applaud JVG for being consistent and not afraid to bench his sorry butt for being unmotivated. If he is mad because he is not getting playing time then he should be smart enough to realize that he needs to put more work in and show more effort and smarts o nthe court and in practic.
yes, swift doesnt get motivated enough as we have said along...and I have been trying to stick it out with him, BUT IF YOU CAN''T GET MOTIVATED FOR YOUR FIRST GAME IN YOUR FORMER CITY (3PTS, 1REB IN MEM IN 20+MIN) WE ALL HAVE TO WONDER....
If JVG had 5 Bowens to start each game T-Mac and Ming would be watching from the bench along side of Stro. Motivation and effort are over rated and no matter how hard you go at it, a guy like JVG will not be happy until you injure yourself like T-Mac did. You can say Bowen is a great player if we are talking about playing hard and giving it your all, but talent wins in the NBA. Stro will get traded out of Houston for next to nothing and it will be yet another bad move by the Rockets. It's time for a new head coach.
Hmmmmmmm, While I do have issue with Van Gundy running his players into the ground, I can't see how we improve ourselves by dumping him. Who we gonna hire? We're halfway through the season. What kind of system is a new coach going to install and how much longer is it gonna take our guys to pick up on it? Even at the end of this season, I don't know who we are going to get that is going to be better than "Ole Scowler".
