things I noticed in the first couple of Pre-Season games

whoops

Well, personally, I hope Hayes gets more minutes than Jho, but I just don't see that happening. Hayes will get his 10-15 minutes too. He'll either be the 9th, 10th, or 11th man depending on the night.

 

here is my insight from the first two preasons:

-Rafer has improved shooting. Hes just alot better than i thought he was

-Lucas and Billy has been dissapointing. Billy is understandable, but lucas lost the ball to a center, and it looked like hes trying realy hard to make jvg happy, which made him take bad shots.

-Head can be our backup PG if billy or lucas can't do it. heads hustled and got bunch of steals, he still has that ugly form but still makes it.

-padget is pretty good, hustling for the rebound. has a good shot still

- hayes, can't say much, he fouled out pretty quik, looked like he was fustrated.

-snyder is pretty darn athletic, he or head is our backup sg

-novak, this kid can shoot.... thats all i can say.

-mutombo, he got this little move that he did twice, and i haven't seen him doing it at all last season.... have anyone notice that?

-but this is jsut the preason, i would say shane, bonzi, yao, t-mac, and rafer would start. snyder, head, howard/hayes, mutombo, and padget/novak would back them up. v-span and lucas will need to improve to play. the 15th player depends on hairyass, azbukie, and the cabeson.

 

I've been bashed on this board for defending Alston, Howard and Head.

The fact is that the fans here have been extremely overboard in judgement, rating them, and complaining about them.


The Howard hate in particular.

For some reason all objectivity has been lost.

Many people rate total scrubs better or "infinitely better" than Alston and Howard.

Believe or not those 3 players are VERY solid NBA players.

 

Stromile looked great in preseason didn't he? Oh wait..

 

Or Salim Stoudamire for that matter.

 

i don't think lonny will ever make it past security.

 

Rafer- He definitely improved his jumpshot,and looks much more confident and smooth
Head- His hard work payed of.He looks much better and I think he will have a very good year
Snyder- Very athletic,but also very intense and hard nosed.Has an unusual form of shot,looks great attacking the rim.A thing that surprised me is his shot blocking.He has excellent timing and jumps very high for the blocks.Very good defensive player,tough, he reminds me of Gerald Wallace
Spanoulis- I expected him to struggle,but not as much.This season he may not be a significant contributor to the team,but his fierce attitude and toughness tell that he is going to develop in a good player
Lucas-Pretty much dissapointed me.Not quite ready to be 2 backup pg,forces his shot instead of creating for teammates.On the bright side,he is unbelievably fast,and he is a hard worker,I think he will develop nicely
Novak- The guy can shoot incredibly.Every shot he made was nothing but net.Very quick release and form of the shot.Needs to buff up a bit and work hard on his defense,but his shot alone earns him an important spot in the rotation.
Padgett-Not much to say,he's getting that 15th roster spot
T-Mac-Ahhh,how good is to see him play!!!he looks thinner than last year,but smoother and he looks just like the 2004 T-mac.I think this year is gonna be special for him.
Battier-Everything i thought he would be.Very intense defender,good shooter,a superduper role player
Hayes- Well,he looks thinner,but quicker and much more durable.He would be great if he would'nt miss those easy layups
Hairyass,Azubuike and Jacobsen will be cut,they just plain suck.
In general,the team looked great.They were running the fast breaks great,and I like this small ball concept that they played.It may give yao more rest,because the team wont suck playing run'n'gun in stretches in games.With Yao and Bonzi,this team has even more options on offense,and I think that the bench will be great.
Yao,Howard,Battier,T-Mac,Alston-This is a good starting lineup,our second unit of Head,Snyder,Bonzi,Hayes,Deke is very good defensivly,intense,adds a scoring punch,energy,rebounding,shot blocking.And you put Novak with Yao and T-mac later in the game,he drains 3pters like layups,you spread the floor for Yao or Bonzi....
This team has many options,we can match up with any team in the NBA,screw that,we will dictate the matchups!!!
This team has'nt been this good in a while,we can really expect much from them.I would dare to say championship,but a Physical 4 with size separates us from that.

 

From the first two games I have noticed that Alston is shooting well but is looking for his shot too much, just like last season, especially considering JVG is depending upon him to be our number one playmaker. I realize that this is not an opinion that will be looked upon as a favourable one, even though it is the truth. Lucas also falls into this trap as well, possibly both are trying too hard to impress JVG. I also see problems at the Power Forward position as well as back up Center and I don't see CD or JVG doing anything to help other than using Mutombo, Howard and Hayes as band aids possibly till next season.The first half of the second game looked like we are the best team in the NBA!

 

freudian slip?

 

Well, currently we don't have Yao and Wells, Alston's gonna pass to ball to them first when they are on court. And Alston's job is to pass the ball to Yao and Tmac, if he fails there he will be replaced, I am sure he knows that. Nothing to worry about.

 

I am surprised at how quick people are to judge Billy's ability. His track record of consistently proving people wrong is by no means a coincidence. Just give him time. Even Yao took much longer than a year or two to fulfill many of your unrealistic expectations.

 

If Bonzi doesn't make it back and start playing soon, he won't be starting when the regular season begins.

 

1) I agree with everyone here that Alston looks much more like the PG that we felt we were getting when we made the trade for him. He's a street baller and it is important for the PG to react and not think on the floor ala Stockton, Nash, Kidd, and so many other great 1's that have come before him. I'm impressed that he worked all summer on his game, his quickness and his shot. He knows that teams are going to rotate off of him and it's up to him to make them pay each time. This kid can average 11 ppg, 8 dimes and 4 boards within this offense and he's needs to do it and play solid D when the brite lights come on...he can do it and I believe he will!

2) V-span will be fine with more playing time...when I look at V-span's game, I think about the kid in SA (Ginobili) when he first came to the league...he was wild, lost and very erratic...coach Pop hated his undisciplined approach to the game but loved his hustle and bball instincts. Look at what happen with that kid since then.

You guys relax because we don't need our kid to get off this year...or make the rotation if others are playing much better...his growth will come at the end of the year as he's playing day in a day out against better competition in practice and blowout games...which we hope to have a few. V is going to be a good player because of his hustle and drive and seems like a gym rat. He has an NBA body and hopefully the guys around him will push him to get better.

3) JLIII can flat out shoot the ball and Van Gundy's style has change and he wants more shooters on the floor...where this kids gets minutes remains to be seen but every time he's on the floor look out cause the kid can shoot. In those long road trips when you're on back to back nites...you need JLIII's and Novak's shot (as reserves) to help the starters to keep the scoreboard turning...

4) Finally, Van Gundy has athletes now unlike last year and the year before in that Dallas series. We go up 2-0 on Dallas because we played better the first two games but the better team won because they had more natural talent and that disparity usually shows in a 7-game marathon. I can't wait to see this team of athletes (Bonzi, T-Mac, Synder, Battier, Yao, et al) against the Mavs young guns or SA's veterans. This team...if it will play some D each night...will be able to always find the scoreboard because of the horses that Van now has in his stable.

Peace B-Ball lovers...

 

V-Span is going to be ok. Yes, he is playing with individuals that are roll players and not to comfortable themselves.

I don't know if you all are seeing all of his pick and roll passes being mishandled or the shooters are not knocking down the shots.

Let him have someone there who is comfortable with finishing. I have already seen at least 4 assist that have not been completed in the little time he has been in the game.

Plus, like a Ginobli, he is playing with energy. Which, in the NBA, there is not too many hustlers/energy players.

So, let's wait a little while and see what happens when he plays with someone who can finish and someone who knows the pass is coming. A La Stockton - to - Malone.

But, he is going to have to knock down the open 3.

 

Great points. I do want to point out that despite Van Gundy's desire to play a 8-9 man rotation, I don't think it would be a bad idea to extend that to 9-11 because it will keep everyone fresh. The memphis style of play is what will sustain us for the duration of th eseason. We can then narrow it down to 8-9 when we approach the playoffs.

What do you all think?

 

Van Gundy will have to go at least 10 deep. Based on the opponent.

Also, I don't know if you all see it, but we finally have some athletes.

I really don't want to see the game slow down by dropping the ball into Yao and wait to see if he hits or misses.

And since Yao get's tired often, Van Gundy needs to play this smart.

Let Yao do his thing in the early 1st period and early 3rd period. Sit him down. Let our running game come in and drain opponents. Then in the 4th period, give teams a dose of Yao inside. Get the other team's big men in foul trouble and finish strong from the line.

With TMac and Bonzi, we will have an inside/outside threat because with every miss shot, we have the hustle of Bonzi and Battier, we should cause a great deal of fits for opposing teams.

Van Gundy will have to go a least 10 deep

 

My observations:

Snyder looks like a good energy guy off the bench. I like the dedication he has to getting in the lane. He doesn't back down to any of the big men in there and is highly skilled at drawing fouls. That will be useful.

Novak looked better last night in his passing, but he is still a bit hesitant. His defense is not And1 horrible, but it certainly won't be a strong suit or even average. If that and his rebounding don't improve significantly, he may have to resolve himself to being a bench guy. But if he can improve those aspects of his game, he could be our future PF.

TMac looks good. He's making good decisions when the defense collapses, and he's proving he can still score just about at will. If he stays healthy this year, we will be a good team.

Alston seems to be playing within himself so far this year. That's great. When given the lane, he takes it and scores or makes the pass. When there is nothing there, he isn't forcing it. That's key because it means that even though he has been playing against scrubs so far, even better PGs probably won't frustrate him much. If his improved shooting is reality and not just hot shooting in these last two games, then I will be very happy with him this season.

Hayes got frustrated last night. A couple of those foul calls were questionable, a couple were downright stupid on his part. I think he knew it as soon as he did it, but considering he's the best we have in terms of hard nosed forwards, he needs to be able to stay on the court if we need him to.

Lucas has not impressed me. He's fast, and his handles are decent but not so good that I feel comfortable with him darting around like he does. He just seems like he is constantly an instant away from totally losing control. My wife watched the game with me and she thought it was so funny how he constantly was darting around the court so fast like a little waterbug. So now she calls him Bugaroo and I will as well.

Head looks vastly improved. He's got that veteran's confidence in his ability and knowledge of the schemes that he seemed to be missing last year when he was really getting by merely on athletic talent and skill. If he gets that BBall savvy he seems to be developing, then he's definitely a keeper.

KillBill is an odd case. He very obviously has the talent to be a good player. He's got quickness, intelligence and pretty good instincts. But as someone else has mentioned before, he really only has one speed, and it gets him in trouble. I predict he will be the single most polarizing player on the team this season. Those of us fans that want to believe in him and see the beautiful passes he makes on some of those PnRs see the potential of a Ginobilli (without as much range). Those of us that are skeptical and see him running full out around a pick and run into the man he was defending and get a foul called see a guy that is wholly out of control. The truth is both, but the problem will lie with JVG as to how much PT to give this guy to get that uncontrolled wildness out of him and bring out the skilled, smart decision making player we see flashes of from time to time. I don't know the answer, but I hope JVG does.

Battier has been Battier. We've gotten about what was advertised with him, and I think he will be a key role player to this team's ascension.

I'm sure I'm missing someone, but that's enough typing for now.

 

I don't agree. 8-9 man rotations are the way to go. But hopefully we get enough blowout wins this year (for a change) that the 10th-12th guys get more playing time, which would accomplish the same thing. It's possible the 7/8/9 guys change over the course of the season. Let's say some combination of V-Span, JL3, Chuck Hayes and Novak sit in spots 10-12 to start the season. Over the course of the year, a couple of those guys could play their way into the top 8. Again, over 82 games the same thing is accomplished.

Yao is the premier low post threat in the NBA. His job is to push into scoring position and receive a pass. After getting the ball, he (1) makes a move to shoot or (2) to pass out of the double or triple team. It doesn't slow us down at all. He must have enough endurance to play 35-40 mins/game if needed if the Rockets are to become an elite team. Don't be fooled by 2 preseason games against a couple of sorry, defenseless and unmotivated teams. When we play the big boys and they clamp down, we will need Yao to carry us on his back.

BTW, solid post Raven Lunatic.

 

I was pleasantly surprised at the number of athletes we have this year. I think it is slighty premature to characterize synder as a shooting guard version of swift... From what I have seen so far, he certainly doesn't look like it at all to me. Although a bruising 4/5 as a backup would certainly complete the picture, I guess our indequacies can be covered by the fact that we have so many athletes this year.

Speaking of which, does it seem like we have a missed a beat without JHoward?

 

The atheleticism of the Rockets team should be enough to beat the hell out of the bad or even mediocre teams in the league. There seems to be a ton of easy shots out there even with the team missing its two best post players-- Yao and Bonzi.

In fact, Yao and Bonzi on the court will likely improve their efficiency but might actually slow the team pace down. But you need these big boys to score against defenses better than the rather porous two we've seen so far.