Howard is actually a decent defender. Not as good as Hayes, and he can't block shots, but he's good. After Battier, he probably rotates as well as anyone on the team. He's an example of a guy with less than great defensive tools, but makes up for it with smarts. As for Rafer...defensively, he's better than Spanoulis and JL3 at this point but that doesn't say much.
BS- on both counts. Juwan is routinely slow on rotations but these dont show up in stats. Decent- is a very relative word. Spanoulis will be a better defender and passer. Rafer is routinely beaten by faster guards- and he does gets his steals. We have not seen much of Vspan-JL3 is at best Early Boykins super lite!
V-Span is a better 1 on 1 defender Rafer understands JVG's rotation system better. Rafer is great at stripping the ball. V-Span is better at steals from the passing lane. Right now it is a wash, but V-Span's peak should be a lot higher than Rafers in all aspects of his game. Just not yet. DD
He's 24 years old, should be at the peak of his athleticism, yet can't gain an appreciable advantage on his man using a pick- painfully evident during the last two minutes of the Lakers game. I'd love to have a back-up point guard with his size, but I don't see him exceeding the minimal success of a similarly-sized, more accomplished European import like Sarunas Jasikevicius. Unfortunately, Billy doesn't shoot the ball as well as Sarunas or Marko Jaric, the latter probably an even better comparison. Still, the current Rockets' offense doesn't play to his strengths, so we'll have to see if Van Gundy will ever give him a significant run with Yao in the lineup; that will be the true test.
Spanoulis needs PT, so a developing team -with a losing record and a good coach , GSW maybe(?)- looks like a better option for him. JVG's record of developing international players isn't particularly good.
Do people seriously like to pull stuff out of thin air? What "record"? Because the Knicks screwed up by drafting Vince Carter's dunk prop, Frederic Weis? Who in the world are you possibly referring to? Maciej Lampe? The demise of Mirsad Turkcan in New York? Is Van Gundy so poisonous to foreigners to explain for Piatkowski regressing in his time as a Rocket? He doesn't have a "record". Yes, Nachbar sucked when he was here. The reality is, he's just not very good. He's yet to shoot 40% now in his 5th season and 3rd team. Van Gundy increased his minutes more than 5 fold over his rookie year, and he did nothing with it. He's logging 15 minutes a game on a sub .500 NJ team desperate for depth. He's just not good, and no coach is going to fix that. I hear that Yao Ming feller developed ok. But I'm sure in your little world, Yao Ming developed without any help from Van Gundy, and Van Gundy was holding Nachbar back. Criticize away at Van Gundy. But do it in reality.
JVG has done a great job with Yao so I'd say he HAS done a particularly good job. He's also squeezed the fountain of youth from Deke. Boki was pathetic and his lack of development was no reflection on Rudy or JVG.
I can't start new threads and this seemed to be the most appropriate thread to post this in. According to spanish press, Barcelona wants to get V-Span but has received a negative reply from the Rockets. The news however is that Panathinaikos (V-Span's prev. team) made an offer to get him back with the same contract he has in the NBA , that is 5mill $ until 2009 and ALSO received a negative reply from the Rockets.
I doubt the rockets want to cut him and eat his contract so he can go back to europe. They're going to try to develop him into an NBA player.
He signed it, he will have to live by it. And, IMHO, it is likely that JVG will be gone after this year and V-Span will get some time to develop next year. The very fact that Les has not renewed or extended JVG's contract speaks volumes. DD
Once again, the day after a Rockets loss proves to be pure bliss for DaDakota - another full day to regale the non-exploits of his little pet diamond-in-the-rough. Fortunately, those days are few and far between even though they've been overachieving with a chewing gum line-up.
I still think he should be playing backup PG, but clearly JVG does not agree. JL3 keeps running out there and plays ok...but he is really more about looking for his shot than creating for others. DD
I'd just like to know what VSpan has to do to get some minutes. Bonzi has been up and down like a yoyo this whole durn season, and hasn't played worth 2 cents, but JVG still keeps giving him shots. Now we are over halfway through January and after a Mexican standoff, multiple injuries, Bonzi still isn't shape, and JVG is running him out there. What is the problem with finding VSpan some minutes? Has he screwed up worse than Bonzi? Did they catch him selling some Greek meth on the south side? It's ridiculous that Bonzi keeps getting his upteenth chance and VSpan can't even get a second one.
It's not going to happen. At this point Billy is the 4th pg off the bench and the 5th sg off the bench. So unless the Rockets bus crashes from the hotel Billy has a much better chance of getting minutes on the DL than the court. The thing that bugs me is JVG never even gave him a chance to compete for the backup pg spot.
Spanoulis isn't gonna play this year any more unless JVG becomes more open-minded. But he doesn't want to risk during his contract year, nor is he a big VSpan believer, so VSpan should better get used to warming the bench or leave for some other place if he can. He's already lost his confidence and enthusiasm for the game and he's not the type of player that will be satisfied by just taking part in few practices during regular season... The guy needs game experience to show what he can or can't do.
If he's not gonna get any more PT, he needs to be sent to the D-League. I wonder how much this guy is even actually playing in practice and what he's shown.
Naaaaaah, VSpan has not lost his confidence and enthusiasm for the game, and he is too proud a player to concede defeat in 3 months in his first NBA season. Following is a recent article by Wang Meng on the situation of VSpan. http://nba.sports.tom.com/2007-01-17/0424/84823215.html A very touching and moving article that showed us the passion, pride and heart of VSpan who IMHO will get his time to shine eventually......
VSpan reduced to being a ball boy. He really is in JVGs doghouse. I know he probably wants to stay up with the big club but he really should have a heart to heart with JVG about going down to the NBDL at this point.
