exactly. What irratates me is among bigger problems we have to deal with now some people had to rant about Vspan not getting PT. I liked Vspan a lot, I watched him drop 22 pts on the US team and too thought we struck gold with this guy. But this guy is just not ready right now. It's sheer stupidity to blame JVG not play him when he basically melted under pressure. I hope he will bounce back, but right now he belongs to where he is sitting.
Just a quick fact...playing Rafer less wouldn't give V-Span more minutes, nor would it to JL3. Rafer Alston only plays 36 mpg...that quarter he's off the floor is taken up by Wells when McGrady is out and Head when McGrady is in. I think it's worth giving V-Span a shot, but he should not get any more than garbage time, which we have none of now.
This might not exactly be intuitive- but if we are going to use Luther as PG for some minutes- maybe we should use Bonzi. Perhaps he will shed a few more pounds and get his shot back! Vspan is not a proven commodity- agreed. But he got very little playing time to write him off. The fact is he can pass much better than Rafer and he defends way better than Rafer. Turnovers are a function of Playing time and adjusting to the game. JVG's schemes are complicated and even veterans like Battier needed to settle down. Vspan by any means is NOT a rookie- nor he is an All star player. Let us change it up some and see what we get- the way we are going we will be losing quite a few, so how does it really hurt if we get Vspan into the rotation. Jl3 may be quick and sure he is a shooter- but he is NOT the answer.
Count me as a VSpan supporter. Despite his turnovers, I am MUCH more comfortable seeing the ball in VSpan's hands and having him lead the offense. Why is he not playing? My guess is they're showcasing the other players.
Very true. Span has two problems that is keeping him off the court. 1. Turn-overs 2. Jumpshot Now our team is very turn-over proned. Luther and Alston alone could possibly bring us 8 turnovers and tonight against the Nets we have over 20. Without Yao on the court we could certainly use V-span's penetration and we can't get any worse with the turnovers so I say go for it. As for his jumpshot. That is surely something he needs to work on, but with Yao outta the line-up this shouldn't be much of an issue.
if it is the winner of the "I dont know crap about the NBA Award" then you are correct. I swear...I dont believe I have ever seen such a large group of people doing a circle jerk over a guy who has shown little NBA ability right now. I guess I just dont see the games the way some of yall do...Spans defense is barely better than Luther's...adn to say that Alston plays zero defense is as good a lie as I have ever seen posted here. now I remember why I dont actively participate in here anymore.
What? You don't remember the Boki threads???? Where were you? BTW Boki put up 12/5 and 2 blocked shots in 20 min tonight. Just to clarify, are you saying Alston can defend or his D is a negative? I attend the games and have spent some time watching the guards defend as does JVG and JVG complimented Bill on his D on Arenas who is reportedly a handful. And to be clear Boki will someday be in the Rockets hall of fame totally based on his pwning of Carla Malone in the lakers series. That can never be allowed to be forgotten.
Haha. I love boki. Seeing how pissed he got malone was something i'll never forget. As for the point gaurd position. I would love to see Billy play but we're gonna be fine as long as bonzi or luther steps up. That's our main problem...nobody creating offense but t-mac. Luther's indecision today angered me greatly, and for that reason alone we have a much better chance with bonzi. As long as Alston plays like he did this past game (not jacking up shots and floaters) then we'll be okay.
Vspan is a better passer? Oh really? Tell me why other than the occasional nice re-entry to Yao, what I'm seeing is a lot of his passes either flying through teammates' hands, or missing their mark altogether. He has vision, I'll give him that. He anticipates plays. But that does not make him a better passer than Rafer. Part of being a good passer is knowing your teammates' tendencies, and all your anticipation does jack if you cannot adjust your passing to suit your teammates. Why in the world would someone throw a bullet pass to Mutombo? If you're practising with him day in and day out, and I still see you throwing bullet passes to Mutombo, then you're obviously not a very good passer because you cannot adjust to your teammates. I agree that he needs PT to develop, but that should be done when we're blowing other teams out, or if we've given up on the season, or comfortably in a playoff position come February/March. Right now, we're trying to get the scraps together, and we can't afford to have Vspan learn on the fly.
http://www.82games.com/0607/06HOU2C.HTM Opposing PG shoot a eFG of .455 with Rafer Alston on the floor. They average 18.3 points every 48 minutes with Rafer Alston on the floor. In the mean time, Rafer Alston averages 17.3 points per 48 minutes while shooting a .477 eFG. Alston has his bad moments on D and is physically overmatched at times, but to say that he makes opposing PG "look like Hall of Famers" is ignorant. He may or may not play brilliant individual defense, but he's a part of an effective unit in holding down opposing PGs numbers on an overall basis. Some PGs have gone off for huge games against the Rockets, but guess what? Huge games happen in the NBA, and it happens against every team. The overall performance of the Rockets against opposing PGs while Rafer Alston is on the floor has been good.
27 points lead and Nets got their big three out of the game. Enjoy watching NBA on the bench and you will be ready some day, V-Span,JL3 and Novak.
v=span lost his minmues when bonzi started getting his, who would u rather have out there bonzi or vspan?
Alston has his slapping going. That is some quick stripping. Bails him out from time to time. His D lately has been much better compared with the begining of the season. He could stand on his ground when bigger guard like J.Kidd back him down. He is not a stellar defender by any means, but he has his tricks and JVG made him work extra hard.
Right now without Yao we are loosing alot of firepower on the offensive end Hence JL3 is in the rotation ahead of VSpan because even though he cant pass to save his life, he is a scorer, and when the going gets tough we need him to provide some sort of spark Vspan is all hussle but cant hit an open shots and cant consistently finish around the rim and turns the ball over way too much his defence is overrated and no way near as good as some of you make it out to be Shane battier, tmac, dikemebe, Yao , Chuck have greate defense, VSpan's defense is only above average IMO
You absolutely have no idea about what you say: DOn't forget, Spanoulis comes from Europe where Team defence=zone defence is being played par excelence..you should have seen it during the WC in Japan. When JvG tells Spanoulis he has to guar one specific player, the best thing he can do is staying in front of him. In a league in which each contact upon the ball-possessing guard is called, this is the maximum a defender can do!
Correct me if you can and please stop pretending the whippersnapper. If you think you know everything about the Rockets and the NBA, please share your eternal wisdom with us-enlighten us
Not to ruin anyone's point here, but V-Span has essentially the same assist to turnover ratio as Luther Head, and has a MUCH better A to T ratio than Bonzi. When people say V-Span turns it over too much it is just not true...he had one bad game, otherwise he has a very good Assist to turnover ratio.... He is better than 1 to 1 and as a 2 guard that is not all that bad.... If he played more PG, we might be able to actually get a sample size large enough to make a judgement about his turnovers......but right now.....other than the preseason, he has been pretty good at protecting the ball. As for his shooting....well.....that has been horrible.....to put it mildly. DD
