Just some simple stat numbers for reference. These are /48 min. numbers. I know this kind of stats is skewed for players who have little PT. But that's the only way to compensate for the PT descrepancy. Alston: assists (6.56), to (3.01), steals (1.98) fg% (.385), 3fg% (.363) Head: assists (4.56), to (3.43), steals (1.86), fg% (.431), 3fg% (.479) Spanoulis: assists (5.28), to (4.67), steals (1.76), fg% (.311), 3fg% (.200) Lucas: assists (1.28), to (2.56), steals (1.92), fg% (.484), 3fg% (.333)
1) If I enjoyed knocking my head against a brick wall, I would 2) The tape shows you are wrong...it speaks for itself 3) It takesd much less time to call out stupidity than it does to pull up the facts adn/or video to prove them wrong...adn even then most are too proud of their positions to accept that they have been proven wrong....therefore, making it a waste of my time. 4)It has everythig to do with wether I have time for a lengthy post....I do in fact attempt to have a life outside this site....posts such as this one and the considerable time I spend doing the other thing eat too much into my limited freetime as it is. Sometimes I get lucky and have a few minutes between tasks at work to participate...but those are few and far between. As it is, I have a highlight video awaiting my attention at my next break...I believe Ill work on it rather than answer your imperious demands for my time.
you will have to forgive me Dak...with the increased hyperbole your posts have acquired lately...I wasnt sure wether you were even semi-serious...even semi-serious would have been low for you. my apologies for not giving you the benefit of the doubt.
Hyperbole? LOL - Where have I been Hyperbolistic? Certainly not with V-Span...I would like him to play more, but his shot has been horrible...... I would like to see Novak spell Battier for about 10 minutes a night....just to get his shot on the court as a threat...and to allow him to play with Tmac and Yao (when healthy) to take advantage of his open shots. DD
I personally can't stand Alston, but the problem is, we don't have a better answer on this roster. Right now, I'd be hoping for McGrady to continue to feel better - if he's feeling better, he can take over ball handling duties, and allow Head to take more of Rafer's minutes. Head can't handle the ball, and Span can't take care of the ball or shoot. Span's shooting deficiencies and turnovers are far worse than Rafer's shot happiness and mediocre defense. DaDa - I want to see Novak too, out of curiosity...but man, watch him when he's in garbage time. He is beyond clueless on defense. Seriously, he doesn't know what to do when he's guarding a guy on the perimeter- close out or hang back? Forget about rotating or double teams with him or help defense, let's get that part down first. Sadly, he looks about like Swift out there minus the freak athleticism to make up for some mistakes. And I'd rather see him play with Battier - Battier's so freaking good at making up for boneheads on defense.
I could not agree more, he does look bad on team defense...but I also feel the only way to learn is to play....Manu and Tony Parker looked bad...but eventually they figured it out. Same with V-Span (specifically) and probably Novak too. DD
Maybe for 5 minutes for a couple of games just to see what happens. The problem is Novak is so clueless on offense he won't get any shots. People harp on his defense but the guy has no idea where to go to receive the ball. He doesn't set picks or do anything productive. If he would at least just sit in the corner and wait for a pass he might get off a shot or two. I didn't expect much from Novak this year but, even for a rookie, has seems very out of place when he's on the floor. Maybe the next time we play the Grizzlies he can guard Brian Cardinal for a few minutes.
See, he did not look lost in the preseason, I think he is playing on egg shells, as is V-Span and is afraid to make a mistake. This is where I think JVG needs to learn how to teach younger players a bit better. DD
1.Did you get totally crazy now? I stated that the Rockets will not be a championship contender this year as they do not have a good bench! You made silly remarks about that, I politely asked you to correct me if you can, you continued your baublery. Once again I asked you to correct me and you replied: "The tape shows you are wrong" Thefore I ask you again: Are you crazy? 2. I am new in this forum, but the fact that you make the videos available for this forum does not give you the right to affront others or to deprecatingly talk about others. If you don't have anytime to write sth., well this should not entice you to write bulls----!
Maybe you are right, but last season Luther did very well early in the season because he was more prepared for the NBA than either Novak or V-Span. Concerning the preseason, lot's of rookies do well under that environment because of the lack of intensity. When the games start counting, many shrink into a shell because the quickness, general physicality and tenseness of the games shocks them. That is Novak's problem right now. JVG actually thought about starting him in the opener at Utah. When Novak first got into the game he hit a quick 3 pointer and then completely crumbled. During the garbage time Novak's played in since then, he looks "comfortable" but just has no idea where to run or what's going on. I don't think eggshells have anything to do with it. With V-Span I think you can make the argument he is nervous about making mistakes but not so with Novak. At some point Novak will snap out of it and starting understanding things better. Maybe later this season, maybe next. If he is the hard worker some say he is, I expect him to come very prepared next year to take a big step. Each and every time he steps on the court is a forceful reminder for him of what his limitations are.
Agreed. Novak did pretty good in preseason. He was at his best in broken plays when everybody was scrambling and if someone found him at the 3pt line, he'd knock down the shot. He looked very confident in those games. (And he did awesome in the summer league too, at least on paper.) Now even wide open shots aren't automatic for him any more. A shooter like him not able to make wide open shot is clearly a confidence issue. He does look lost now in the set halfcourt offense, probably because of inexperience. And to adjust from being the focal point of the offense in college to a find-a-spot-and-wait-for-your-shot role isn't easy. I don't know. Novak doesn't seem to be a low IQ guy like Swift. He should be able to learn through experience. And being a coach's son, he should be well schooled in basketball fundamentals growing up.
You've been here 2 months. R2K has been here six and a half years. R2K watches basically every game live (and usually does PBP in chat for them), and watches them again on tape, perhaps multiple times, to make the torrents and highlights. From his posts over the years, his bball knowledge is not really in question to me or anyone else who has read his posts. On the other hand, you have no such track record. Meanwhile, in this thread, you post this: Quite possibly one of the more impressive and easily dismissed logical fallacies I've seen...ever. The rap of Europeans as defensive sieves in the NBA came for a reason. Spanoulis is the atypical European player that has come to the NBA, seeing as he's a slasher and a poor shooter. But making a generalization of European defensive skills based on international rules (especially in a positive light!) and critiquing Van Gundy's, an NBA defensive genius, defensive approach does not give me much confidence in your ability to discuss Rockets basketball in a knowledgeable manner. Further, when you say It makes me, and I'm pretty sure others (like R2K), think you have an oversimplified understanding of the game. Defensive rotations, moving without the ball, spacing, creating mismatches, matching up to the other team and forcing them to match you...if it were simple, guys like Stro Swift would be superstars. And our offense would run smoothly. If it weren't chess, Spanoulis would be playing now, because I think he has the talent to be an NBA rotation player. He just doesn't understand the nuances of NBA basketball.
So what? It is of no importance how long I have been a member in this forum as long as I justify my statements and discuss reasonably without affronting others. In this special case, i stated that thr Rockets can't win next year's championship with the adequate bench. R2K made silly remarks about it and I asked him to correct me. So what's your problem??? First of all, you should trie to understand other users' pposts after reading them: My post referred to a statement according to which Spanoulis can't play team defence. What I wanted to say is that accordinng to what I have seen from him in Europe, he plays very well team defence. It is difficult to evaluate this ability from the limitted minutes he got so far in the NBA. Once again: Use your brain, before writing: This post referred to a user who claimed Span commits too many fouls: i said that as basketball is a sport where you get into contact with your opponent (in contrast to volley, tennis, chess...), it is quite normal to make some fouls, especially when you defend aggressively and even more in the NBA, where meanwhile the smallest contact is called.
The Vspan test is done. Vspan has been weighed and measured by Van Gundy and has been proven to be wanting. He was given his chance to shine and has failed miserably. All you Vspan lovers need to get over it. Quit whining about fairness and equality like little momma's boys. He will never play significant minutes under Jeff Van Gundy. Forget about the fact that JVG screamed at him prolifically every other minute he was on the court making him feel like he could do nothing right. Forget about the fact that JVG never wanted the kid in the first place and it was always his intention to make him look bad. Forget about the fact that JVG and his wife, sister, gramma, and ugly stepmom hate rookies. Forget about the fact that he hates Euros. Forget about the fact that JVG never let him play his true position pg which he was compared to by none other than Yao as the second coming of Nash. Forget about the fact that JVG never allowed him to do anything on the court accept pass to Yao. Forget about the fact that he schooled Hinrich and Chris Paul and lead his little greek team to a victory over Dream team USA. Forget about the fact that he is a winner and has been a winner at every level. And win he is allowed helps lead his teams to championships at every level. Forget about the fact that the kid plays with more passion and has more heart in one of his nose hairs than JVG has in his whole huge basketball brain. Get over it Vspan was never meant to be under Jeff Van Dummy. Let's hope he is sent to the NBDL and released from the wicked evil lair known as Jeff Van Gundy Hell.
...Your statements have been baseless and you have no backlog of posts to justify your position. That's my "problem". And my guess is R2K was basing his remarks on your body of work in this thread. But to address the idea of needing a bench to win, I don't recall the 90s Bulls having much of a bench besides specialist shooters like Kerr, and I took a look at the team whose blueprint we most resemble, the late 90s/early 00s Lakers. The 99/00 Laker team (67 wins) didn't have a bench player average over 7 ppg, and was made up of guys like late career Ron Harper, sometimes Bob Horry, Tyronn Lue, and the like. A bench has never been a prerequisite. The recent champion Pistons relied heavily on their starting 5 - their championship bench was Mehmet Okur, Corliss Williamson, Lindsey Hunter, and midseason throw-in Mike James. None of those guys played more than 23 minutes a game. The Rockets could use a better backup PG, but that has as much to do with Rafer being a mediocre starter. Uh, you don't get it. European team defense is completely different than NBA defense. Again, maybe you can justify critiquing Van Gundy's offensive approach (I personally don't understand why he's used Span as a two), but his defensive prowess is beyond reproach. His "limited minutes" have all pointed to the same thing, and I can take a wild guess that the same thing is shown in practice, which is why he doesn't play - he doesn't grasp Van Gundy's defensive concepts. Again, I'll repeat for you, European team defense means squat in the NBA. I'll address it more... And you still just don't get it. Even fouling is an art. There's fouls you should make and fouls you shouldn't. I'll give you an example. I consider Chuck Hayes to be a very good (albeit undersized) defender. His problem is he fouls way too much, in part because of overagression, in part because he's trying to make up for his lack of size, and then he has some silly loose ball fouls. Spanoulis' fouls have usually been of the bad kind - going for the straight up steal and hacking a wrist unnecessarily. In his case, his fouls are not any indication of his defense. Meanwhile, Yao is a guy who has improved exponentially on defense this year, and without double checking, his fouls are down. Why? He's learned to keep his position better, and not to the point where he's off balance and the offensive player can just jump into him to get the foul called. For a perimeter player, fouls are a sign of over agression. Picking up fouls 25 feet from the basket is rarely a good thing. Take a look at the 6 teams that commit the fewest fouls per game: San Antonio, New Orleans, Toronto, Houston, Detroit, Minnesota. San Antonio, Houston, Detroit, and Minnesota all have coaches well known for their defense (Pop, VG, Carlisle, and Casey). 5 of the 6 are in the top half in opp FG% AND opp PPG (all except Toronto). Spanoulis gambles on D far too much from what I've seen - the Rockets defensive blueprint is is based on forcing contested jumpshots, not necessarily turnovers, and Spanoulis' play does not reflect that. So here's what it boils down to: 1. Van Gundy is a very good defensive coach. 2. Van Gundy's defensive plan is not big on taking risks leaving the defender out of position or prone to foul, particularly on the perimeter. 3. Spanoulis plays aggressive D, going for steals, and commits a high number of fouls. 4. (3) conflicts with (2) 5. (2) takes precedence over (3) 6. Because of (5) Spanoulis' defense for the Rockets has not been particularly good. 7. Combine (6) with his poor shooting and high turnovers, and you have a guy who's just not very good right now. My point (and, my guess is, R2K will agree), is if you watched the games, you would recognize 1-7 above.
Come on Nikestrad don't you think your excagerating your truth to prove your point. Vspan is an excellent 1 on 1 defender and is learning to be a better team defensive player. He has made some mistakes but he has hardly played enough minutes to justify the verdict you so easily hand down. Pluse he is at least as good as Alston overall defensively and his TO's are consistently improving. I know you are trying to prove a point but let's keep it real.
To add to your point- it is the nature of turnovers that matter. You really cant defend Rafer's turnovers on this count.
I didn't see any exaggeration but regardless, he was responding to someone who said VSpan's team defense was good because he comes from the Euro system. He is a pesky, aggresive man-to-man defender but right now does not utilize his tools properly so is a little foul prone. So I don't see how you can say he is excellent just yet. With regards to team defense, Nike was fully correct in hammering home his problems (I would add poor rotations such that he allows too many players to drive around him). Right now he seems to only be relying on his instincts and, unfortunately, those were honed in a completely different system with generally inferior players (or athletes, if you prefer). You are right he is not worse than Alston (except he would likely foul out more with Alston's minutes) but Rafer is a (pains me to say it) better shooter, passer (Span is still learning how quickly lanes can close up), ball handler, and team defender (look at Easy's per 48 stats - Rafer gets more steals).
