So aggravating to see him running up and down the wings after he gets put in while JLIII runs up and down the middle. JLIII is a shooter/scorer in a small body. He is Earl Boykins lite. VSpan running up and down the wings is a useless waste of time. He still got off 2 sweet passes though. I don't quite know what JVG is thinking on this one. But it is blatently obvious, VSpan is a point and a playmaker, not a spot up shooter.
Actually if JVG had any creativity he would use JL3 like Calvin Murphy was used as an undersized 2 guard ....and let V-Span run the point. This would be playing more to each players skills. Though, I don't mind JL3 getting some minutes at backup PG...just to get Rafer off the court and get some rest. Rafer seems to be a lot more effective in the 32-35mpg level, anything more than that and it is diminishing returns. DD
the first thing he does when he gets on that court is TO then probably a foul and then a airball and maybe if hes lucky a good pass.
If your nickname is baklava, you can't be that great of a player Could you imagine the announcer yelling Steve Baklava Nash?
While Im watching my tape-delayed Rockets victory, I'll take a sec to answer a couple of misunderstandings you seem to have...I wont bother with discussion about Span's defense since NIKE has just PWNED you on that subject.. (side note: It would do you well to listen to NIKE, Ive seen many very smart adn reasonable posters here over the years and NIKE is hands-down one of the best) 1) Obviously English isnt your first language, so Im not surprised you dont know the meaning of that....I meant that I would have indepth discussions with you (or other knuckleheads in this forum) if I were someone who liked to talk to a brick wall....since my words would have the same effect on the wall as it would to resolving our difference of opinion. 1a) My initial notice of you was because of this idiotic statement (the bolded part especially) the rest of it wasnt much more intelligent....which is why I said you should win the award for not knowing jack about the NBA....which has been proven out by the rest of your posts in this thread. Dont dream?? that is job 2 for a fan...we always dream that we can make it...why tell someone not to?? Why is it your place to tell a fan that they should give up all hope? SImple answer... IT ISNT. You dont have a valid logical reason in the world to claim that the ROckets DEFINITELY will not be a contender...unless you are a pessimist. Unless your name is Ms Cleo...you can not state that DEFINITELY. Look at the playing time for any championship team...their main guys play a buttload of minutes....Tmac nad Yao are our main guys, and they WILL play a large percentage of the time....that is the NBA...get used to it. I did not mention the bench ONCE...not ONCE. I ws mearly saying that your posts in this thread on all counts were wrong. I'll ask you....Are YOU crazy? I am...Ill gladly admit it...IM crazy for my boys in red...I have fiath in them. Lastly....no, my work for the benefit of this forum and its members do not give me an express pass to call out idiocy....I have that right by membership of this forum. That is the way forums work...everyone can say almost whatever they want as long as it isnt against forum rules.....but be warned that when you post, you open yourself up for someone to make you look the fool if you post foolish stuff....kinda like NIKE just did. and to forstall what I see coming.. I would asnwer some of your other points, but they would just be less intelligible versions of what NIKE has posted already. Except for his dislike of Rafer...I share many of the same opinions he does. personal note.... NIKE, thanks for covering chat for me till Doc got in, adn covering pbp...appreciate it.
The moment I saw him played in the preseason, I said that he's definitely a 1, not a 2. He is not good enough to play significant minutes. But at least let him play PG during garbage time!
Forget all your theory: The Rockets are very deep in the positions 2 and 3, but they have big problems concerning the backup PG, the starting and backup PF and the backup C. These problems are even more problematic in view of the fact that Yao as well as TMAc-the two guys w**** carry this team on their shoulders are very vulnerable to injuries. Nevertheless, at the end of this season we will see who is right. Up to now you can only speculate! Tell me how many basketball games you have seen in Europe to tell me something abou european basketball! I have not watched all Rockets games, but when I have watched enough to make my conclusions about Spanoulis' D. In all the games I watched, he had to guard one particular opponent and no zone defence was played. And he mostly did a good job. Even JvG had to admit it. It is true that he tries to often to get the steal, but in my eyes this is due to the fact that in the limitted time he gets, he tries to impress his coach as much as possible. I know him from european games, and there he was looking much less for the steal... Besides, I noticed that he had some problems getting along with p&r. Generally however, I think he made a good job concerning th D. And now let's talk about his fouls: So far he played 10 mpg and he commited 1(!) foul. And you want to tell me that he is committing too many fouls? I repeat it: If you are toldto guard one particular opponent, the best thing you can do is staying in front of him and pretending him from getting a good shootng position or making an easy pass. In a league where the smallest contact towards the ball-possessing guard (especialy by a rookie) is called, it is ridiculous to blame Spanoulis, who plays aggressive D (what is positive in my eyes), for commiting one foul every 10 minutes. And in order to come to this conclusion you don't need to watch 1 million Rockets games, using your common sense should be enough!
Please call your father a knucklehead, if he likes it, but not me! I have been trying to talk reasonably with you. Obviously, you live in your own world... Everybody has his own opinion. I expressed mine, if you do not agree, that's fine, you are not God to know the future and talk deprecatingly about others. Well, I prefere being realisitc. If you prefer being a dreamer, that's fine too. But do not tell other fans what they have to do! It is simply my opinion, I am convinced of it. But we will see it at the end of the season... Discussing, questioning others'points, disagreeing with others is something different from talking deprecatingly about others. Fortunately for you this is an internet forum. I doubt whether you would talk lie that on the street... [/QUOTE]
how can you judge Vspan on playing a few minutes here and htere as a Rookie in the NBA and say he sucks...he has to be given more minutes before you can bash the guy...we have given rafer enough time to proove he sucks A$$.....we win a few games here and there and the Rafer talk just gets covered up by JVG...we killed ATL last night and still rafter went 4-15...what the hell..when are we going to make the change....we won DESPITE rafer...
this is exactly what I meant by calling people on here 'racists' if you can't come up with a good argument, you basically choose a diff way and try to come up with stupid **** like this , freakin horrible I lost my respect for you Rockets2K....
OMR - Luther Head probably guarded Childress on 10-15 sequences and he got to the basket really once. Against VSpan, he was 2-2. And I don't consider Head a particularly above average defender, either. Enough to know the style of play and speed of the game are different. That's all that matters. OK, put it in perspective to the League 14th in foul rate among PGs, and 7 of the guys ahead of him get even fewer minutes. Considering he plays garbage minutes, when refs would prefer to swallow their whistles with 2 minutes left in a 26 point blow out, that should tell you something. Again, you don't get it. You've basically so much as admitted as to not watching Rockets basketball. VSpan's "aggressive" style is contrary to the Rockets game plan to force contested two point jumpers. A game plan that was extremely effective last night. I don't plan on rehashing this any further. So, why exactly do we want to play a guy who's going to screw with that league leading defense on one end, and turn the ball over and miss jump shots on the other? That's why he doesn't. Right now he's a good passer, and can get better at the other things. But being a good passer isn't enough to play in the NBA. (Ed Cota, Doug Gottlieb, etc.) The turnovers and bad jump shot are easy to see, and if myself and many others see the defense even in limited minutes, you can bet JVG sees it in practice too. (And again, JVG knows defense, and I don't think even OMR would deny that) I think Dakota sees pretty much the same things. The difference between us is he wants to see VSpan progress in game time situations, whereas I have no problems seeing them fixed in practice first.
Another difference is that DaDa thinks he is already a Greek Tony Parker (despite the fact that a 20 year old Parker's numbers in Nov & Dec were way better than Span's have been).
To me, Spanoulis is more like Ginobili than Parker, even though he is clearly a PG, not a SG. Ginobili is a lot wilder and undisciplined than Parker. And Ginobili is scrappy and hustling. Spanoulis will never be a Tony Parker because he doesn't have the speed and athleticism to do what Parker does. I think he has the potential to become a Ginobili type player IF he ever develops a decent outside shot.
Quit playing the "racist" card. He's obviously trying to say you can't or refuse to understand a damn thing he or Nike's saying.
Amel, with all due respect, you have yet to contribute anything of value to any discussion about the Rockets. Calling people racists because they find your arguments to be simple-minded only reinforces the fact that you need watch more games and post less. Seriously.
Except for one thing... VSpan's play has actually improved in terms of wildness and mistakes since the pre-season. The guy was averaging some mind-boggling number of turnovers in the pre-season. People who have looked great in the pre-season : Dan Langhi, Malick Badiane D), JL3, and countless number of players on other teams - hell, Ricky Davis looked like Jordan playing with jr. high kids in one summer league. How they played in pre-season is not necessarily some barometer of what they could be during the regular season. If it were, some of the "pre-season studs" would be playing in the NBA and not overseas somewhere. I've also never been a fan of players proving themselves worthy of playing time by using them in game situations (with exceptions). If they can't figure out offensive and defensive sets during practice, what purpose does giving them a ton of playing time in pressure situation do? It sounds counter-productive to what you guys are wanting. You say JVG causes players to walk on eggshells, yet you want him to throw guys that obviously aren't ready into gametime pressure-packed situations. If this were an abysmal cellar-dwelling team, you could teach on the court. But you don't do that on a team that's fighting in one of the best if not the best division in the NBA because every game will count.
How about we leave TP & Manu out of the V-Span discussion. He is NOTHING like Manu. Manu is more athletic, has serious hops and can shoot the ball. When V-Span can take it to the rim & throw down contested slams and also step back and drill open 3 pointers, then let's talk. Right now he can't shoot or finish that great. Comparing V-Span to guys like that is unrealistic until he shows the same talent they had. Both TP & Manu were undisciplined and erratic as rookies but they showed a lot more potential to score than V-Span.
These values are completely worthless, if we talk about a player who on average manages to commit one single foul per game. As soon as a player gets into foul trouble, he defends more carefully, as long as he has not commited anyone he can defend much more aggressively. Therefore, talking about these statistis which consider fouls, he commited in garbage time, is not representative for him. You shoud be able to understand it, if you are just half smart as you pretend to be.
