This whole "JVG is too stubborn" nonsense is ridiculous. You act as if he's the only coach in the NBA like that. Here is news for you: All NBA head coaches are stubborn. Even the sainted Phil Jackson is "stubborn". Some of you guys who pick and peck and magnify every little thing JVG does and doesn't do should read the Laker boards and listen to the same tired garbage from Laker fans. All you have to do is change the names. Get a grip on NBA reality! I don't read their forum much any more, but Suns fans also whine about D'Antoni and Spurs fans gripe (to a lesser extent) about Pop.
thank you. actually flip has been in the rotation...42 games played...20 min a game. and kurt did get hurt but managed to play 37 games and avg 18 min a game. Ronald Murray 42 10 20.3 .380 .333 .700 .40 1.30 1.70 2.3 .62 .17 1.07 1.30 6.3 Kurt Thomas 37 4 18.4 .539 .000 .821 1.00 4.70 5.70 .5 .41 .54 .51 2.50 5.7
Agreed...plus against teams where you need fresh legs and a little height, i don't mind Snyder taking a few minutes away from Head to see if that match-up would work. I know Snyder isn't the best shooter, but he has the ability to drive in the lane.
This is to end the thread: We have a 9 man rotation Yao/Deke Hayes/Howard Shane/Snyder T-Mac/Bonzi Rafer/Head I said 9 because Deke and Hayes will never be on the court at the same time, and their combined minutes will equal that of one person. And when Yao comes back Hayes and Howard will be from rare to never seen. At the same time Snyder is gonna come in for match-up purposes or foul trouble. Vspan and Novak can keep the seats warm for when T-Mac is ready to sit.
rockets go plenty deep, when healthy. but stubborness isnt jvg's problem...he's too bald to be a successful coach
so who plays the 4 spot? and head is the sg off the bench then moves to the pg in the 2nd qtr. right now we have an 8 man rotation until bonzi comes back...then we will see if he ups it to 9 or sticks with 8 with snyder out of rotation. When yao comes back only then will it increase to 9.
That may be true, with bonzi coming back that it may remain 8ish. Right now, we have injury problems and we don't have much choice by to have the 4-5 spot sit between Howard, Mutombo, Hayes and possibly Battier if we go small. T-Mac will get 35+ minutes a game because he's the scorer and the difference in us winning games, him and Battier. Alston is basically the only PG that our team could run through, whenever TMac doesn't handle the ball. How many MINUTES does that leave us? If McGrady plays 35 and Battier 32, that'll leave us wigh 240-67 which is 173 minutes left, barring overtime. Mutumbo is averaging about 30minutes a game with Yao gone and Howard/Hayes adds 50 to post the big positions. That's another 80 minutes, leaving 93 minutes. Alston is getting 35 right now because there just isn't many capable backups. That makes it 58 minutes left to leave for Bonzi/Snyder/Head. Just because a bench is deep,doesn't make it OK to play everyone. If JVG plays everyone, then everyone here will complain about JVG pulling a player because he didn't do this or that. Why are there never threads about JVG pulling players out so another guy could play?!? He's screwed if he does something or if he doesn't according to the threads started here. Yes, Alston, TMac, Battier, Howard, and Deke all needs 30+ minutes right now because of how heavy we depend on them PER POSITION. That really doesn't leave much, at least not until Yao's back to carry some load in the 4-5 position. Head slides to PG position for a brief time when TMac's back. That might be a good time to give Shane a rest, but how do you rest a player whose so efficient on both sides of the court?? Shane doesn't look remotely tired per game and he's your best defender on the court. As for why JVG has been playing 7-9 players, and yes, it was somewhat closer to 9 without the injuries, is because of injuries. Snyder was activated for the last game and our inactive list includes Yao, Sura, and Padgett. They can't even be played right now. Our bench right now, is an injured Bonzi Wells, and Lucas/Spanoulis/Novak. You really can't play these players. Have you ever tried playing a pickup game where the same guy gets schooled over and over again? I doubt that'll increase their confidence much, but that's what these 3 are getting done to them. This team is winning games, and here's to hoping that JVG will learn WHEN to use Snyder/Wells, and that Yao will play 28-32 minutes a game and get some long rest. You play Snyder when you need a defensive feel and Bonzi when in the offense? Maybe when Alston is out, you bring Head in and have Bonzi with TMac and utilize Bonzi's post move while Yao's resting with Alston? We have weapons, but it doesn't mean they play great together. Snyder's a streaky shooter, in ALL senses of those words. If he gets in a cold slump from shooting those open jumpers, it'll probably be JVG's fault all over again .
Howard and Hayes. It's a buy 1 get 1 free. Yao and Hayes start, Deke and Howard subs. But Howard could play with Yao for some stretches. Deke and Hayes will never be on the same court.
Almu... Have to give you your props for what you just said... On the other hand you can keep the snow, I'm in far North Dallas and I have had my share of it... T_Man
Thanks T... I love the man. Love his coaching. But um...I want another championship. And just like John Gruden inherited a kickass team when he took over for Tony Dungy and won a ring...well, if he dont do 2nd round, next coach gonna get a hell of a team with an awesome nucleus. Life sucks. We all know that.
I personally checked the boxscore during the Dallas game to see how many people they played. Dallas, considered deepest of the deep, played EIGHT guys, the exact same as the Rockets. Until the lead got way big and both teams emptied their benches. Rudy Tomjanovich had an 8-man rotation that was tight as can be during the first Rockets championship and probably the year after too but nothing was said of it. Its not like its 8 guys and thats it only. Have a 'rotation' of 8 players. Then bring in anyone else based on matchups or if a couple of the other guys gets into foul trouble or something. Its just an easier way to coach.
i love how your analysis is backed up by statistics and evidenciary support starting VSpan in front of Ryan Bowen at the PG would be a blunder...
here are some possible minute distributions on paper: PG: Rafer 30 (sorry that's it for him), T-Mac 10, Luther 8 SG: Kirk 18, T-Mac 10, Luther 10, Bonzi 10 SF: T-Mac 15, Battier 15, Bonzi 10, Kirk 8 PF: Battier 20, Juwan/Hayes 20, Bonzi 8 C: Yao 35, Deke/Juwan/Hayes 13 T-Mac: 35 Yao: 35 Battier: 35 Rafer: 30 Bonzi: 28 Kirk: 26 Luther: 18 Deke/Juwan/Hayes: 33 if a blowout is likely, less minutes for the starters and sixth man and some more for Luther/Deke/Juwan/Hayes as well as a garbage time appearence from VSpan, Novak, JLIII, or Padgett.
Rudy actually played a 9-10 man rotation on both championship years in the regular season before he reduced it to 8 in the playoffs: 1994 -dream, max, kenny, cassell, thorpe, elie, horry, brooks, herrera, bullard 1995 -dream, kenny, cassell, drexler, elie, horry, chilcutt, brown, max, murray
Mac won't see that many minutes at the PG, Luther won't see only 18 minutes a game, and Battier won't see that many minutes at the PF. Don't really expect Bonzi at the PF at all unless we're playing small ball. With Luther playing 25 mpg, we really only have about 20 minutes of time to play with between Kirk/Bonzi. It's better used for one player. It sucks, because I love Kirk and Bonzi, but with our PF/PG being so weak and our SG/SF depth being so high it is inescapable. What makes it worse is that Kirk/Bonzi's salaries are so low, that trading them doesn't really make sense imo.
