why does everyone keep thinking playing vspan means less minutes for alston or head? between the pg and sg thats 96 minutes. you play those three guys at sg/pg then thats 32 minutes a piece for head,alston,vspan.....the reason vspan doesnt get minutes is because idiot jvg is playing battier 37 minutes . move tmac to sf, play battier less minutes, then vspan can get more minutes at the 2 while head/alston split the pg duties and some sg duties. I hate battier. Everyone says he's "solid" but this team doesnt need a starter getting 37mpg if he gets 0 free throws,doesnt create,and scores 4ppg while playing average D.
I like JVG a lot, but maybe he needs to prepare to be unorthodox. Maybe he needs to prepare to switch styles when there is no evidence to do so. Why? Because coaching is about unbalancing the other team to tip the scale in your direction. He needs to have a boxer's mentality. If you throw every great punch you can think of and it's still not knocking your opponent out, then you have to try something unorthodox to open him up. Once your opponent becomes open, go back to bread and butter and knock him out.
I don't think YOU get it. He played him for 17 minutes what more do you want? If you would do your research you would see that the majority of games in the NBA are won by around a 5 point margin and they are usually closer then that until the last few minutes. The blowout is more the exception rather then the rule.
He wants to see VSpan be the closing 4th quarter PG. VSpan has the guts to go win a close game. I like Rafer Alston, but I don't really like him in crunch situations. Teen Wolf's minutes will make Rafer more effective too. Rafer shoots the ball better when he plays fewer minutes too. I agree with you that OMR is a little over the top with the language he used, but he makes a good point about the role of VSpan. He probably could have helped us beat the Spurs if JVG had the guts to play a rookie in crunch time.
I have been saying this since JVG got here, that he takes FAR to long to recongize trends, and abilities. It is shocking to me that he is so surprised by V-Span's abilities? Because it was so obvious in the preseason that he was a spark plug and a VERY intelligent player, who hustles. But, JVG sitting him did not shock me as it has taken JVG 3 years to implement a zone defense, and he has finally figured out that you need to attack the basket in the new "no touch on the perimeter" league. Now, all he has to realize is that he needs more than one penetrator in the 4th to compliment Tmac and Yao... A penetrating PG, 2 3pt shooters and Yao and Tmac....and we are GOLDEN !! Not playing Billy cost the team 3 games already this year......and that is maddening, and it is SAD that it took an injury for JVG to get his head out of his anus enough to see the light. DD
I'm confident that the coach recognizes the abilities of his players AS WELL AS their deficiencies. I am also confident that he could coach circles around all of you who think you know better then the coach. If you think you are so good then send your resume to Les and lets see what happens...
So, you are an enabler then? Or are all coaches good? How is President Bush doing these days? I mean, we should just believe he knows what he is doing, right? DD
If the shoe fits...........another five minutes of watching Juwan the rally killer and I might have tossed my dinner. Any other team in this league would have had Billy and our best shooter in games from game 1. Taking on the mistakes now so they will be productive rotation players by playoff time. With wide open shots to be had everywhere, how does our best shooter ride the pine. If peja was here, Van Dummy would have benched him because he's a defensive liability.
Pls explain how Arenas driving and kicking it out to an outside shooter - because Vspan is still in front and not letting him get an easy shot - is Bill's fault? Don't get that one at all. ?? Also pls explain how the Wiz going from a 11 or 12 pt deficit to a 1 point deficit is good defense? With Rafer fouling at least twice because he had to? Rafer & Luther in together has been a 4th qtr sieve for other guards to score at will and it was again last night for the last 5 minutes. Stats wise we have been getting eaten alive by opposing guards. Billy has been a welcome respite from that.
It's called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets. Genius writer. He has to walk around the cracks. Almost impossible to listen to or learn from others until something he really wants and might lose is dangled in front of him - Helen Hunt and love. Breaks down when his waitress - HH doesn't show up at the restaurant one day. A genius with flaws. Go figure.
Any Video yet of VSpan's Two Drives to the rack last night ???? If So, Please post a link !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Battier plays average D? Do you actually watch the games? Battier is one of the best team defenders in the game, and has been for may years. It's not reputation, it's fact. Points Allowed per 100 possessions by Team Code: [B] OnCourt OffCourt Net[/B] 06/07 100.8 112.6 -11.8 05/06 100.9 107.9 -7.0 04/05 101.9 107.9 -6.9 03/02 103.5 104.9 -1.4 Not to mention Battier has the second best +/- on the entire team. He must be doing something right with all those minutes he's getting.
DaDakota, good points with the zone thing. I too was screaming for a mix of zone for the last 2 years. I swear, when I was watching the finals last year and saw Miami play zone with some success, I was screaming for joy with may friends saying "finally, JVG is going to implement some zone because his freakin mentor Riley is using zone D in the finals!!!!" The Zone Defense is clear PROOF that JVG is slow to adjust in this League. That's why I'm no great fan of JVG. I think he's a good coach, but not a great one, and has glaring flaws, but I do respect his knowledge and game planning. As for having VSPAN playing the 4th, I'm not sure yet. I agree that IF Vspan plays with Yao and T-Mac, the Rockets would NEED 2 other 3 pt shooters on the floor. So who would they be? They can't be Head AND Alston, because that would give you a 3 guard lineup of guys 6'4", 6'3", and 6'2", with TMac playing PF. It would have to be Alston OR Head plus Battier as the other 3pt shooter. But the problem is Battier is currently in a 25.9% 3pt shooting slump over the last 8 games. So it can't be Battier until his 3pt shot comes back to form. Then it would have to be Novak. And I personally would love to have a lineup of Yao, Novak, TMac, VSpan, Rafer/Head; however, I totally understand why JVG would be reluctant to put that lineup out there to close games. Novak is not ready defensively yet to be making great rotations on team D. Novak at PF is also and rebounding liability. So that's why for now, we're stuck with either Head/Alston and TMac, Batt, JHo/Hayes/Padge and Yao if the Rockets go Big, or Head, Alston, TMac, Batt, and Yao if the Rockets go small. Another reason why VSpan isn't closing games yet is because we have TMac as our penetrator/facilitator. If TMac's 3pt shooting were more reliable, I can see VSpan getting more crunch time minutes, but TMac driving and dishing to Head for 3 is better than VSpan driving and dishing to TMac for 3, at least for the time being. So TMac is not just being a play-maker because he is great at it, but also because he is struggling so much with his shooting. So there you go. With all the things I've stated, who may I ask do you put in the 4th quarter lineup if you want to roll with T-Mac, Yao, and VSpan? Remember, you have to consider team defense, rebounding, and 3pt shooting. I have concluded that for now, because of the reasons stated, the Rockets cannot put VSpan in crunch time, at least not until Battier or TMac find their 3pt shot, or until Novak develops his defense and rebounding at the PF spot.
The obvious answer is to have VSpan with McGrady, Novak, Battier, and Yao. That is your penetrate and dish for the 3 lineup that gives you decent D with only one weak spot defensively.
Novak guarding SF's would only work on some very crappy SF's in my opinion. I like the lineup though. Possibly they could go Zone Box and 1 with that. Problem is that group doesn't have enough 3pt shooters. T-Mac: 30.0% Battier: 34.0% (currently a 26% slump over last 8 games) That's why Van Gundy is going with the following guys: Head: 48.0% Rafer: 39.2% So again, I like your VSpan, Mac, Novak, Batt, Yao lineup idea, but it's not going to happen until Battier gets out of his slump AND Novak learns the Team Defense rotations. Rafer and Head aren't good individual defenders (they've had some decent moments), but mainly it is that they understand the Team Defense rotations. That's the main thing JVG cares about. Sure he doesn't like it when you get beat. And pretty much every Rocket gets beat: TMac, Yao, of course Head/Rafer, and even Battier too...Hayes gets beat the least in my opinion. So in doesn't matter to JVG if you get beat, as much as you know how to rotate and help. He said Novak's individual defense is surprisingly better than he thought, but his team defense sucks...and that's what counts the most.
JVG gets it. billy will keep his PT because he provides 2 things that no one else does on this team. 1. keeps guards out of the paint. 2. gets in the paint himself, and creates. when snyder gets back bonzi will not have a chance at the rotation. i bet that he gets traded.
