Having this kid on the roster is one of the reason why we will win this year...not because he's playing 15-20 minutes per night but because he's making the Rocks bench better and will be pushing the guys in front of him. Over the last two years, JVG could only really go 8 or 9 deep because of the stiffs he had on his bench...now players like V-span will be able to play even in pressure situations and not make a fool out of himself. This kid has all of the tools to be a good one and a steal of a draft pick for the next ten years...it's all up to him and the situations that the coach places him in in order for him to suceed. He can be a tremendous part of the future of this franchise and the more successful the team...the more he'll be noticed even early during the year. He should see his playing time increase as he forces JVG to use him because of his hustle and determination.
While this is still to early to say, it is interesting that two 2nd round picks rookies (Spanoulis and Novak) could become major rotation players this year.
i don't understand why you guys hate on raefer. he is a good point guard. you're all judging him on the fact that without superstars around his nba career and the injuries due to tmac and yao last season, he had to step it up a bit on offense. THis year will be different. His shooting percentage will get better and his assists will continue to increase. with that being said, he'll still start over vspan this year and maybe next year. V-span has a good future looking for him, but he's still learning. His energy is just perfect for coming off the bench. our starters know what they need to know on the court. our second string will need a leader on the court and that's where v-span comes in. he'll direct everybody on the court and control our offense on the court.
Because of last season. He did not come as advertised. His outside shot sucked. He was slow as hell getting the ball up the court and played uninspired defense. We were led to believe that he would push the tempo, run great fast breaks and hit the open 3. So guess what...this year he is going to have to prove himself and not in the pre-season.
I'll say it again: It's because Rafer stands between V-Span and starting. The more Rafer plays the less V-Span plays. V-Span has hard core devotees on this forum so get used to it. Nothing Rafer does will ever be good enough for some and everything he does wrong will be picked apart and magnified. But you also have to admit Rafer must shoot better than last season and he better stop choking late in tight games. These problems, and his sorry defense, also contribute to his unpopularity. Rafer deserves some heat but the "hate" is due to most not seeing him as the "PG of the future" for us and some wanting to shove V-Span into that role before he is ready. IMO, our team is talented enough that our focus should be on THIS season. No matter what his role, V-Span will get playing time when he earns it.
Yes it's true that V Span will get his time when he earns it! But there is one thing ( a fact) V. Span is our only playmaker. Alston is looking for his shot too much, instead of setting up others , which is what a POINT Guard is supposed to do!
Yetti, if you think Rafer looks for his shot too much you need to stop smoking whatever it is and watch the games. I have no idea what you are talking about. Rafer is 99% playmaker. His ast/TO ratio is great and he usually takes care of the ball very well. The problem is if your smallish PG can't make shots, teams will back off, force him to shoot and your team loses. This is what happened last year, if you didn't notice. If defenders don't respect Rafer's jumpshot, his effectiveness on offense decreases significantly. And when you cannot play defense on top of that, there is a problem. I try not to respond to most of your posts but couldn't let this one pass. You're the guy who once said all Phil Jackson did in the 90s was roll out the basketball and the Bulls won 6 championships because of MJ alone. You probably didn't watch one single Bulls game when MJ played.
Rafer took 11.7 FG attempts last year and generated 6.8 assists a game, often playing without much firepower around him to finish off the passes. How is that looking for his shot too often?
I love this guy, esp his solid defence. In the first two preseason games, he did not show as expected. But he's willing to learn and has made great progress in the last two games. although still many turnovers, but confident that he will be a good player. Hope that after several years he will become next Nash as Yao said.
Rafer is always looking for his shot. LOL Alston's 11.7 FGA is shot happy. Here are some other shot happy guards. Pure Point Guards Nash 13.4 FGA 05-06 12.4 FGA for the 2 years he has been with Phoenix Chris Paul 12.1 FGA Knight 11.2 FGA Kidd 11.3 FGA Ballhogs
i agree that rafer looks for his shot quite a bit...a few times he will take the shot early in the shot clock off of a high screen from hayes or yao...without setting the offense up i also agree the rafer should start at this moment, however i believe vspan with time will improve his game dramatically by the all star break that jvg will have to give him more playing time and may even start him if and when rafer stinks it up.
Its amazing how some forget about Rafers numbers during the brief run we were having when Tmac/Yao were healthy...they made up the Big 3 for the rockets and to say that Vspan will take the spot by all star break is quite a statement. Alot of people who have bias opinions on players will point out the good vspan has shown, just glimpses in one game IMO, and say how good he is etc. but if Rafer takes one shot too early everyone is all over him and show no patience, just a biased opinion without substance...give rafer a chance and let Vspan take it from him, guarantee it wont happen this season. I have not seen enought of Vspan. I have only seen him in the preseason games. He is no way near nba ready, i do like his hustle and the fact he is a passer. But if your in a win now mode, hes not your starter. Give rafer a chance to run a healthy rocket team. It looks like he has improved his jumper and was always a good assist man. If he can hit the open shot or the pull up what more do you want.. ....If tmac gets you 2 by pulling up or rafer does...is it that big a differene? (that being said, rafer should be a pass first then shoot, but an occasional pull up is ok, esp if his shot has improved from last season)
substance? ok? It definitely is quite a statement, thats why they are called predictions. its funny how you mention rafer as part of the big 3 for the rockets...considering the last big 3 we had involved 3 HOF's! Didn't know rafer was on your ballot? You mention rafer has improved his jumper...where? i still haven't seen it. right now we are in the preseason and if you wan't to wait for vspan to shine in the reg season, then lets wait for rafer to prove his jumper in the reg season. he is a career 38% shooter and a 35% 3 pt shooter...that to me is unacceptable with this type of team. we should give rafer a chance and he will get a chance at the beginning of the season, however billy will take the job from him fairly easily, imo.
Man! I like V-Span based on what I saw on the video R2K provided. He is super fast and has a very good handle on the ball. His timing of passing is good and he has no trouble finding Yao (which makes him better than Sura already). Having all that said, hig biggest strength is his defense. This guy is strong and fast. A steal by him is deadly. Shortcoming: shooting range and accuracy. If he can improve on this 3 pointers, he has a good chance of being our starting point guard.
Now that's broad scope thinking, good observation. With (*gulp* dare i say this) Juwan in the 2nd unit at center, they can have a guy who can hit the short jumper playing off Bonzi and Rafer, something similar to Yao on offense. Have Hayes at PF & Battier over at SF with some Novak sprinkled in both units. Defense wouldn't be great, just wanting to make effective use of Juwan the other immovable goat of the team.... Back to V-Span, appears its mostly mentions of him getting starting oppurtunities during the season and that he hasn't already unseated Rafer for the season opener. Which is good, it'll allow him to get adjusted at first without throwing him to the wolves on the win-NOW approach. I don't mind him starting really but how many rookie point guards besides Magic lead their teams to championships? Would hate for him to be the guy that's put in and the Rockets drop 6 of the first 8 games or something. Then we'd be talking about midseason trading of him. I say let Rafer choke and V-Span can be the young emerging backup QB/popular guy in town instead of the other way around.
When you all speak of how fast he is, I remember the steal he had against the Bucks last Wednesday. Eyes on offensive player, keeping alert for any potential moves to the basket, but he was also eyeing the location of the ball and precisely picked it off...almost like when we were kids and some older kid came along and would rip us because we were too slow and uncoordinated. That's how fast and accurate VSpan is...he made the offensive player, whose name I cannot recall, look like an uncoordinated child. With all the recent comparisons of VSpan to Steve Nash, many are quick to dismiss the possibilty with the fact that many new players are compared to superstars only to fall short of those comparisons. But, I believe these comparisons are very much possible of being partially true. He may develop into a player as good as Nash in time...we see his passion in the game....his accurate passing....his peskiness on defense...a decent shot not quite at the klevel of Nash yet but could get there. Remember that Nash was a nobody for a while before hei game was raised to a higher level of productivity and more importantly...consistency. Give VSpan this year and perhaps another and I think he will be there with the best in the league. The Rockets offense may soon be run by one Greek they call KillBill. I can't wait to see it happen.
To all you hopeless V-Span dreamers: I hope you are right. If he turns out to be another Steve Nash we got a steal. If he's good enough to get the majority of PG minutes by the All-Star break, grrrrrrrreat! If he has a "champions mentality" and is a primary cog in a run to the Finals next June, I'll take it. But most of us aren't hopeless V-Span dreamers. Please understand it's going to take us a while to see him the way you do. But, sincerely, I hope you guys are right about how good he will be and how fast he will get there.
You havent seen the improvement in rafers jumper? Im not sure what preseason games your watchin,,,,,thus far he is shooting 54% from the field and 56% from 3 point land...and yes it is preseason thats why i said it looks like he improved his jumper,,preseason is nothing compared to the reg season but it is encouraging to see that kind of increase and if you think rafers numbers are unacceptable what from vspan encourages you from the preseason to replace him..is it his 35%fg or 13% 3pt percentages? Ill be the first to say im wrong if vspan turns out to be the second coming of whomever the board wants to compare him to, im a rockstes fan first so whatever is best for the team. I do like rafers play and think he will be good for the team
try not to just skim my post and actually read what i have to say khal, vspan doesn't need to shoot, but rafer likes to shoot...theres the difference in the point guard position that this team needs. billy can run the floor better as well as pass and defend. rafer will get to start the season as expected, no doubt about that, billy will soon catch up to him by all star break however. i want you to watch the maturation process of billy for the 1st half of the season, it will be quite a show!
Rafer does not "like to shoot". Rafer is a handler, facilitator, and distributor first and foremost. But with 111, Rafer has to be able to shoot to keep his defender honest. Otherwise his defender just lays in Yao's lap and dares Rafer to shoot. Rafer has been very efficienct this preseason. Not spectacular or flashy but very efficient. I'm sure if he keeps knocking down shots at the clip he is currently knocking them down at, that he will get plenty of minutes. What some of us see in KillBill are certain intangibles, things that you can't just look at a stat sheet and see. It's his spirit, his attitude, his fight, his spunk, combined with his great floor vision and ability to pinpoint the passes with either hand right on the money. He is not efficient yet by any means and he is not a good shooter. I am confident the efficiency will come. I think he may be able to improve his shooting to an acceptale level. Seriously doubt that he ever becomes a Nash type shooter. But he's got a bulldog mentality, combined with toughness, and the ability to create on a spectacular level. I am very confident that he is going to turn out very good and will eventually fit very well with the first unit running pick and roll and getting the ball to all our shooters perfectly. But I am also convinced that Rafer at this point is a keeper and his skill set hasn't declined. Rather I think his skill set has improved. If Rafer can shoot 38% from distance this year, he will be a very, very good contributor because he is a ball handling machine out there. Our PG problem is a good problem this year. That is, as long as Rafer is able to shoot well. All it means, is when one of them is sitting, one of them is likely playing and there is no significant drop off but rather a focus, push, and drive being generated from that spot. Can VSpan maintain it in the regular season under game conditions, against guys like Devin Harris, Brent Barry, etc.? Sure hope so.
