Ok, I know it's 'pre-season'. And I know we have some guys banged up a bit now (Pike, MoT, AGriff). But I am shaking my head in confusion anyway.. Why do you think JVG is playing so many scrubs for so many minutes? Not only that, but if you watch during timeouts and deadballs, man he is *coaching* those guys hard, spending a heck of a lot of time, energy, and focus on guys who, most of them anyway, will never make any NBA roster, let alone THIS NBA roster. Is the final roster really that much up in the air? Granted, JVG is allegedly a pretty good basketball coach, and I know I should give him the benefit of the doubt on this issue. But I just don't get it. Why are the guys who are going to get 99% of the PT this season playing token minutes? It just seems to me that the main-rotation guys should be getting as much floor time together as possible during the pre-season, so that they can learn to play together and take their lumps while the results still do not count. But instead, we're seeing way too much of the IR guys, the 'final-cut' guys, the 'we-just-needed-warm-bodies- for-practice-during-preseason' guys out on the floor instead of the guys who are actually going to be facing the live bullets during the season. Why is this? Is it more beneficial for the team in the long run to train up a bunch of benchwarmers, while at the same time getting thrashed by 20 every night? Or wouldn't it be better to have the main 8 guys out there facing genuine nba opponents, learning how to practically apply the knowledge JVG has been trying to teach? On a side not, I enjoyed watching Yao and Cato on the floor at the same time for some extended minutes.. hopefully JVG will like what he sees there.. could turn out to be a good thing.
well...he has only a couple more weeks to decide if any of those guys are keepers or not. How better to find out what they are made of than to ride em hard and see what they can do? He knows that the starters and guaranteed contract guys are going to be here...and he only has a certain amount of time to findout if one of the scrubs are going to be able to help us. and on top of that... preseason games dont mean jack. who cares if they lose by 20? it doesnt affact our record or chances for the playoffs...not one iota. just relax and wait to see what these guys can do in a couple of weeks.. if it pains you to see the team play bad or to see someone other than the stars play...dont watch till the end of the month.
I agree with the above poster (and I didn't have to quote the entire post to say so) You have to play the scrubs in order to find out which scrubs to keep.
Yeah, one rotation that had me puzzled was when Van Gundy had 3 Point Guards + 2 Centers in the game for an extended period of time. Moochie, Wilks, Franchise, Yao & Cato. They looked lost...
One reason (though admittedly obscure) is the fact that next summer the Rockets have to protect 8 players and place the remaining contracted players in the Charlotte expansion draft. As I count it, the Rox will protect these 6 - SF/YM/CM/EG/MoT/Pike. So if there is any chance of someone like Mike Wilks making/improving the team, it's best to know as early as possible because you can not protect any player whose contract expires after the 2003-04 season. And if he outplays Moochie, you'd better sign him for 2 seasons or you can't protect him. IMO, it will be a critical decision to see whether a Nachbar, Norris, Amaechi, JJax or AGriffin gets protected. Hence, pre-season PT for players out of the normal rotation.
GATER... Do you think they'll keep Taylor or JJ?? I think because of Taylor's outragous contract, they'll leave him unprotected despite his ability... aaron glenn style.
But, see, I know all that. What puzzles me, really, is what all the pt for all the various scrubs implies. The implication is that JVG genuinely does not already know which guys he's going to keep from amongst the scrubs. How many players can the team carry on its active roster anyway? 12? 13? How many on the 'injured list' then? Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't it 12 active, 3 on the 'injured list', for a total of up to 15 players kept? If I am wrong, then fine, but if not, then look at the list of guys we already know are going to make the final roster: (in no particular order) 1. Yao 2. Cato 3. Amaechi 4. MoT 5. EG 6. JJ 7. Pike 8. AGriff 9. Nachbar 10. Mooch 11. Cat 12. Steve Aren't those the only guys who will ever suit up during the regular season, barring injury of course. And I'll tell you now, the remaining 3 guys are going to be: 13. Wilks 14. Scales 15. Cornell Now I know the preseason games are probably not looked upon by JVG as anything other, really, than just a nuisance... and that the practices are where he is really doing the work and the evaluations necessary to getting the team all on the same page. But if that's really true, then why the public sniping in the press already? Why allow the fans in Houston to be subjected to such a show of abject miserable failure at the very beginning of a time when they ought to be trying to put on a good show and get some interest going, get people ready and willing to start buying tickets when the season starts? I know it's no big deal either way, since the only real proof will be in the pudding once the season gets underway for real. It just bothers me seeing so much attention, effort, time and thought being spent on guys who, even IF they make the team are never even going to suit up unless someone else goes down with an injury. Personally, I would much rather see our starters out there, playing, making gradual progress in JVG's system, than a bunch of pinesitters. I mean, I couldn't care less whether Muoneke or Wilks or Braggs or Scales or Cornell show progress or not, because they are not going to be contributors anyway.
Well, they've sucked ass with the starters playing limited minutes, and they've sucked ass with the starters playing extended minutes, so it really doesn't matter who they put on the floor...
One impression I got about playing the scrubs -- and even starting them in one game -- was that the regular rotation guys weren't playing the game the way Van Gundy wants to see it played. For all their shortcomings as individual players, the scrubs seem to run the game plan better. It seemed like coach was trying to get the stars to sit by and watch the game be played his way.
eric.81 - Personally, the only way I unprotect MoT is if he has a bad 2003-04 season. Because Charlotte surely won't take him unless they feel they can move him for two smaller contracts. But, if they can move him, so can Houston. Especially since Houston has a MLE and a ~$7m trade exception which Charlotte doesn't. It's pretty weird logic, but if you know you're going to lose him to Charlotte (an assumption of a productive 03-04), you're better off keeping him and then trading him. Because IMO the players you receive back from a Taylor trade are likely better than the player you left unprotected to keep Mo...Moochie, AGriff, Amaechi or Nachbar. And all of those players have value to Charlotte.
Why does everyone think Scales will make the IR? He had a strong showing in a preseason game or two (a la Kelvin Cato). But, guys will look good on some nights and bad on others. You really need to see them in at least several games playing consistently well to know if he's as good as he was in the first game. So, that's why the scrubs get time. In general, the early preseason, everyone gets to show their stuff. As the regular seaosn approaches, the rotation gets increasingly paired down. I'm sure we'll see it happen here too.
Maybe because these "scrubs" have been in the system longer than the core players (summer league, more training camp, more practice facility) so JVG wants the core players to see some of the proper execution from the bench, and then give them minutes to try it out. Once they start to get it, he keeps increasing their time until the big tip off when they'll hopefully have learned all the tricks of the system by watching and applying over and over again.
