[CHRON] Inserted at one, Rockets' Head makes case for more minutes

Head really had a solid rookie season. His shooting fell off, but the guy didn't make that many mistakes. He was absolutely great on team defense especially for a rookie, and seemed to make smart plays(especially for a rookie in JVG's complicated system).

I'm glad he looked good in the game against the Hawks. I think he will be a solid contributer in this league.

V-Span has a good attitude, but he makes a lot of mistakes. Maybe he will just have to be brought on more slowly than I had hoped in order to adjust.

 

Crunch time offense would be the unit I was speaking of. That is, when it is a tight half court game, and you have possession changes with fouls that allow you to substitute offense for defense and defense for offense. With Luther and Novak, you get 2 floor spreaders who are highly dangerous to go with batt in the corner and TMac and Yao running PnR. I don't think it gets better than this offensive. Now, depending on mathups, I will grant you, Bonzi could be a very effective player in place of Novak in that lineup and even more effective in certain matchups. But the strength of Bonzi's game is the post up. If he is on the floor with 111, he's either got to go to a part of his game that is not his strength. Or he at the very least clogs up the paint for Yao to operate in. I think we will see plenty of Bonzi though, including crunch time.

In a transition, up and down, floor game, Rafer is probably going to be the preferred point, especially if we are at an advantage against the opponent with transition. However, against a team like Phoenix, that likes to run and likes to give up the long, quick shots, I think we are better off with Head playing defense and McGrady handling the ball, forcing one either Marion or Bell out high and leaving Nash out high where he has to defend a shooter instead of playing the passing lanes for steals. If you spread Phoenix's small ball lineup and make them defend the 3 point line, instead of packing it in, I think they can be exploited tremendously. And with Head at the point, you have a lot better perimeter defense than with Rafer at the point.

Head, McGrady, Battier, and either Snyder/Bonzi is your best quartet of defenders against teams like Phoenix.

This team has really been put together to compete against multiple styles. I think they will win 52-55 games and if the chemistry gets real good, they could even go over the 55 mark. The wost possible finishing scenario for this club should be the 5th best record in the West behind SA, Dallas, Phoenix, and the Clippers. And if that happens, I think most of us will be disappointed. We should finish top 3. and beat out at least one of SA, Dallas, or Phoenix.

 

Old Man Rox!

 

and wrt to SA, didn't JVG, sometime during the summer, allude to the importance of speed at PG to defend the likes of Parker. He was talking about Luther.

imo, Head is a keeper, if for nothing else, to guard that Tony Pecker.

 

so luther head really did have hops in college? wtf happened to it in the nba? he's obviously chosen to hold back the dunks but i think there's been times where throwing it down would have been beneficial to him and not just because it's more exciting for me.

that said, from what i can tell in one game he looks much more poised than last season. i don't know if his ballhandling is up to par for a pg but i think he can handle it for 10-15 minutes a game as long as tracy is in the lineup with him.

 

I wouldn't mind him at the point as long as he doesn't turn it over a lot

 

I think JVG would prefer if he didn't dunk it probably. He has major hops thougb

 

I used to have my doubts about head at the back up point, but all he has to do is get the ball up the court, really isn't asked to create, considering he will always be on the court with either bonzi or mcgrady, all they need him to do is bring it up, and knock down his shots. anything else is gravy.

 

I have a feeling he's left all the high flying alone because of the speed of the game. He is going with quickness and speed to beat the defender. And really on our team there isn't too many opps for fb open dunks.

 

Head is usually better if stroking goes along with it.

 

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you're probably right, it doesn't really matter at the end of the day as long as he gets the job done. last year a big problem with head was that in addition to not showing his athleticism his game looked the complete opposite of athletic. i think he's mentioned in training camp that the stiffness is something he worked to get rid of and after watching last night's game i came away pretty impressed with how much better he looked. he doesn't need the high flying dunks but he is a tremendous athlete and he can use that to his advantage.

 

I am hoping for more of a poor mans Joe Dumars than a poor mans Terry.

Play great defense, stick 3s, do other combo guard duties adequately. He doesn't need to be an explosive scorer or creative playmaker to compliment Yao and Tmac.

 

Oh my sheit. Head was getting mad air in that video. Didn't even know he could dunk. I don't recall seeing him dunk at all last season at least. Or maybe I'm just r****ded.

But damn, what he did in that video was sick.

 

No, but Big Toe is my first cousin, and my three children are All Thumbs, Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down. By the same extrapolation, I assume that you must be Van Gundy's dad. (Couldn't find the wink button.)

 

Man, I ain't seen enough Head to even formulate an opinion on the topic.

I think it would be the total shock of the season if Luther could step into the point guard spot with some solid D and 3 pt shooting and make Reefer trade fodder.

Just trying to be positive.

 

I seem to recall that Head had the best athletic scores in the combine when he came out of school.

 

Why are people so concerned on whether or not Head can run the pointguard duties? Especially backup.

The best thing to ever happen to Head is being drafted on a team with tmac on it. If Head comes off the bench, Van Gundy has already suggested that Tracy will be the primary ball handler and Head will be allowed to roam the baselines and look for spot up shots...his strengths. This is such a non issue it's not even funny.

Head will get the backup pointguard duties...but he will use them as the shooting-guard while Mac plays point.

 

Those who have watched Battier over the past 2-3 years, via empirical evidence from television (not via box scores and word of mouth on message boards), will tell you he doesn't have the lateral movement to keep up with today's quick 2 guards. He's slowly been phased from a more perimeter oriented player to a guy who is more effective closer to the basket... using his strength, intangibles and man/team defense.

2005-06: 0 minutes at SG.
2004-05: 60% of his minutes at SG.
2003-04: 50% of his minutes at SG.

As Van Gundy has stated many times, defensively is where players work themselves into positions. The majority of the time, it's harder to guard SG's than SF's. Since we want to 'preserve' McGrady and he isn't good chasing players off of screens, he will likely take over the 3 spot. That leaves either the 2 or 4 spot defensively for Battier. Lets take a look at the depth chart for these positions:

SG: Wells, Snyder, Head
PF: Howard (no), Novak (terrible defense, currently lacks intangibles), Padgett

I would rather have any combination of Wells/Snyder/Head at the 2 with Battier at the 4, than putting Howard or Novak at the 4 and asking Battier to play out of position. Not to mention Van Gundy is constantly talking about a PF that creates spacing with long range shooting. If a PF can't do either of those two, he should be defending and setting tough screens. Battier does both.

Look at all the FA's the Rockets have gone after this offseason. All backcourt players. They haven't even been in discussions with any big men. If they want to experiment with Battier at the 2 after all the guards they have brought in..... the coaching staff is conveying they have no set game plan.

 

Memphis got him playing SF/PF rather than SF/SG not so much because he could not defend SGs, but because of team personnel change (losing Stro left some minutes at the frontline that needed filling).

Battier has never been as quick as the Wades, Ray Allens, or Kobes, but he always got the job done with his tenacity and fundamentals.