I think everyone knows that being a proficient low-post scorer is superior to being able to shoot and create from the high post, because the shots are closer to the basket, causes more fouls, and in general just is more dominant. The issue was whether Yao could actually do it; but Yao has shown with the last two seasons that he is indeed a great low-post scorer, hell Shaq even called him one of the two best low post players in the NBA. Because Yao has established himself in the low post, he should stay there. I'll write this game off as experimentation and hope that by Oct. 30 we'll see more low post touches for Yao than we did yesterday.
Yes, it's easier for Yao to score in the low blocks. But you're ignoring a couple things: (1) He'll tire much faster having to fight for position close to the basket, (2) The Rockets often waste a lot of time on the shot clock trying to get Yao the ball in good position close to the basket, often resulting in a poor shot or turnover (3) When Yao is down low and drawing all that attention, it makes it much more difficult for other players to get easy shots around the hoop. So, outside of Yao last year, we were predominantly a jump shooting team. I was a skeptic about putting Yao in high post, but after one game I'm seeing the advantages of it. I think this will work great.
Agreed And I'll fill you in on what you missed during your nap. Based on this mix tape...Miller deserves the MVP Motionless Vacation to the Perimeter Shoot Shoot Sidestep and Shoot Shoot Bounce Pass Shoot Shoot Pump Fake and Shoot Shoot I'll give the guy a break. He's good at shooting. And maybe if there was a microphone on him during the game and the mix tape had audio of him telling hilarious jokes while pump faking...then dishing a sweet punchline midway into his jumpshot...then I might buy his skybox rookie card. But seriously...this Millertime Video Presentation makes me realize that Yao will never be this limited, barring a lobotomy.
Did you guys catch T-Mac's diss of Brad Miller in one of his interviews? "If Adelman's system can make Brad Miller into an All-Star imagine what it can do for us" LOL
Playing some at the high post will let him get into position a lot easier in the low post. Why? The other players will actually have to pay attention to what he's doing. They can't just go sit their butts under the basket to play defense. When they get lazy or lose their concentration Yao is going to get some easy buckets.
You make good points, but 1.) Yao is our #1/#1a scorer. Why do we want to make it harder for one of our superstars to score? Because it might help the others, but... 2.) This was game 1 of the preseason, Byron Scott probably didn't even bother with a defensive gameplan. Wait until opponents get some scouting reports/tape on us, particularly in the playoffs, then the weaknesses will be revealed. For example... 3.) The defense doesn't even have to double on Yao, and all the defender has to do is pressure Yao in order to make it hard to pass, since he can't beat anyone off the dribble. In addition, they can bump the cutters and help on back picks, while pressuring Yao, making it hard for him to make the pass, in fact I saw Yao turn it over yesterday trying to hand it off to Mike James. 4.) The only way Yao has of scoring from up top is by shooting, but there is a reason why Brad Miller is open in all of those clips; they let him open. Midrange jumpshooting is the least efficient scoring method there is. 5.) Further, the defense might pressure Yao with a PF and leave their center in the paint, since our PF is Scola/Hayes, who aren't exactly hard to guard, and thus they still have their basket protector under the basket. These problems are all solved by bringing Yao into the low post. I'm fine with a mix of high and low post, but I'd like to see more low post. What I saw yesterday was too much high post IMO.
I'm more impressed with Bmillers passing than shooting at the high post. If and when Yao does play at the high post and players utilize the Adelman offense where everyone keeps cutting, this should lead to a lot of easy buckets. It's going to be nice to mix it up with Yao playing high and low instead of the standard JVG pound it into Yao and watching the peremiter players (RAFER) brick threes all game.
if ur a decent passing big man, u will flourish in this offense. yao is a good passer so he'll do fine. but the difference w/ him and divac/miller is that he can go into the post.
trust me, they WILL let yao be open if he gets out of the paint. that's what they want. and yao is taller than most of the centers/big man so if u just cut a lil bit, he will find u most time. we don't want yao to handle the pressure of the #1/1a scorer like u said b/c he hasn't proven he can do that. that's why adelman wants to tap into another part of his game to hopefully make him for versatile. we see that when u play physical with yao throughout a game/series, he'll struggle as u can push him away from the basket. and refs won't call that b/c he's so big. so why not let his defender guess. force him outside a few times. then the next time yao goes back into the post, he won't be as predictable b/c he could just step out and pass again. yao is not a guy we can just pound pound pound and expect him to score score score. by doing that, he gets tired as hell by the 4th. adelman wants yao to be fresh in the 4th: more playing in the high post; don't run out on pick and roll.
The reason Yao is open is because they want him to shoot jumpers rather than owning them in the paint. This is what we DON'T want. Yao was fine as #1/1a scorer for the last two seasons, he didn't do so well in the playoffs but McGrady didn't do well either, so I don't think that point is valid. He is the Rockets #1/1a scorer. I said a mix of high and low post is fine, but I'd prefer to see primarily low post and high post as a changeup. Yesterday seemed like the opposite; Yao was primarily high post and used low post as a changeup. I didn't like that.
1) The whole point is to make it easier for others to score. Yao and Mcgrady will get points regardless. It's the others you mentioned that had trouble scoring. Lets look at last year as an example. If Head and or Rafer was off on their jumper they struggled and had a hard time scoring because Yao was down low clogging up the paint and left no room for cutters. 2) Utlizing a Yao high/low post option gives us just that. Another option that opposing coaches have to game plan for. 3) Your right Yao may not be able to beat anyone off the dribble but he has great height and vision to see all the cutters and simply pass over them. He'll keep defenders honest with his jumper. As for the bumping cutters, and help defenders thats inevitable. However, if your not doubling Yao down low then there's probably 2 defenders on Mcgrady leaving (Bonzi, Rafer, Francis, Mike James etc) for an easy cut for a bucket on the opposite side. 4) Pass or Shoot. If the jumper is not falling move Yao to Post. The whole point of this is to keep the defenders guessing and not become stagnant and predictable like the JVG offense. 5) You do realize their is a 3 second in the paint rule right? Man, just re-reading my post and thinking of adding the Yao high post to the offensive game plan is getting me stoked.
tmac had the highest usage rate so he was still jvg's go to guy, which was higher than the wades/kobes/lebrons. again, how does tmac struggling with his shot in the playoffs make yao not do well? he got single coverage basically. like okur said, HE KNEW YAO'S MOVES B4 YAO DID THEM. yao got predictable b/c all he did was post moves. if u had sheer power like shaq, then who cares if they knew ur move, he can just overpower them. yao can't. so why not take him out for 10-15 possessions a game (or around 30% of the time) and let him keep his defender guessing. yao actually scored most of his points from the high post and only scored 2 pts from the low post. again, adelman is still experimenting right now. if teams change, then we'll put scola as the main guy to start the offense at the high post instead when he does become the starter. he's just using yao right now to see how yao can handle the new part ofh is game. so relax. yao will still get his shots. he'll still get his points to make the yao fans happy. just be happy the rockets will be for the better. u won't see okur blocking his shots b/c he knew yao's moves.
Question: Do you honestly think that Yao will have much of an impact on the game if he's dinking around the free throw line all game, pretending he's Brad Miller redux? If Yao gets most of his points from the high post, his Fg% will go down, down, down and he won't draw nearly as many fouls as he did last year. Actually, I'm positive Yao won't have as many FTAs this year. And he's not near as good a shooter as Brad Miller. But yeah, Yao will be great being reduced to being a glorified Divac/Miller. Certainly great centers to emulate considering Yao's stats and impact lapped theirs last year.
like others have already said, yao isn't a shaq or duncan. you cant keeping pounding him and expect him to convert every time. he only shot about 45% in against utah and he was getting stuffed by okur every 1 out of 4 shots. yao in the high post means more players are involved and more players can beat you. last year we saw that when yao can't score, neither can anyone else.
You were arguing that Yao was not capable of handling the #1/1a scoring role, and I disagree. That's why I brought up McGrady, since he is the other #1/1a scoring option. Experimenting is fine, and I understand Adelman needs to try things, but I have the right to say what I don't like about the experimenting. I didn't like the fact that there was so much high post, and ToothYanker is absolutely correct about how Yao's scoring would go if he ended up in the high post. It really has nothing to do with how many points Yao scores. If McGrady is out for the whole season Yao would push 30 ppg, but the Rockets would be a low seed and instantly bounced out of the playoffs, same if Yao missed the whole season. This was preseason game 1, the defense didn't even gameplan. The high-post offense looks smooth now but it won't once coaches have had a chance to look at some tape. Having Yao play in the high post is good only for a change-up option, not as a primary form of offense. We'd like to see him play like Duncan, who can play high and low, but Yao's handles are slow and too high. He can't dribble. He'd end up like Divac/Miller if he's in the high post too much. This can't happen or the Rockets won't win anything.
There were several occasions last season where teams neutralized Yao down low by doubling him with long, quick defenders. Had he been put up high in those situations I think he could have carved defenses up simply by having the entire court to work with instead of being doubled by defenders and "tripled" by the baseline. I don't think Adleman is going to turn him into Brad Miller but adding this dimension to his game can only help this team in the long run.
wow where is your reading comprehension? i have stated EXPLICITLY that he should spend around 25-30% on the high post and ht rest in the low post. where is in that part did u see ALL GAME? i just used the preseason game as an EXAMPLE that yao CAN be successful in the high post. again, that was preseason and adelman is experimenting w/ yao and see how much he wants to use yao out there. maybe as we play more games and yao struggles, then adelman will move him back to the low post exclusively. if he flourishes, then that will be a PART of his game. like i said, okur himself said yao's moves got predictable as the series went on. unless yao is powerful, it's not a great thing to play in the post 100% of the time. so for him to play 25% high post, 75% low post, that's a good proportion.
