Rafer how to draw contact and finish at the rim? Ditto for Luther. Luther how to stay upright and dribble with confidence and stop the hunching over? Catch and shoot without hesitation? Luther, Shane. Someone besides Chuck Hayes how to crash the offensive boards? Luther how to pass, including how to pass to Juwan under the basket? Rafer and Luther how to put some body D on the opposing guards like Vspan does? Full court press once in a while? Our role players how to move around more instead of standing in cement at the 3 P line? Especially at the end of games when they see two guys rushing at Tmac? My own opinion is having watched and heard some about Luther's game at Illinois is he has regressed at moving, slashing and finishing. Not part of this system I guess. Should Rafer and Luther spend the summer with John Lucas or some other PG tutor? A couple of summers tutoring and Head could definitely improve his handles. Anyone else see skills this team could use help with that might help in the playoffs? I would think this coaching staff might want to focus on a couple of critical points and work them to death until May.
We've heard this argument before. Yao used to be a great passer, but in JVG's system players seem to become pretty one dimensional. T-mac is the only player on the team who plays his game and in the beginning even he looks one dimensional before JVG turned him loose. This is right there with JVG telling V-span he's going to be a spot up shooter which is not his strength. How many plays do you see called for Bonzi where he's allowed to post up? Not enough IMHO.
Luther used to rund the give-and-go baseline cut to the basket with Yao a lot. After Yao got hurt, no one draws enough attention posting up for that play to become effective...
They can post up, but when Luther runs to the basket from the baseline, they don't draw enough attention from Luther's guy for that guy to leave him open for that layup like Yao did.
Bonzi has had plenty of plays called for him and, except for a couple of decent games, most of the time he either misses or turns the ball over. It hasn't been pretty. I actually don't have a problem with how JVG uses players on offense. Yao and Tracy have thrived. Shane gets open looks but he passes way too many of them up. He also backs down smaller players when he has a mismatch. Rafer gets his spot up 3s. At the NBA level, Luther is very one-dimensional because of his size and skillset. JVG has nothing to do with it. When Luther has his feet set, he is a very good jump shooter; his ability to shoot off the dribble or while contested is very limited. Juwan gets plenty of makable shots from his favorite spots; either jumpers or post ups. It's on Luther and Shane to take open shots when they have them instead of passing or putting the ball on the floor. It's on Luther to learn how to dribble and pass better. It's on Rafer to overcome his deathly fear of contact when going to the basket. When it comes to developing on skills, that is the players responsibility, usually in the offseason. On defense, both Rafer and Luther are clearly better than last season though neither one is a defensive stopper. Full court pressing? If you mean anything other than in late game situations, forget it. This is the NBA and full court presses went out years ago. For the most part it's a waste of time. Our flaws on offense have been diminished since Yao went out because the other players feel more responsible now. However, in late game situations they revert back to old form and depend too much on Tracy. The Dallas meltdown was a very good "teachable moment" for the team and hopefully the loss bothers them so much it won't happen again. This is on JVG. I completely agree too many times our guys stand at the 3 point line and do nothing. This also is on JVG. When it comes to working on skills, it's a bit late for that. It's evident JVG wants to give Luther opportunities at the point. I can see Luther finishing playoff games with Rafer on the bench. Other than that, we will play the hand we have.
Luther needs to watch the "Better Basketball" DVDs. His PG skills are the worst in the league. Luckily, he is a clutch shooter but that is the only thing he has going for him.
I think there's a good chance that with proper coaching and tennis ball drills, Luther can greatly improve his dribbling skills, a la Arenas, Artest, and Marion. Rafer , on the other hand, is a different story. How can you really coach someone to accept contact and take the ball to the glass? That's something where you either have the mentality to do it, or you don't. Skip doesn't.
i dunno bout you, but everytime shane catches the ball from the left wing, specially at the corner, he releases it for a 3. FTW!!
We have zero coaches with an opportunity to become a headcoach. Jeff needs an X/O coach to come up with late game play to get a bucket. I'm concerned with Yao coming back with a BIG brace that he is already mentioning concerns with.
Agree with most of what you said, except... Luther has one of the quicker releases in the league, and his ability to create jumpshots with a defender in his face is actually one of his strengths in my opinion. He can spontaneously rise up and hit that three pointer with accuracy as well as McGrady can (in fact, I think he's probably more accurate than T-Mac in that department), and I really wish he'd do it more often. What I'd like to see him improve is finishing around the basket in traffic, and shooting off screens, which he is already decent at but he needs to develop a lot more. The ability to run around, come off a screen and hit that 18 footer at a high clip like Rip Hamilton will go a long way in improving his offensive value to the team. There's definitely a lot more motion on offensive sets this season than I'm used to seeing on the Rockets. I wouldn't say they stand and do nothing. There have been occasions when this has been the case (like the last game at Dallas where McGrady was going off and everybody was just standing around watching him) -- but most times, I see plenty of motion and very defined plays being executed on offense. When we finally get T-Mac and Yao together for an entire season, there should be no reason why we won't rank top 5 in offensive efficiency in the league.
We've heard this argument before. Yao used to be a great passer, but in JVG's system players seem to become pretty one dimensional. yao still is a good passer, but he is also being used differently than rudy T used him. Rather than have him at the high post, yao is playing on the low block (and rightfully so). Yao still passes the ball well, but he should also shoot the ball every chance he gets. T-mac is the only player on the team who plays his game and in the beginning even he looks one dimensional before JVG turned him loose. ' is tmac a dog? This is right there with JVG telling V-span he's going to be a spot up shooter which is not his strength. thats a misrepresentation. i believe jvgs point was that billy has to be able to hit an open shot and thus far, he cant (or at least not on a regular basis) How many plays do you see called for Bonzi where he's allowed to post up? Not enough IMHO bonzi gets the ball a good amount on the block. but i still havent seen enough good things from bonzi to hope that he gets the ball more...not yet at least
Of course I have no stats and this is based on observation, but when Luther's feet aren't set his accuracy goes way down. When his feet are set, he can be deadly. His inability to create is what limits him as an offensive player even more than not being able to finish at the basket. He must go beyond being just a catch and shoot player. I will admit he has improved some since last year but not nearly enough. Since Yao has been out, there has been less standing around. When Yao played, it was very noticeable. When he comes back, let's hope for the best.
