Tracy and Yao need to play better this year. That means shooting at a higher percantage. Yao needs to shoot over 55% and Tracy needs to shoot over 46%. That means they need to take a lot of good shots, and very few forced or bad shots. Whats the point of having both of them averaging over 50 points combine if they take 50 shots to get there. Second they both need to average about 8-10 free throws a game, to show they're plaing aggressive. ALso that makes the other team be in foul trouble and in penalty earlier. and Third they must lead like they never led before. Don't take nights off, and play your hearts out. It's our time. No more excuses. We have a winning coach. Abundance of talent. And the superstars.
The conventional wisdom is that in Adelman's offense, the majority of Yao's outside shots (i.e., mid-range jumpers) are supposed to be unforced and easily makable, and majority of Yao's inside shots are guarded by one tall defender or two weak defenders at worst (i.e., still a mismatch) thus Yao's FG% in the up coming regular season should be higher than those in the previous two seasons under JVG. The conventional wisdom also says Yao is a student of the game and one who learns from his past mistakes, and will be making his shot selections with greater freedom under Adelman. We'll see if the conventional wisdom is right.
About the leading we have Scola , James and Francis who are vocal guys so that will help. It's rare for a perimeter player to shoot over 46% , doesn't matter if he is a superstar.
50 points with 50 shots. Thats a nice percentage to have. But to play like superstars does't meant taking more shots, more free throws. Playing like superstars means making shots when it matters. Which is not happening when the game is close for rox last season.
I agree that our superstars need to play like superstars. If they don't, we won't win a championship. But I disagree that their "superstarness" can simply be measured with statistics. Most NBA games between good teams are won in the last 5 minutes. Superstars do WHATEVER IT TAKES to win. It's often unquantifiable. Great stats don't equal better winning %. It's not turning the ball over with 2 minutes left. It's getting a steal. It's forcing a bad shot. It's making a big play when it counts that deflates the other team. It's coming from under the basket to block a John Starks 3-point shot. Winners know how to make big plays ...not just big stats. Case in point ...Robert Horry. Statistically, he's an average PF at best ...unless you call championships are stat.
Of course our superstars need to play better this year and I think they'll do that. Yao will have more asist but he will also have a lot of easy dunks layups or hook shot. The same with Tracy. Adelma's gonna give him more positions to shot and drive. And I think they should go to the ft-line much more times per game.
"A heart of a champion", that is the only missing piece we lack. Scola has it, and I hope it flows to the heart of Yao and Tmac specially.
I say everyone need play better, it is a team game, if the role players can not stand up, then our superstars will get double constantly.
I wanna see Tmac dive for some loose balls. I don't care if its risking injury but the great ones do it!
Most importantly, I want our superstars to play like superstars in the 4th quarter. Last season, they struggled in that period. I hope McGrady's efficiency numbers (FG%, 3FG%, FT%) all increase. For Yao, it's possible that it decreases somewhat since he's playing further from the basket. But even if he's around 49-50% on his FG%, he's such a great free throw shooter that his overall efficiency will always be very high. I'm not worried about him. I'd like the turnovers to go down, though.
Me, I'm not worried about the regular season, I want them to play like superstars in the postseason. I have enough of this 2-0 lead and blew it.
Agree. That's a little too much. Be up in the series 2-0 twice in 3 years and still lose both series 3-4.
Sorry but "50 points with 50 shots" would not be a nice percentage at all, unless you count those fouled shots which resulted in free throws. Using last season's stats as an example: Yao PT 25.0, FG 8.8-17.1 [51.6%], FT 7.4-8.6 [86.2%] TMac PT 24.6, FG 9.0-20.8 [43.1%] (3-pt FG 1.8-5.4 [33.1%]), FT 4.9-6.9 [70.7%] You can see even in JVG's offense, Yao and TMac combined for just under 39 shots per game for nearly 50 points. With this year's depth (knock on wood) and Adelman's offense, I can't imagine either of two leaders shoots more than he did in JVG's last season. What I can be hopeful are improved FG%'s from both of them.
