Now this is why Adelman will be successful here. He knows our players learned good D from JVG and he wants them to teach him, how many coaches are willing to put their egos away and have the player teach the coach?
Patience is going to be the buzzword in Houston. "It could take until the All-Star break to become instinctive with this offense," forward Shane Battier admitted. -CNNSI's Chris Mannix. 'til midseason? thats a whole lottah sky falling ...
I just said in a recently post that we may be around .500 until February. Perhaps the players are thinking something along the same lines? I don't like that. They should be going out there trying to win every game.
Kidd: "...blah blah blah Nets blah blah blah Nets blah blah..." Reporter: "So, Jason, how do you think Yao Ming will fit into Rick Adelman's offense in Houston?" Kidd: ...
Well, nothing seems to please you about this year's Rockets, aside from Yao. Your projection seems a little harsh, considering that the Rockets were well above .500 last year while basically covering their holes with band-aids. Yao was out, and T-Mac was out for a stretch of games as well. I think that the talent alone will be able to keep them comfortably above .500, enough for a mid-season push toward the top seed(s). Regarding the Battier comment, I don't think he meant that the Rockets will be mediocre until February, he probably meant that they wouldn't be firing on all cylinders until then. Just because they're not instinctive in their actions doesn't mean that they'll be mediocre.
I guess if they don't pick up the offense quickly, they can always get the ball to Francis and clear out....allowing him to dribble incessantly until the shot clock gets down to... ...wait a minute. I just flashed back to 1999. Sorry about that.
I'm not totally in love with Yao occupying the high-post so far. This has surprised me. Too often he is handed the ball at the elbow and players either haven't cut hard enough to free up passing angles (where are all the weak-side screens?) or he's been a half-second too late to deliver the ball. More often than not, eight to ten seconds of the shot clock elapses and he's left with nothing more than hoisting up a 16-ft jumpshot or handing off the ball to a guard at the top of the key who then is pressured to force something or take a shot he could've taken at any time. This is not by any means meant to be a final judgment. I like the option, and I fully expect it will work itself out with time (sooner rather than later, in fact). And, of course, the pre-season is hardly indicative of the effort and energy exhibited in regular season play. But I am relieved to read other sources' material which appears to suggest that Yao's primary occupation will still be the low-post.
"When Tracy [McGrady] wasn't in the game last season, we had no chance of winning. And the teams that have won championships have excelled at both offense and defense." that's so sad last yr. we literally have ZERO chance when he was not on the floor. hopefully mike james/bonzi/scola can help take us to another level in terms of depth
who said that? ur going to listen to a post and thinks the players think the same way. what did mike james said yday on his interview? what have the players been saying? they're going for as best of a record as they can. they're looking to WIN the games now even when they don't know the offense as well.
I was referring to the quote by Battier that they their offense wouldn't be great for months. I really don't exactly like hearing the players offering excuses before bad stuff even happens. It's fine to talk about it 3 years after the fact (like J-Kidd or Jason Collins) but IMO it's kind of defeatist to say it before you've even really gotten anywhere.
say what? you are really hating adelman not using yao the way u like that much huh for PRESEASON GAMES (can't beat that down enough). this is a BRAND-NEW OFFENSE. we have 4-5 BRAND-NEW players. what do u expect man? you hear that EVERY TIME ANY team faces a change like this. we heard this when tmac got here in 04-05. it's nothing new. but when they play, they're going to believe they're going to win. maybe it's your defeatist and pessimistic attitude that needs to get checked. all of our players have been mightily optimistic in general. what battier said is our offense will not click 100% until a few months (WHICH IS TRUE even for teams w/ experience in a system b/c u had an offseason). they're going to win on their defense (which jon admitted the team was lax b/c we were winding down on the preseason as the miscues were simply not running around screens or close outs, not missed assignments) and the greatness of tracy and yao and our depth. not many teams have that. again, it's how YOU FINISH THE SEASON. though i would love for the team to have the best record, as long as we stay healthy and get homecourt, i'm satisfied.
