GIVE YAO THE DA#@ BALL! Yao Quit Passing and Start Shooting!

He's passing up easy shots lately. Everyone seems to be.

 

Yao Ming only recieved the ball (on a pass) with a chance to score 3 times in the fourth quarter (yes I counted) and only twice before Rudy brought in the scrubs. On the first, he posted up and missed the shot, on the second he flashed to the ball, went up and was fouled. He then went to the line and knocked em down. On the third, he hit a shot off a post up. 2 out of 3 doesn't seem to bad to me.

Our problem is that when we get down, our players seem to get to panicy, and as Calvin Murphy said "We try get all of it back at one time," off of three's and 1 on 5 drives. If we would have just slowed it down and went to Yao when we started to lose control, I think the outcome may have been much different.

 

You mean someone actually realizes Yao actually passes up easy shots?! I think I'll start the bigboymumu fanclub.

Next we'll have someone recognize : Yao is having problems posting up inside which is why the Rockets are having a tough time getting him the ball at point-blank range!

 

Well Dr Dunk,

I have to disagree with you here.

When Yao got a position, the ball was not passed to him. That's what I saw tonight. If he doesn't get the ball while he is in the position and only gets it far away from the paint, what else can he do besides taking a jumper, which he does not do even though he can? With the zone defense, it's even more difficult for a big guy to create even if he can.

 

Hold up.

no one...and i mean NO ONE...disagrees with Dr of Dunk.

 

There's a couple of things wrong with the offense:

1. Yao needs to catch the ball down low on the left side of the court facing the basket - not the right side. People who are right handed are much more comfortable dribbling with their right hand and moving left than vice a versa.

Setting up on the left side gives him the option to sweep across to the middle of the floor for a easy hook or 5 ft jumper.

2. They need to stop playing Yao at the high post. This does not work and takes too much time off the clock. Yao gets the ball, looks around for an open player, hands the ball to Steve or Cat, then they go to their ISO 1v1. If they run this play, Yao needs to make an immediate move to the basket and the guard needs to feed the ball inside immediately - not 5 seconds later when the defense collapses on him.

3. The spacing is horrid. When Yao gets the ball, there are 6 players in the area. They need to set up a two man game with everyone else cutting to the basket or setting up for an open look. The remaining players should not be standing around - I have no idea why this happens as often as it does, but there needs to be movement without the ball.

4. Yao is setting up too far away. He takes too long to find a cutter or make a move a to the hoop. There are two reasons why his shooting is now more inconsistent than before. First, people are pushing him out farther and contesting every shot. Second, he is hesitating too much. As soon as he gets the ball, he should make the move to the basket or turnaround for the jumper. He spends way too much time looking for the open guy. Teams have realized he's a great passer and is no longer straying away from the cutter. Yao needs to make the defender respect his offensive game.

5. They need to run a screen for Yao. Since teams have learned to muscle him out, let Yao stand at the high post, have a teammate stand in Yao's spot on the left hand low post position. Yao needs to move towards that player with the player screening off Yao's defender. Two things will happen.

Either Yao's man will get screened off, creating a mismatch of or

The opposing C will run into the player setting the screen creating a foul.

If Yao is not currently strong enough to get the in the post, screens are an excellent opportunity to get him closer.

 

kobo,

I'm not saying that the rest of the team always tries to pass Yao the ball when in the paint. Our guards aren't too bright sometimes, so I'm in full agreement there are times when Yao does not get the ball in the paint and he should.

On the other hand, I've seen Yao fumble the ball a lot in traffic and pass up wide open little 5-10 footers to pass the ball. Screw that! But when he does that everyone calls it "great passing".

There are 2 problems I see :

1) Yes, we have some pathetic guards when it comes to passing the ball effectively. At least Steve tries, but he's not a passing PG and never will be. (I can't lie to you)

2) Yao has a hard time gaining position on several plays inside the paint. Defenses have figured out he's an 70% FG shooter if you give him the shot 10 feet and in. They're pushing him out now to force him to take a 50% shot. Yao is having to create when he's out there. His baseline spin move is beautiful when it works. His turnaround fadeaway is a work in progress, because it's not quite so accurate.

2a) We need to a set that allows Yao to be in the lane 1 on 1. Something... anything... I haven't seen it much yet. All I'm saying is that a guy 7'5" going hard at the basket from point blank range will either get the basket, get the foul, or get the basket and the foul. Yao is most dominating when he tries to be aggressive. This fadeaway garbage needs to be secondary. Put some Shaq in the boy.

Our offensive collapses are our guard's fault, Yao's fault, and maybe even Rudy's fault. I say "maybe" because I don't know if Rudy is telling them to do something and being ignored.

 

I don't have anything to say other than GREAT POST RIET. I agree with just about all of that!

I wouldn't stop using Yao at the high post though. We've gotten a few baskets where the defense collapsed on a penetrating guard and Yao comes in and receives the pass to throw one down or get fouled in the process. It also opens up the lanes for Francis and others. I do get tired of seeing it so much, though.

The part about Yao setting up too far away, I agree with. The guy's got skills, but come on... unless he starts stroking that 16-18 footer with regularity, they're just going to play off of him. And then what? Yao's going to put the ball on the floor and drive? Among the reason Yao isn't setting up down low is he's getting beaten and pushed out. Why, I don't know. He's 300 lbs.

 

I think the bad spacing follows Yao getting caught too far from the basket. The entry passers just don't know what to do when the play breaks down sometimes. If they didn't force the ball and went to the second option more often in these situations, Yao could position himself for the offensive rebound, and that would cut down on Yao forcing passes through the lane to the weak side or to the top of the key.

Of course, this would be moot if Yao could establish position more effectively. Maybe he became more tenative after Thomas forced the travel when he backed off, and Yao overcompensated the rest of the game, letting whoever was guarding him get the position?

Sometimes I wish that Yao had started out his development more slowly. Not really, but I think it's raised some ridiculously heightened expectations, for Yao, and the team...

 

I agree that when Yao got the ball and he make his move decisively he usually make the basket or get foul. When he tried to look for a teammate first to pass then he end up taking a tough shot that miss more often than going in lately. He should look to pass only when he is double team or triple team. When he got single coverage, he should make his move strong to the basket. By saying that a lot of time Yao didn't received the ball when he got position on the other's player. When he flash to the paint the ball should immediately go to him. The majority of the time Yao will score or got foul in those case. Overall it is still the learning process for both Yao and his temmates. May be we put too much expectation on them too quickly based on some flashes of greatness that we have seen. It will take more than 20-30 games for them to learn a whole different style of play and getting used to each other. So the up and downs are to be expected. I think they need to take one step at a time. They need first to get out of their iso, dribbling mode. Then as they passing more then they will learn how to throw a good pass. Finally they will learn where their teammates are going to be in a certain situation and this will lead to a smooth running offense. So as you can see the process will take time.

 

Just to get something straight here, it's not completely on the guard to get Yao the ball down low. Yao has to maintain position for more than a split second, and he's not strong enough to do that right now. A lot of times I've noticed that Yao will flash too soon, and Francis will not be in position to make the feed yet. By the time he is, Yao has been pushed out five feet. They'll learn, give them time.

 

Word. That jabroni needs to know his role...

 

As ugly as Yao's game was tonight, he still had the highest shooting percentage among all players, with the exception of Bostjan's two minutes.

So, why not pass him the ball?

 

DD, I don't think Yao got pushed out or beaten out of position. Rudy said the same thing in the 610 show last night when a caller asked about Yao's training stuff. I think it was more of how the offense was setup and the guards passing the ball with bad timing. In many occassions, it took nearly 3seconds for CAT to pass the ball down low and I don't think Yao could hold that position that long!

 

If Karl Malone can get the ball 1 FT from the basket his whole career why can't Yao?

 

Two words: John Stockton

 

I'd like to volunteer for that position if it hasn't been filled yet.



By the way, nice thread and good posting by all involved. Nobody calling anybody else a needle dick, how refreshing.

 

Yao just needs to get stronger. Those midgets were just pushing him. I was surprised that Kurt Thomas got so pissed when he was called for a foul. I wouldn't want a player with that kinda attitude on our team. But I would like the backup center, Doleac. He can shoot. ANYWAYS, Yao has been missing his usual shots. There must be something wrong with him. And another reason he's been having more trouble is because the opposing teams are like watching a bunch of videotapes on him. They study him and know all about him. Did anyone see when Yao was posting up on Kurt Thomas and Kurt Thomas just backed off and Yao just fell down and was called for travelling? That was mean! Sometimes Yao is left open with the ball but he never looks to shoot. He can make the shot but he's always looking to pass to someone. He should forget everyone and just shoot..only one time. And one time he was doubleteamed and Posey was wide open and he tried to shoot and got blocked. That was disappointing.
Everybody e-mail Yao Ming and tell him to quit passing and start shooting!

 

Rudy has to change his strategy when he face a weak team.