good work, man! really appreciate it To me, looks like it was just messed up on the offensive end. Yeah, it is very very very unpredictable offenses Let's just hope rockets can make very shot by running such "flow offense"
no one is able to "establish himself against every defense". no not for post players who need others to feed. no even akeem could do that. to compare a post player to a wing player is not right. you're right, some nights yao beats the defense, some nights he doesn't. in the playoffs, that's where the adjustments from the coaches come in. are we able to adjust fast enough in b/w halves or even quarters? when yao is having problems against a certain type of defensive scheme, it is important for us to know how to get him the ball in a different way; but NOT like "ok, yao is having trouble, let's try ab or wafer and see what they can do". none of the other rockets is at a level high enough for that. i'm not advocating a stagnant offense, but the goal should always be giving the yao the ball one way or the other. from there we let the other players take advantage of whatever yao creates. this is best suited to our current makeup. if we have another 1st class wing player (say wade) or a more competent conventional pg (say billups or nash), then it's a different story.
Maybe establishing wasnt the right word, i dont mean he has to have his way with every defense, but that he has to be able to set himself and get the ball. I dont think Dream ever had problems getting the ball and making moves against any specific defense, at least during his peak years. If something or someone ever did give him trouble, it was an exception, and rare. the point i was trying to make with the Kobe comparison is Yao has to make himself part of the offense every game. If he's not going to be able to score much because of a good defense, the he has to still be able to draw guys and kick out. Good post players can be contained sometimes, you can make them miss shots sometimes or you can force him to kick out to teammates and get them involved instead, but good post players shouldn't be take out of the offense completely, which is pretty much what you said, so I agree. You should be able to say two things about a good post players: 1. He consistently shoots about the same number of attempts, although sometimes he's off, he's getting his shots, or 2. If sometimes he's not getting his shots then it's because those opportunities are being transfered to teammates on kick outs. You should never say a good post player had to be reduced to setting picks because the defense took him out of the offense, and that's what happens to Yao sometimes. Unfortunately, i dont think you can always make an adjustment that keep Yao as a focal point in the offense because of his troubles. You can crowd him or strip him in the post, away from the rim, etc. you put him in a situation where he's cutting or moving, and his stiffness keeps him from being consistently effective. So all the adjustments possible still put him at a disadvantage with certain defenses. that's why i strongly believe you need to toughen him up, yet more light on his feet and more fluid, and the guy will be always find a way to be involved against any defense thrown at him.
IBM, if yao could get the ball everytime and be effective, no one would say a word, but you know yao isn't that kind of player. He gets tired, starts holding and grabbing his shorts, have trouble getting across half court. When he does that, what offense should the rockets run then?
when he's tired, sub him out and give him a breather. that simple. and this is the time for ab, wafer and landry to come in and change the pace.
But the problem is our team can't live without yao for even one minute, so some degree yao is even more needed to our other players than the air is.
Great work and analysis Durvasa. More posts like this need to exist on the board, which is starting to come back a little bit. IMO, RA needs to focus on two things with this current team. Either we push the ball and get a decent quick shot/layup attempt in the first 5-8 seconds of the shot clock, or the balls goes through Yao's hands every single time. That doesn't mean that Yao has to shot the ball every time, but putting the ball in Yao's hands with 16 seconds or more on the shot clock forces every team to decide on whether or not to double and where from. This will either let Yao get more one on one opportunities, or make him learn to be stronger with the ball and have better outlet passes to keep his turnovers down. It really is not as hard to get Yao the ball as the team is making it. If Yao is fronted, let him go towards the basket and repost on the other side boxing out his man as the ball is swung around to the other side of the court quickly by the guards and/or wing players...and quickly the ball goes down to him before the defense can reset. Then he can take a second or two to see if he will be doubled and pass out, or go one on one. If he is played from behind, iso our best inside passer with him on one side of the court and get the ball to him quickly. Let the defense decide their poison on if they double or not. Yao never needs to post beyond twelve feet out where he can just simply turn and shoot comfortably if they want to play off of him. Yao has great spins move close to the basket, and he needs to use those to also post his man lower if he is pushed out. If doesn't make sense for him to just sit there and take abuse when he is pushed too far from the basket to be effective. If the man fronts him on a spin move, then see above where he go towards the basket to the other side, posts and blocks out on that other side. I would rarely if EVER try to lob the ball to Yao going to the basket. He just doesn't catch the ball strong enough or jump quick enough moving for that to be effective. Most teams are more effective on Yao when doubling him off his first dribble, if not fronting him. Therefore Yao needs to understand that this is his weakness and never plan to dribble the ball more than twice before passing or shooting. Him trying to back his man down to the basket off the dribble is always a high percentage turnover, so he needs to be told to take that out of his game. Either one or two dribbles then shoot/pass; or turn around jumper/hook/dunk right after catching the ball. He will be twice as effective with quick decisions instead of trying to decide if he can back his man down lower under the basket off his dribble. NBA players are just too quick on help for him to be successful with that most of the time. Last but not the least, Adelman needs to give Yao a set substitution pattern that he can pace himself on. Playing him all the first quarter and into the second quarter a good ways most nights is just plain ridiculous. That's like going to the gym and maxing out on bench pressing first, and then trying to do the rest of your workout. Even if you lighten the weights for the rest of your workout, you are spent, beat, out of gas. Adelman's substitution patterns of Yao are inconsistent and overbearing for a big man of his size. We can't expect Yao to keep us from ever losing leads all the time. If the bench can't do their job, we will lose anyway, so no need to burn out Yao. I think if Yao was told: "Yao, you will play the first 8 minutes of the first quarter, last 8 minutes of the second, first 8 of the third and last 8 minutes of the fourth quarter no matter what, unless you are in foul trouble" ... then Yao would know how to use his energy better and be more effective on the court at all times. 32 minutes a game is more than enough for him to play right now. You could probably steal a minute or two here or there, but that would still keep him around 35 to 36 minutes a game tops. He will never be effective for 40 plus minutes games. He just doesn't have the stamina at his size for that. Ultimately, no matter how good of coach RA is, I blame him for mis-using Yao. Yao should touch the ball on 95% of the trips on the offensive end where we don't shoot in the first 5-8 seconds and he is on the court. He doesn't have to shoot it, but he keeps the defense honest and working hard, which is to our benefit in the long run of a complete game.
Good work. I didn't watched the game but it seemed so easy for them to take Yao out of the game. You just need to make a little bit of a traffic and he is done. You just can't play in traffic. And Ron's shot selection is horrible, just horrible.
I have never seen a team have such a competitive advantage (Yao on the offensive end) and do such a terrible job utilizing it (getting him the ball and making sure he gets a steady diet). Does Yao have SOME accountability for not sealing as well as a 300lbs guy could, showing hands of stone a little too often or being indecisive in the post too much for a 7 year guy who has played the post his whole career - yes. But that responsibility is about 20% of the issue and the guard play and lack of a coach that will BENCH the guards that don't emphasize Yao in the offense is about 80% of the problem. I was watching the Cavs / Magic game the other day and Barry (I think) was talking about Big Z and his lack of shots and he said something that summarizes it all very well: "...at the end of the day, the center can't pass himself the ball..."
Thanks durvasa for another great video. Couple of things I noticed. One was that the Lakers again did a great job when Yao got the ball in the low post, As before, they waited for Yao to put the ball on the court before two or more players collapsed on him. This prevented Rockets' perimeter players from becoming open before the collapse. And apparently, it's not easy for Yao to make that pass once he starts dribbling? One solution for this I can imagine is for the perimeter players to move more without the ball before Yao begins his dribble in the low post. It will make it easier for Yao to find them for an open shot and more difficult for the defenders to time their collapse on Yao. Right now, the perimeter guys are just standing around, waiting for the pass. The old JVG style, IIRC. Second, because the collapse comes so quickly after Yao dribbles and begins his post move, Yao isn't able to get physical with Gasol or other defenders. This prevents Yao's defender from getting too worn out from defending Yao throughout the game. Gotta give credit to the Lakers' solid defense. There's too much I want to say about Yao in the high post, so I'll stop here.
Is it me or like we never had this many games when Tracy was passing the ball to Yao. Like those two managed to co exist really well to the point where Yao and T-mac got their shots and found each other. I'll say it again but Tracy was probably one of the best passers to Yao. We are missing that element a person who can actually consistently generate more 1 on 1 coverage to Yao Ming. If there was a double team going for Artest (who is frequently covered by 1 person) Yao would have more room to be utilised more.
Tracy's passing abilities are actually underrated. For most of our memories, Tracy used to be a great scorer and a bad team-leader, but he is actually also pretty good a playmaker. It's more efficient to use him as a scorer than a play-maker but it doesn't mean he is not capable to act as a play maker. just like yao's case, yao is pretty good at midrange shooting but he is more threating at the low post.
Y'all can come up with a hundred and one ways to get Yao in different positions to receive the ball, but it means nothing if the post defender is reaching or stepping around him easily or if Yao's move gets disrupted by a bump. THAT is the problem. Giving him an entry pass isnt the problem, it just seems that way because the entry passer waits and waits, but he's more worried about Yao's defender getting the ball than he is about his own defender getting it.
Do you do this for a full time job? Thats pretty heavy stuff. Thanks. Although I watched the game live I will go through this when I have time. Though one thing is too obvious, unless Artest is driving to the basket, he should stop taking shots on the run altogether. Also when he gets the ball he breaks play 80% of the time. Sometimes I have trouble reading what he's doing at all. Scola has to make that 18-footer automatic. Can you believe the amount of free shots he gets?
Great job durvasa. I'm interested in your thought about Yao's situation. I think what Adelman tries to do is simply impossible with dumb players like Brooks, Wafer or Ron. They're gonna have a tendency to forget Yao, ignore him in too many plays. Would be great to expand alternatives and don't let the defense to focus on Yao... but pass him the ball every time is possible (5-6 more touches per game). With these players, it's clear is not possible. Adelman is trying it all season and there are no results. So I hope Rick & Morey see that and take action this summer. That means, TRADES and not-resignings. This situation would be absolutely different with Mike Miller in the team instead of Artest, Hinrich (even Alston) instead of Brooks; and a healthy McGrady instead of Wafer. There all are players who look for the pass before pushing the ball on the floor.
To sum up,Yao got the ball in low block 13 times out of 88 possessions for a jaw dropping 14.7%, plus two touches moving towards the basket, while set numerous screens for low percentage shooters. Nice offensive game plan. And many people still claim Yao is not under utilized.
