How good was Yao when he actually played on the court?

This is exactly what I was coming in this thread to reference. I couldn't remember what year it was, and I thought it was more than 7 games, but damn -- I remember watching that and thinking Yao had elevated to the next level. He was an absolute monster and the future was so bright at that point. He never really got back to that level though.

 

Teams don't single cover great players because of fear of that guy going off. Just to be clear, if I get the ball, make a move, and in the act of shooting and a guy comes over to help, that's not a double. A double happens once the guy gets the ball or off a dribble, not inshooting motion. Great players if doubled this late its too late because they already have the space to get the shot off. When teams doubled. Shaq, dream, duncan and guys like that, it was before they got the ball up. Now maybe in your life your coach taught you different, but the coaches that taught me from high school to college and watching the nba since 81, a double team and help defense are different things. If lowry beats his man and gets to the rim and chandler comes to contest doesn't equal a double. Even if his defender is a half step behind.

Dod, it doesn't matter with daughtery and yao because they took the same amount of shots. Brad was a very good center in the era of great centers. Yao was a very good center in the era of no centers. He could never be a #1 option on a championship team at any point in his career. That's not a bad thing, just a thing . Pippen went to the hall of fame being #2.

 

How can u say couldn't be a number 1 option on a championship team? The only time he was the primary option he got us out the first round an had us tied 1-1 against the eventual champs before going down. By ur standards lebron, mello ext. R not number 1 options nor Dwight Howard whome I assume u think is way better than Yao correct me if I'm wrong. Every player that's ever had to guard Yao has said he's one of the hardest players to cover and is basically unstoppable once on the low block I'll take that as my number 1 option all day every day. Yaos a throw back player an the younger fans dnt get how good he was I would expect u to understand since u Said you have been watching ball since the early 80s? I'm sure I have a little bias cause I love the rockets but had Yao played for another team I dnt think I would be able to say he was avg player. He dominated the everyone when he played and was one of the top 5 players in the NBA IMO out of any player of all positions in the NBA and his game totally translates to the 7 game slugfest that is a playoff series.

 

Sarcasm/reverse psychology.

 

Just when I said you made a fair comparison in a long time about Yao when you compare him with Zo, you pulled out some BS again.

Brad was a good center in the era of great centers, Yao was the best center in the era of good centers.

On offense, Brad had Larry Nance, Hod Rod Williams, Mark Price, Ron Harper to play with him, he never had to face the double teams Yao need to face. He never needed to be the # 1 option.

Yao had seen the most double teams in NBA in his era over anybody year after year, and he took Rockets to 2nd round as #1 option. Daugherty was good, but not close to the dominance Yao once had.

On defense, there was no comparison. Again Larry Nance was the anchor of that team on defensive end if you watched Cleveland's game. Yao was the anchor of Rockets defense, which was a much better defensive team than Cavs.

Your definition of "double" is laughable. When one player can't defend his man, another player had to come to help and leave his man open, it is a double team.

But even by your standards, Yao still got doubled more than anybody else in the NBA when he was healthy in those years. But somehow you would close your eyes and deny it even after I showed the you the video Yao was double teamed WITHOUT BALL 4 times in 1st one and a half minutes in that playoff game highlight video.

 

LOL. leebigez claimed he knew more about basketball than most of the fans in his previous posts, yet he didn't know team offensive rating is a better indication than points scored in terms of measureing team offense. He was the guy said Rockets beat Blazers because of AB, and of course he firmly believed AB was better than Lowry. The list goes on and on. Now this personal defined "double team" stuff. As I recall, he said he played organized basketball, I'd guess Von Wafer had a much better basketball IQ than him if that's the case.

 

When did Von Wafer play organized basketball?

 

LOL. Possibly more organized than leebigez anyway.

 

Yao was a good passer so I was never worried about double teams. Fronting was an issue. Yao was too slow and weak to fight through it and our players too dumb or unskilled to circumvent it. There are two ways of dealing with fronting and we lacked either personnel or team brains to execute them:

- Method 1 is to penetrate the perimeter from Yao's side and draw away the interior D as they slide over to cover. This will free up Yao or if the coverage doesn't, allows for a quick stop and pop with Yao uncovered at the rim for the O board if necessary. When we had players like T-Mac, who could shake the perimeter D at will during his prime, fronting would not have been an issue. When Brooks and Lowry, who both also have the ability to penetrate, became the PG, Yao only had about half a season with them before failing from injury.

- Method 2 is the swing the ball around to the other side to look for either an open shot and develop a play through motion offense. The a defending big fronting Yao, that usually leaves the paint much more vulnerable as Yao is blocking his man away from the opposite side and goal. Again, Yao can look to grab a rebound after a shot attempt, slide over to set a pick inside the perimeter, or see if the D cracks from crisp passing and gets an open shot from the inside.

Overcoming fronting falls on the team if the player is unable to fight past it. Unfortunately Yao was not able to and we lost T-Mac to injuries as well. By the time we got enough help, both players were already well into their downwards spiral of injuries.

 

Unfortunately Yao could never beat a fronting defense because he had balance issues which means he was never able to seal his man properly. Also, he was slow to react to the lob once thrown to him.

It always baffled me why everyone durin gthe regular season did not front him on 100% of the possession. The success rate for the defense when fronting Yao was incredible.

 

Why didn't NBA coaches figure this out?!

YOU AMAZING!

Oh right maybe you only noticed the times that it worked.

You are really amazing, not in a good way.

 

Is it possible for ya'll to lay off getting personal while discussing opinions regarding professional basketball? It's like a junior high lunchroom in the GARM so far this summer.

 

Will try, but when people start posting the same crap over and over again it gets difficult.

Then again, unlike some people on this forum, I am not smarter than NBA coaches.

 

What would you do if I claim I know basketball better than you and I repeatedly say Yao is the best center Rockets ever had?

 

ya'll are absolutely right....resume junior high lunchroom chatter.

keep up the important work. we're all counting on you.

 

You know why? Because fronting comes with price.

1. Fronting usually requires a 2nd person roaming around, that will leave his man semi open. Portland fronted Yao in game 2 and 3 with Aldridge roaming around, Scola got open looks all day long and killed them.

In one of the games, Dwight Howard tried fronting Yao without a 2nd person helping after failed to guard Yao from behind, Yao immediately got 2 offensive putbacks and Howard had to abandon single coverage fronting.

2. Fronting left inside wide open for slashers. The primary shot blocker will be on the outside.

Yao got fronted less under JVG because Tmac would make that kind of fronting pay for going to the hoop. Blazers could do that because Rockets had no slasher on that team and Aldridge could block some shots too.

RA said more than once that fronting Yao wouldn't work if Tmac could still play. It would be very interesting to see how fronting would to with Yao/Martin/Lowry together. Too bad there is no chance anymore.

If Yao had the right supporting cast, fronting would never be such a big issue as it is now.

 

In this era of NBA under the new rule, fronting can make any post player much less effective, including Dwight Howard. The key is the rest of the team, are they good enough to make fronting pay?