We all know Yao is fronted by many teams. We also know the Rockets have yet to find a way to get Yao the ball when teams front him(which is absolutely ridiculous)Strength has nothing to do with a player being fronted..Shaq can get fronted in the post all night long but teams know the fuitlity of such an idea because they will get burned with good passes over the top from tall fowards like Rick Fox and Rober Horry, who can lob nice soft passes over the defender. So that leads me to the question, why in the hell is our 6ft guards trying to get Yao the ball in the post when he is fronted? The Rockets have had a ton of practice time to teach one of our taller forwards the basics of passing the ball down low to Yao when he is being fronted. All they have to do is have Griffin burn them with 1 or 2 good lobs over the top and Miami would be forced to play Yao straight up. so whats the deal.
http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=51902 Rudy was the coach when Horry was making the entry pass to Dream... has he forgotten the value of that kind of player? What is distressing to me is that EG could win a title as a Laker b/c that is precisely how he would be used.
I wonder the same freaking thing every game! They always miss time the pass and don't reverse the ball quickly enough when Yao has his man on his hip. Yao looked like he wanted to split someone's lip everytime a bad pass sailed out of bounds. Converesely, last night, I switched to the Laker game to see San Antonio triple teaming Shaq, yet the Lakers (whe Kobe wasn't jacking shots) still got the ball into Shaq using good, high lobs and quick ball reversals where each laker understood the point of the pass was to get the ball to Shaq not get a perimeter shot.
First of all, Eddie will take his 3s rather than lob passing to Yao most of the times. Second, it is painful to watch Yao fighting for positions down low all by himself with no help from his teammates. Even Stockton will set up screens for Marlone, and Shaq still gets picks from his teammates. It is the fault of the players as much as the coaching.
Fronting Yao is negatated by reversing the direction of the ball from the strong side to the weakside. This creates a better passing angle from the top of the key to the weakside FT line extended. However.... Just how often do you see Francis or Mobley whip the ball back to the weakside? I am not a Griffin apologist but there are easily way more high PnR's and Cuttino and Steve driving to the basket as opposed to Griffin shooting 3's. The majority of EG's 3's come from a drive and kick and not ball reversal. IMO, the trick to beating the front is ball movement and we don't do it well or often.
good feedback guys. thank you. Its much cooler when we offer viable solutions instead of just pointing fingers.
Eddie made several great passes to Yao last night. He can relate to the plight of being the big man on this team.
Swing the ball to the other side, throw it over the top, setting a pick for yao inside.......... there is so many way to break the frontting for a 7'6 guy, i wonder why they can't.
With the lob pass the bottom line is that they don't trust Yao to catch the ball. They attempted exactly 1 lob pass to Yao (from Francis) yesterday and it sailed out-of-bounds with Yao slow to react. Francis had this look of disgust that's hard to describe, let's just say, "See, that's why we never throw that pass" was being telegraphed to anyone that cared to see. It's just sad, really. I can count on one hand the # of attempted lobs I've seen this year, and whether Yao's slow to the ball because he's surprised it's thrown or just slow to react, getting 1 opportunity in a game where he's fronted consistently is no way to improve on a play that must be mastered despite the growing pains.
brian grant should have fouled out last night the way he was pushing ming. i'll never get the refs. they call ticky tacky fouls all night but when it's blatant, they seem to be blind. but you guys are right, learn how to lob.
options: 1. lob pass 2. mobley screens yao's man, then roll out to open spot 3. pick-n-roll with yao and francis. FRANCIS, PASS THE DAMN PASS TO 7'5" MAN FLASHING TO THE BASKET. 4. yao flashes to the paint and he shoots the turnaround or the baby hook 5. yao gets the ball at top of key, passes to one of the wing, cuts to the basketball, please pass the ball to the big guy. 6. yao as a screener for guys moving without the ball. then he cuts to the basket for offensive rebound and put back, or as the 2nd option for the pass.
Since we used the lob fairly frequently when Hakeem was around, there are only 2 things I can point a finger at : 1) Francis and the others can't make that pass consistently enough to Yao. 2) Yao can't react well to the pass. I can see both as being culprits. We know our team isn't full of rocket scientists, so I absolutely can see that as being part of the problem. However, I rarely see people question Yao. Half the time Yao gets the ball down low, he just passes the ball back out. He had 6'8"-6'9" Brian Grant on him a few times last night where all he had to do was take his usual turnaround jumper, but he passed it out. The guy is about 8 inches shorter than him - SHOOT THE DAMN BALL!!! We b**** about the ball not going down to Yao, but even when it does, he misses 2 foot layups or gets his shot blocked, instead of dunking the ball or he passes back out when it's obvious he has the skills to exploit a mismatch on the defender covering him. As for the lob pass specifically, I think it's partly a timing thing. Yes, we used the lob pass with Hakeem, but Yao's reaction time is nowhere near what Hakeem's was. The times I notice this as being most-apparent (oddly enough) is on defensive rotations where Yao gets completely lost on who he's supposed to pick up. On offense, you sometimes see this when he doesn't challenge for a rebound or contest a shot. I haven't seen much shorter people attack a 7'+ big man this much in a while, and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that Yao hasn't learned to challenge shots or rip rebounds yet. He's still adjusting to the NBA's speed, and still needs to adjust to its timing. Regarding the other players possibly being the problem, I wouldn't rule it out. I've said in other posts that our guys make some of the worst entry passes into the post I've seen. Maybe I've been spoiled by watching Horry and Kenny Smith run the inside-out game so well with the Rockets. One thing to keep in mind is the zone defense. That wasn't "really" around back in Hakeem's day. I've watched several games where Yao is fronted, but you'll notice a 2nd defender shading towards him from behind or from the FT line. Maybe that's when our guys say "it's probably better not to pass the ball to Yao". Of course I think that may be the best time to pass to him as you may free Mo Tay (!) up for a 15 foot jumper. Has anyone noticed Yao having problems with double teams he's not expecting? He seems to absolutely lose composure and fumble the ball when it happens. Maybe this could also be a problem - faith from his teammates in his ability to convert the shot if he gets it.
1. Francis and Mobley have never consistently made passes to a low post player so they aren't comfortable doing it. Remember Steve's pass yesterday when it sailed out of bounds. That was horrible. I have yet to see Mobley make a pass to set up someone for an easy shot. 2. Yao's definitely not fleet of foot. At times he's still too mechanical. His hook shot across the paint is his most effective shot yet he doesn't utilize it enough. 3. The spacing is oftentimes terrible. There were several instances yesterday when both him and Eddie were posting up on the same side. 4. The lob requires a quick and decisive pass. This does not mean you stand there with both hands on the ball above your head double clutching so the defense can react. 5. The double team. When someone comes around the corner and "surprises" Yao, he does tend to get it stripped. However, it's the other player's responsibility to shout out and let Yao know that its coming. This is very similiar when picks get set and the guy runs right into a wall. Someone should let them know that their man is setting the pick or has left him to double. 6. When they run the high post screen, have you ever seen them throw it back to Yao as he makes his moves to the basket? This is especially true when they run the play with Cat who thinks that's his opportunity to score. 7. When Yao gets the ball, someone slashes to the hole and everyone else stands around. If the cutter isn't open Yao does his fadeaway jumper from the corner which he misses almost everytime now. It's way too predictable. He needs to fake the pass next time and then make the move to the baseline or go across the middle. Yao needs to create spacing for himself when he shoots that turnaround. You have to bump your man off before you make the move so the guy won't be right on top of you when you shoot. There is no reason anyone should even get clsoe to blocking that shot. Lastly regarding Yao's defense. His earlier games he was better at helping when the opposing players got into the paint. However, oftentimes when he left his man to help, the opposing player would dish it to the wide open C who would get an easy basket. Now, he's much more hesitant to leave his player therefore creating this hole. 3 things need to happen. 1. Our players have to prevent easy penetrations. 2. Yao needs to react faster to help. 3. If Yao goes to help, someone must support. Yao is not quick enough to help out and get back in time to defend his own player - most players can't.
