In a nice, humble, unbiased way; I agree with you. VERY MUCH If Yao even looks at people its a foul. I think they do it because they know Yao isn't going to press the issue and Van Gundy doesn't argue with the refs. I mean, I think they target him. But thats just my honest opinion.
One thing really annoys me is that our players rarely run towards the shooters. I know they won't be able to get there in time for the block, but running towards the shooter usually make the shooter think twice before launch it. It's one of the bball ABC when learn organized basketball. I don't know if it's because these guys are lazy, or JVG just doesn't teach them.
If they run at them hard a nice Pump fake and the shooter is around them . . they are not the most fleet of foot and would have a hard time recovering Would throw off the whole offense Rocket River
Guys, to be honest, it was 730 am and I was tired having just gotten into work. And I didn't read Gater's initial explanation in depth I posted about what I saw without reading that reply I do understand what you're saying compeltely; thanks for the explanation. Usually I understand the philosophies when I see them on the floor, but I didn't see this one. I think the main reason I had questions was because the team was rotating slowly and poorly in the first 3 games or so...so it seemed like nothing was working. Maybe they were tired, or getting used to each other, etc. though
There is no need for JVG to use a zone. VG's man to man uses zone principles...double team dribble penetration and sag the paint on the weak side where you are essentially a 2 man zone guarding 3 players. It's not a coincidence that to beat a zone, you reverse the ball to the weakside and stretch it by shooting over the top....same thing you do to the Rox. Teams with good shooters present problems for any defensive scheme. IMO, Van Gundy has made a trade off since the current NBA has many more scorers than shooters. (If you don't know the difference, Iverson is a scorer and Ray Allen is a shooter). I can only think of a handful of teams that are "loaded with shooters". Given that the NBA is about matchups and that we both agree that overall team footspeed is below average, I'm not sure why you want to suggest we use a defensive scheme that emphasizes individual on the ball D. Any decent coach will quickly figure where his favorable mismatch is against us. Trapping, help D minimizes our lack of footspeed at the point of attack IMO. First, let's dispell the myth that the Rockets are a poor defensive rebounding team. They are currently in the middle of the pack and are far closer to the top than they are the bottom. Further (according to 82games), of the 69.9 non-free throw points the 2003-04 Rockets gave up, only 6.2 where in the dunk or tip-in category. They forced their opponents to 45.5 points (65.8% of non FT pts) from jump shots. Rebounding is a function of desire to get the ball and boxing out. Neither of those are strong individual suits of this team. In fact, your overall comment (rebounding, steals, forced TO's, blocks) is about individual skills as much as it is about a defensive philosophy. In summary, Van Gundy's defensive philosphy is based upon a sort of "gestalt" aspect. The sum is much greater than the individual parts. Granted that in Q4 of the last game the Grizz missed alot of wide open shots, but look at what we had on the floor from an individual D basis and look at what they accomplished with team D. Other than McGrady and possibly some minor votes for Yao, I don't see any Rockets getting votes for the NBA All Defensive team.
that would depend on whether or not Deke can continue to have the impact he has had so far this year.....for a old washed up guy, he sure is playing well imo. good post Gater, thanks for your help clarifying this.
There are two main reasons Yao has been getting into foul trouble. For one, he has played against a lot of smaller, more athletic centers forcing him to try and stay with them laterally. He does not have a lot of lateral quickness and will need to improve his defensive footwork to get better in that area. Second, he is not quite there on learning how to stay on his feet when someone fakes a shot. He's gotten a LOT better, but his instincts still take over from time to time.
Nap! We are not taling about going for the block shots, which is almost impossible in ths situation. This usually happens when opponent swin the ball to weak side, which has a 3 on 2 for a wide open shots. No coach will ever tell you not to challenge the shots, especially in this situation since the shot clock won't have much time left after the extra ball movement. You always contest the shot, assume others will rotate over to cover for you.
