I was watching the Lakers vs Utah game and Kobe gave one hell of a pick to free up Bynum for an easy two. Just like how Stockton sets picks for Malone. We need Tmac or others to set picks to free up Yao sometimes. Yao always sets picks for his teammates. Rafer and James probably are not strong/big enough but Francis probably can. (And no this is not a cleverly disguised thread to play SF )
We do this sometimes when Yao starts on the low block on one side. Chuck comes over and sets a pick to allow Yao to roll to the center or to repost on the other side against a smaller defender. Part of the reason we don't do it more often I think has to do with Yao's foot-speed. He's not as quick as other big players out there, so it allows his man time to catch up. There's also the risk of him running over another player as he uses the pick and getting called for an offensive foul.
a problem with that is if our PF sets a pick then the opposing PF will be switching to defend yao.. have a guard set the pick and let the opposing guard switch to yao..
NOTICE If you watched last nights game Yao commanded a double team every moment he touched the ball, he had two guys on him, how are you going to set a pick for a guy that is being double teamed?
I see it more as even more of a problem to have a point guard switching over to guard Yao. Yao is far more likely to either a) get the ball stripped by a shorter/quicker player, b) commit an offensive foul by drawing any sort of contact against the guard, or c) injure himself falling down if the guard gets under him too much while trying to hold position.
I remember during the Utah series, they would run some plays where Boozer would be setting a pick down low, and then his defender would get down-picked while Boozer popped out to the FT line for an open jumper. I remember thinking at the time that we should be doing stuff like that against big bulky defenders in order to get Yao some easy looks.
hows this? have players who can shoot from the perimeter draw their defenders away from the paint - battier, mj, scola have yao set up in the high post let tmac set a pick for yao let yao slide to the paint pass to yao for the dunk
This is one thing i want to see more of. JVG really concentrated on helping Yao get as deep position as possible by setting picks so he can flash across the lane. RA seems content to just get Yao the ball on the block and let him work, but too often that results in a fadeaway or turnaround jumpshot. Yao's pretty good at those shots, but he's better with the hookshots in the paint. Hopefully we'll see more of it in time.
The pick across the lane they currently run is only mildly effective. I'd like to see them run the exact same play, but have Yao stop in the very middle of the lane and get position. He seems to have a good ability to "surprise" his defenders and get extremely deep post position in the exact middle of the lane. On the blocks, he either gets pushed out, or the ball takes too long to get there, and he gets pushed out. granted, the entry pass from the top of the three point line is definitely a harder one, but Yao usually has such good position.
