I officially went from Jr. to just member this week, so I thought I’d try my hand at starting instead of just responding to a topic. Right now I’m confused with what I’m seeing versus what others are describing. We’re all Rocket fans, yet daily I read well articulate posts that describe things that I simply don’t see going on, or that describe concepts that I always thought were good. For Example, in this forum ISO is currently used like a curse word. I used to think ISO ball was a sound concept. Now its talked about so negatively that I’ve decided I must have a faulty definition of ISO ball. My understanding of a ISO ball was that a team ran its offense so as to isolate a superior offensive player on an inferior defensive player thus allowing the offensive player to score on the single defender, or force a double team enabling the offensive player to dish to the open man. Sound philosophy in my book. Exploit the mismatch. So why are so many against it I ask myself. I guess I don’t know what I’m talking about (highly probable). I’m not trained in basketball strategy nor do I have anymore than a fan’s and church league player’s (6ft and a low post presence!) knowledge of the game. So, could some of you who have REAL, i.e. college or pro, experience in basketball please answer these questions for me. 1. Is my definition of ISO ball wrong? 2. If it is wrong, what is ISO ball? 3. If my definition is right, then why is it talked about so negatively In a related matter I often here the term “poor basketball” thrown around. Just so I can get better feeling of what posters mean by this term, could anyone, experts and non-experts alike, answer the question below: Which one of these plays was “bad basketball” in your opinion?. a. Mobley receives a pass at the corner beyond the three point line. He is single covered and decides he can take his man of the dribble. He also sees that the help defender will have to come off Yao once he gets by his man. He beats his man, the help stays on Yao, so Mobley has an easy lay up. b. SF takes a Yao Ming block shot the length of the floor, dribbles through several defenders, throws up a wild shot that misses. c. Jason Kids takes the ball down the court challenges four Rocket defenders and scores. He is praised for being a one man fast break and that he has a high enough basketball IQ to know that he’s team needs his scoring. PS- there is a little sarcasm in this post, but I sincerely want to know how I can see games so differently from a large percentage of Rocket fans.
Tothomas, First, congrats on being bumped up. Now to your question on the ISO. I don't think that ISO is so much of a bad word, it's just that the Rockets knew only that one way to play. Also, with teams now able to play zone defense, ISO plays don't work quite as well. Another problem that most people have on this board is the way the current Rocket team would play their isolation moves. Whoever the ISO person was (Francis, Mobley, or Mooch), normally they'd dribble the ball to death until the very last minute and then put up a prayer shot while the rest of the team was out of position to get a rebound. Now it's impossible to categorize every ISO play like that, but these fellas found more ways than not to do it like this.
Man, ISO is great. It's the best strategy of any team. The more ISOs the better. Oh GOD, how much I love dribble mania and brickfest !
The subject has been beaten to death so I am going to be as brief as possible. ALL NBA teams run isolations as part of their half court sets. The obvious goal is to get a favorable mismatch and/or an open shot. How you get to that point can vary from a low post player moving through the lane as the ball is reversed to the opposite side of the floor to gain a better angle on the entry pass, to running a SG of screens, to running a PnR to gain a height or quickness advantage. A form of ISO that turned it into a curse word here is a Rockets player wearing the "Spalding" off of the ball, running down the shot clock, while 3 or even 4 teammates stood totally still at the 3 point line. So to apply my perspctive to your scenario of "Which one of these plays was “bad basketball” in your opinion?"" Nothing wrong as long as Mobley doesn't... 1) get doubled himself and try to make a very difficult shot over 2 (or 3 defenders). 2) attempt a worse shot over say Ron Artest while Yao has inside posiion on say Jeff Foster. 3) keep riding the official he was fouled in the act of shooting and thus loses track of his man in transition. 4) do this so frequently his teammates lose a "feel" for the half court game. This is not a half court set play, so it is technically not an ISO play. It is however, not very good basketball. Again not half court, not ISO. What it appears you are doing is setting up some sort of Steve Francis vs Kidd in the open court debate. Kidd turns the ball over alot in transition, but he also scores and gets others involved which is probably the method of judgement.
The ISO, if played correctly, is just like any other play. Prob is, the Rockets don't use them correctly. 1. SF, Cat and Moochie (like any other player in the league) don't beat the defender in the league in every ISO play. So most teams in the league know not to use it 4 out of every 5 plays. Not the Rockets. 2. When double/triple/quadruple teamed, the ISO player on another team (even Kobe) usually passes to the open man. Not the Rockets. We'd rather shoot with 4 guys in the ISO player's face and brick. 3. Almost every ISO play the Rockets draw up drains the shot clock so we have no chance to run another play. 4. I think (not sure though), that there is a 7'5 Chinese guy on our team who runs all the way up court, establish position sometimes and sees Moochie Norris jacks up a brick with 20 secs left on the shot clock, or worse, fighting for position while Moochie dribbles the clock away, losing it and see a brick. Either way he has to run all the way back to the defensive end, play D, then run up to the other end and do it all over again. Yet we wonder why he's tired all the time. 5. Your poll is not fair. a) You don't see Jason Kidd go 1 on 4 too many times unless he has to (eg. the NJ-Houston game where KMart was out so they don't have another option). b) Jasono Kidd actually knows how to run a fast break, whereas I often scream in horror when Steve does it.
I think some of you are trying to take my post in an adversarial way and I really don’t mean it that way. I’m not trying to defend ball hogging, over dribbeling, or lack of team play. It just bothers me that ISO has become the synonomis (sp?) with that. GATER, I’m not trying to put Kidd over SF or vice versa. I’m really just interested in how people view those three different plays which all happened in the Nets game. I then know what light to read their other posts in. Thanks to those who responded.
nothing wrong with that play at all. that is exploiting a matchup correctly. i must interject that there is no mention of the shot clock, though, and that does make a little bit of difference. if mobes receives the pass and makes his decision to penetrate in a reasonable amount of time...say 5 seconds...this would very a perfectably acceptable play. if he takes 15 seconds or so to do this, even though he scored, he has effectively killed the offensive "flow" of the team. when plays of this nature are repeated, teammates tend to get stagnant and, eventually, lose their high level of concentration from not being involved and standing around with their thumbs up their butts... key word here: "wild". terrible play. no mention of kidd being wild (aka: out of control) in this situation. if kidd is under control, catches the defense on their heels, and decides to press the action on a break, i don't have a problem with it...at least not in and of itself. chances are he wouldn't continually do it, though. if he did, he might as well be playing 1 on 5.
MFW2310, Do you see that stuff happen a lot this season? I really don't. That's why I was confused on what people meant when they describe this seasons play as ISO ball. verse, like I said in a prior post those were three plays during the Nets game. The Mobley play was in the first quarter and I thought a pretty quick decision, 2or 3 seconds. I kind of wish that he would have been picked up and forced to dish just to see if he would have done it. Definite weakness of his when he goes to the hole.
Is chocolate bad? How about for every meal, all day, every day? How about as a treat now and then? Question answered; problem solved!
Isolating Yao is good because all of his shots should be of the high % variety. Also, we can send cutters through the lane for the occasional easy basket. Also, if Yao is doubled, he's not too stubborn to pass the ball.
Depends on who the players are in the iso offense. If it's players that pass as well as they score, then iso can work because when the driving guard draws the big man's defender, he can make the good dish to the big man for the high percentage shot. If the player can't, or chooses not to pass often (like Stevie Franchise and Mobley) I think iso hurts a team.
