Good post, which strongly supports the argument that Yao and Cat are better compliments to each other. With so many people consider Steve would play better at the 2, Cat has been doing such a great to job to try to fit in the new system.
What I see are less passes and more shot attempts by Steve Francis against the better teams. I suspect that is a function of better defence. A better defensive team keeps us from moving the ball as we want to, time runs out, the ball handler is forced to put up a shot. We clearly have a hard time moving the ball against good defensive teams. These stats back that up.
I love it. These stats seemed to indicate that the Rockets are a much better team when Steve concentrates on getting his teammates involved and letting Yao and Cat take the lead in scoring. It also looks like Steve gets some easy assists when Yao blocks shots. Great Stats
Yao is currently ranked No.1 center in the league by CBA.sportsline statistically. Centers ranking The guy is improving, may be just not as fast as a lot of us have hoped. Just give him time.
Great stats, cool to read. So simplified, when Steve Francis passes more and when Yao and Cat get the lion's share of shots... the Rockets win? Stuart
What the? How can he be ranked ahead of Shaq? Shaq avgs more mins, pts, rebs, assists and better fg%. His only downside is that he has a lower ft% . Or do they also take note of games played and add up the totals and not just per game avgs of each stat? OT: Powerdancers page Look at the # of the uiniforms they are wearing. No wonder a certain player always seems so tired during the games.
Thanks for the stats Clutch. An interesting stat I read in a recent Sports Illustrated (in the Peja Stojakovic article) Cuttino Mobley is thrid in the NBA in points per shot attempt. The statistic considered all 2 and 3 point attempts and free throw attempts. Peja was first and the Cat was third. Sorry I don't have a link as I think the article is only available through the magazine. Mobley is having an effecient scoring year.
Smeggy - To paraphrase Magic Johnson -the fundamental differences between NBA players is more mental than physical. The Rockets are maybe one player short from being able to turn the menatal focus on and off within a single game like the Lakers when they have their Big 4 all playing. Not saying we're equivalent, just that we don't (yet) have the talent to fade in and out of focus within a game and get away with it.
I saw that article too. Very interesting! In fact I think in their top 10, 3 Kings made the list, Peja, Bibby and Brad Miller.
Not that you were attempting to demonstrate this point, Clutch, but I think these facts/stats should solidify Cuttino's position as THE go-to guy on this team in the minds of the fans (and of those in the Rockets organization). Cat has cleary demonstrated his willingness to adjust to the demands of the JVG system without a drop-off in performance. On the contrary, he has improved his stats in many categories this year. As these statistics indicate, these individual numbers translate into team success. Any suggestion that Cat should be traded is lunacy at this time.
Fantastic stuff. I wonder about this bit, though. Is it a sign of fatigue? Or is the shooting percentage so poor because the shots are being forced?
I think this is the big one here - When Yao plays aggressive goes after the ball he can change the shot selection for just about the entire team. Force them outside, keep em' thinking about the humiliation of another block highlight on Sports center, etc... we need to see more of this - stat.
bingo. you're going to win more against bad teams and you're going to be able to move the ball more against their lesser defenses. the 4 things most affected by this are steve's shots (more shots against better D's that force more broken down plays and iso's), steve's assists (less passes in that situation), and cuttino and yao's shots (they being the 2 next options after steve). so when we play bad teams, we're more likely to win and more likely to see more cat and yao shots and more steve assists and when we play good teams the reverse is true. the more shots by cat/yao don't cause the wins, they go hand in hand (or it's more the other way around even) as a result of playing bad teams (532 down to 447 is a huge dropoff for it to just be random). didn't steve have some crazy turnover vs W/L stat last year, too? like when he had 5 we had a bad record but when he had 6 or more we were great.
I think when Yao is hitting his shots, the opposing team start to put more bodies on him so he couldn't get 15 shots. When he misses, he'll not be covered by double teams so he gets more shots. Another reason is referee factor. Sometimes Yao gets fouled a lot , misses shots but doesn't get the calls. Sometimes he gets the calls and get to the free throw line so the shots won't count.
