IMO,yao will get his 20/10,and yao-mcgrady combo will be the next OK. Yao is still yao,but he get better conditions(stronger....) he is willing to change.(as he said,beast?)
ironically we shipped our answer to Orlando! JVG just plain sux...his system sux and all these former Knicks on our roster is really peaving me. And don't start saying give it time cause i've freakin had it with giving it time...Did Steve Francis and Cat need time to get adjusted in Orlando....NO! 26pts 9rebs 7asts 2to....sounds pretty damn good to me. We are dead in the water...the offense sux. JVG thinks he can spread the ball around and get everybody shots...screw that get it to #1 and #11 and find a PG who can get the ball down in the post...LUE IS A F***ING JOKE!
how to mixed up yao & Mcgrady's offence,it is not easy to look through.but it ought to resolve. when yao dominated Raptors in 3Q,Mcgrady disappeared.
Right now our offence is ok,anyway we get two dominate force in the court. but our defence looks like crap.
Our PGs need to learn the offense. Plus, there is lack of chemistry. Question: How did SF and Mobley click w/ the others on the Magic? They seem to flow in their game...
It is a problem,but not today. someone analyze Yao's turnovers in game thread. "1. Yao dips shoulder on Woods, offensive foul. Picked his dribble up too early, and had to create separation." "2. Yao clears a path for JJ to take it to the hoop. JJ precedes to take 5 dribbles to the basket. In the meantime, Yao is holding the defender at bay and gets called for the moving screen. " "3. Yao tries posting up, and you can hear Toronto's assistant coaching yelling "3! 3! 3!" Yao eventually gets out of the lane. play continues for a few seconds before the ref calls yao for 3 seconds, even though it looked to me like he got out. Must have had a toe in there." "4. Yao sets a pick, defender runs into him, falls down. third offensive foul for yao." "5. basically the same as #3." "6. Yao gets an offensive rebound and is stripped by Rafer. " "Looking at these turnovers, several of them are just the results of very ticky tack calls. Sure, they are TECHNICALLY fouls, but does Shaq not move people while playing? Maybe its the whole playing on the road phenomena, but the refs are definately calling everything humanly possible. The two 3 second violations were very very weak. Both times, the ref called it after Yao left the paint and starting establishing position again. Maybe Yao just needs to be more careful and get his whole foot out of the lane, but is it really necessary to make that call? The positives from all this: Yao isnt making bad passes so far. The few times he received the ball and was doubled, he sent laser passes to the open man, usually resulting in a 3 or dunk. " And Yao got an def-rebound and was stripped by Tayler!
We've seen that before. Way back when....we started very well, SF scored 28PPG at the start of the season. It's just the way guard/forward teams play. They start well. They can out hustle, run and gun for fun! Opening game has a lot of energy. We've seen that with the Rox back in the Rudy/Francis days. I expect the Magic to possibly go 7-1. But when the season grinds along, and the pace starts to slow down, bodies start to ache, it takes a toll. Enter the play-offs... half-court offense and a requirement on defensive becomes paramount. Trying winning then. It's harder. Not as "fun." Ask Marbury. We need to gel and play smart.
You need to add a choice: Need better outside shooting. Pistons and Raptors outshot the Rockets from the perimeter. Of course, there is the home advantage, but Tayshawn Prince shot a 3 pointer. Ben Wallace made a couple of jumpers. Rasheed was insane from the perimeter. Vince Carter made some outside shots that Larry Bird would be proud of. Bosh hit outside shots. Rafer "bleeping" Alston made 3 of 7 from beyond the arc. If you flip that around with the Rockets making those shots while the opposing team bricking like the Rockets from the perimeter, Rockets would have had a clean sweep of these two games. The Rockets have to contend with the Grizzlies next, and they have a slew of good outside shooters. I would like to see Yao hit 2 jumpers. JJ needs to hit at least 40% of his 3 pointers in the next game. The brickfest from these two is stunning.
this is a good point you make, practically in all sports, hockey, football etc Defense will win you championships this goes for the nba as well but can we expect or maybe the better word Accept a rather sub par showing til allstar break? Hopefully Yao will strat to pick it up like last year and begin his push after the allstar break and extend to end of playoffs unlike the fading he did last year.
This just isn't a very talented team. Yao will never be much more than a 17-9 player, and McGrady's best years are behind him because of his injury problems. Aside from those two, there are no players that are particularly good at anything.
So we become very bad from title contender within a matter of weeks? Come on, the season just barely under way. Let's wait for a few more games.
Yea, even the ESPN guys (Steven A Smith, Greg Anthony, Tim Legler), who have easily questioned this team, said that you can't judge this team early in the season due to the players trying to learn to play with each other. They said this after the Raptor game. Even Greg Anthony brought up the point about them not having true PG. Let's see how this team is playing in January before we start questioning everyone on the team and the coaching staff. I find it funny that, when we first acquired TMac, there were MANY on this board that were openly giddy and excited about the big duo and everything involving the team. Yet, after just two games, there are almost as many posting bashing Yao, TMac, JVG and already labeling this team as a failure. It is sad at how impatient and two-faced alot of Rocket fans can be.
I find it rather interesting in the city of Houston that we can rip the core of a winning western conference team out and exchange it for the core of the worst eastern conference team and call that a fair trade...or for that matter, expect to win right away. Now don't get me wrong. I like T-Mac...but we never got to know what the Rockets could become as time went on. We don't want to have patience and build a team and try to add (and retain i.e. James Posey) servicable parts. We want a Microwave playoff team. Only problem is you took a laid back superstar in McGrady (who couldn't motivate his old team to win more than 21 games in the East) and put him with a laid back star in Yao. Now you don't have that hungry bunch that knew how frustrating it was to get booed on their home floor, to get 45 wins in a season and still not make the playoffs, to play in front of 10,000 - 12,000 fans and finally taste success after trying so hard before. When you look at Championship contenders, they have to have experienced the hurt together before they can taste victory. Bulls, Rockets, Spurs, Lakers (KB8 and Diesel didn't always translate into Champions). Look at the Lakers last year. Who would think that you couldn't win a title with GP, Daddy, KB and the Mail Lady in the same line up? But they didn't win. In fact, they got beaten by former trade fodder (Ben Wallace, Lindsey Hunter and Chauncey Billups), Hot heads (Sheed), "worst end of deals" (which is why you might not want to call Steve that just yet because I doubt that the Wizards will forget the Stack for Rip Hamilton trade any time soon...um...who got the best player in that one, anyway? I'm just saying...), late bloomers (Tayshaun Prince) and the Waterboy (Darko). Winning, like anything else, takes time, patience, effort and most of all a common mindset. The kind of mindset that comes from a team that's tired of losing, sick of being "just" talented, a team that has had their hopes crushed so many times that they will do anything to win (even if it means a drop in stats) and will take on anyone because they are not going to get kicked around anymore (i.e Steve and Amare; Nachbar and Karla). That's not something you can just inherit. If we stay patient, then maybe this will work. I love the Rockets more than anything, so I hope this works. And I apologize for the length, but I always read the threads and hardly ever reply. I guess I just had a lot on my mind regarding this situation.
Ok. No one wants to say it so I will say it. You guys can get mad at me if you want. I said it in June and Ill say it in April. We shouldnt have made that trade. I think our problems are many, but I think the source of all these problems is our GM. He needs to be fired. I blame JVG too. He should have been let go instead of SF3. Now he cant win with the team he wants. He needs to be let go if were under .500 at the break. You can say what you want about guard/forward teams ect, but I recall us getting off to a fast start last year. Well a decent start at least. I dont think this team will ever be the same. I think we took two steps back this summer. No one will have the guts to admit that the trade was a mistake, but I know a lot of you are wondering. Bottom line, fire the GM. How can he get away with these mistakes? The EG for three first round picks fiasco? Three starters for a player with back problems? Does he have pictures of the owner in drag or somethin? We always tend to let players go and they flourish elsewhere, and players we get in return are flops.
1. Yao is struggling. His strengths are getting the ball real low in the post which we have no one who is good at the entry pass. And Yao has not established good position down low the first two games. Free throw shooting. Not only is he not getting to the line, he is missing. Face up jumper. He is not hitting his best shot. His weaknesses- His jump hook is terrible. He cannot catch a pass over a fronting defender (once he is fronted he needs to clear out to the other side or set the high pick) He is not a quick player and if he doesn't keep a body on a player he has trouble rebounding/ boxing out. If he can't get good low post position and we can't find a way to make the pass, and if he keeps using the jump hook and he doesn't hit the face up jumper??? Well this is going to be a horrible season. 2. TMac is not the focal point. We should be clearing out and letting TMac post up. We also need to run some good high picks, double screens and anything else that will give him so space. Right now the spacing is horrible and the picks we set for TMac or a joke. He is easy to double team and keep on the perimeter because when he has it the spacing is bad, the team is standing around and there are no screens or hard picks for him to come around. TMac needs to get to the hoop. 3. With Yao struggling and TMac out of sync- we are left with no one to pick up the offensive load. JJ, MoTay, J Howard, Lue, Ward are not consistent. And only MoTay and J Howard can create their own shot. Plus none of them are very good passers (J Howard is ok). Truth is aside from TMac, right now we have no one else on this team that is any better than any other scrub that is starting in the league. Our role players are not young and quick and they are not scorers. If Yao and TMac can be defended I don't think any of the other players on this team strike fear in the opposition. 4. It's obvious- As long as Yao is not an efficient scorer for whatever reason TMac is all we have. The rest of the team doesn't have the talent or the consistancy to take up the slack. The Rockets lack interior toughness, rebounding and the PG's are below average. 5. Even if Yao starts scoring 17-19 pts. TMac will need to avg. about 30+ to make up for the rest of this team. What has disappointed me the most is the play of JJ, the point guards and Yao. I think we are getting the best you can from Taylor, Boki, Spoon, Deke. JJ is slow. And he cannot create his shot. The Pg's are dismal.
Perimeter Quickness I'm telling you even When Yao makes some space. . .Teams can run hard at our shooters becuase.. . WHAT ARE THEY GONNA DO???? Fake and go around? The Defense can recover once they don't shoot and we have to reset EVERYTIME someone passes the Open J . . I groan because it will take another 10 seconds to get another GOOD shot . . Hesitancy KILLS on this team We not QUICK enough rocket River
