I'm sometimes puzzled as I watch the Rockets continuing to attempt to establish other options before going to Yao. We saw in tonight's game against the Lakers how the Rockets consistently went to guys like Jim Jackson, Mo Taylor, Bowen, etc. before establishing Yao in the low post. The results were absolutely horrendous -- low 30% shooting, 8 turnovers... you get the picture. Then, suddenly, like it was some kind of new idea, the ball begins going into the post with Yao on almost every possession, and the Rockets climb back into the game after being down over 20 points. It's almost painfully obvious that the only reason the Rockets were able to post a comeback was because of this shift in strategy. My question is, why don't they use that strategy early in the game, instead of in situations where they become desperate... Here's why I think, even with T-Mac on the team, Yao should be option #1 EVERY time down the court, with a few exceptions to just keep the other team honest. 1. Every single night, every single game, the biggest mismatch the Rockets have against the other team is Yao Ming. Period. I'll even say that when we play Heat, Yao is a mismatch. Even Shaq cannot guard Yao one-on-one. By going to Yao early and often, you immediately force the other team to adjust and help. The sooner you do that, the better. This is one of the oldest strategies in the book -- why the Rockets aren't using it more consistently baffles me. 2. Exploiting the mismatch with Yao means that the other team has to play rotating defense, which will affect their offensive game. Tonight was the perfect example. As soon as the Rockets were making the entry passes to Yao and getting him the ball on consecutive possessions, THAT is when the Lakers shooting went cold. That's because when you DON'T get Yao the ball on the offensive end, the other team can stay in a zone or straight one-on-one coverage which takes a lot less effort than having to rotate and adjust. Additionally, when you don't go to Yao, the other team knows that the Rockets are a below-average shooting team meaning that they don't have to be overly concerned with defending the jumpshot. They just have to try and disrupt things enough to keep the Rockets a little off balance, while their bigs camp out waiting to rebound the clanked shots. This is a relatively easy task that leaves plenty of energy for the offensive effort once they get the ball back. If their bigs were having to pay more attention to Yao early, the Rockets wouldn't be getting killed on the boards so often. 3. One problem the Rockets are having is the shooters seem to struggle early in games. I believe this is a direct correlation to the fact that they are not getting open looks early on due to the hesitation in establishing Yao's game. When shooters can get into a rhythm early it helps their entire game. If you make it easy for the other team to disrupt the shooting rhythm by guarding marginal shooters one-on-one, it makes it difficult to get points. 4. Making Yao the #1 option over T-Mac makes it that much easier for T-Mac. This is a guy who can create his own shot pretty much anytime, anywhere, even with no help. Imagine how wide open the game will be for him when teams are adjusting to Yao early. Additionally, it gives him a better chance to establish his game with the other team focusing on Yao. Once he gets off and going, you just revert to feeding Yao on 6 or 8 consecutive possessions, and start the whole process over. So, if I'm coaching this team, my strategy to start EVERY game -- and I mean EVERY game simply because in EVERY game Yao is the biggest mismatch for the other team. (It's crazy to think that, but it is true): 1. The first 5 to 6 possessions should start with Yao. His job would be to shoot every time he gets the ball on these possessions, until the other team starts doubling. Most people think that if Yao is missing the other team will not double. This is not true. All Yao has to do is demonstrate that he is getting good shots. Even if he misses all 5 or 6 of these shots, it is irrelevant. He needs to establish that he is getting decent looks. Any coach in this league knows that if Yao is getting clean shots it is only a matter of time before he starts hitting them. That is when the adjustments, double teams, and rotations start. And that is when the door of opportunity opens for the rest of the team. 2. After you see the other team begin rotating to double team Yao, that is when you start going to T-Mac more. Set him up as the entry passer. What this does is force the opposing defense to adjust even further. You now have your most athletic and explosive player with the ball in his hands, and he is threatening to pass it in to Yao who has already forced the first adjustment. The opposing team now has to honestly guard Yao and prepare for T-Mac potentially creating a shot. So, you've got about 75% of the attention on two of the five players on the floor. If that doesn't open it up more for the shooters, I don't know what does. 3. At this point, it becomes a game of cat and mouse. You've established Yao early. You start getting T-Mac the ball and the opposition has to constantly second guess where you are going. You still don't go away from Yao, but you give T-Mac more leeway to create once he has the ball. Because T-Mac is now the entry passer, that means you have him touching the ball on every possession EARLY IN THE POSSESSION. If he goes to Yao, the other team loses (i.e. they are forced to rotate and double). If he keeps the ball to create a play off penetration, the other team loses as well (they have to rotate to pick up T-Mac). You can simply keep going back and forth this way throughout the game, using your two biggest weapons to constantly keep the other team guessing and off-balance, instead of staying home guarding shooters one-on-one and occasionally adjusting. The key to all this is it has to happen EARLY. i.e. the first 6 possessions of the game. I can almost guarantee if the Rockets begin doing this with consistency, 8 times out of 10 it is going to work and instead of the Rockets scratching their head after the first quarter wondering what went wrong, they will be in command of both the tempo and flow of the game by then, and will be leading most games at the end of quarter 1.
Yeah I agree...T-mac hasn't played in 2 games though..we won three games in a row..we were looking pretty good with Tmac in control.. But I do want Yao to dominate..I love watching that..I love watching Tmac..I love watching the Rockets lol We have many options..so hopefully they succeed Sometimes it's hard to get the ball to Yao though..and some RIDICULOUS BS calls! I like Ward's shot..he should shoot more..open shots We still have 75 more games The first two games of the season..Yao was missing open shots..he was being pretty freakin passive..and I guess not sure what to do and his arm was bothering him..new season new team 8 players...but yeah past 4 games..he's been great..Tmac makes things easy for him and everyone else..and Yao makes things easy for Tmac..and the rest of the team..it's awesome to watch it.. I hope the Rockets are complaining to the refs though...
I couldn't believe that one call where Mihm grabbed Yao's arm on a dunk and no foul was called. That was simply ridiculous. I can see how the refs sometimes have to back off on calling lots of fouls against Yao's defenders simply because he's so much bigger than they are and would be fouling out two players a game. But fouls like that just have to be called. It's ridiculous.
I agreed with you. I think Van Gundy is trying to do exactly what you said. Sometimes it's hard to adjust to a new team, eventually it's going to be Yao #1 option. We just need to wait.
I would agree with everything you said but there is one thing. As great a player Yao is, he has limited stamina. It has improved every year he's been in the league, but compared with other players, his endurance is his biggest fault(same with Shaq). That means he only has about lets say 20 minutes of unstoppableness per game. As a team, you do not want to exhaust that 20 minutes in the first half. It's much better to save those for later in game. This has been discussed in the "learning when to turn it on" thread. Go check it out. Just imagine if you are playing a video game using the Rockets. There is one restriction, you can only use turbo for yao for a combined 20 minutes. When would you use it? I personally would save it until very critical moments in game. I liked your analysis about why we should use Yao as option #1 though. Unfortunatly, Yao can't do it all game. Go to the thread I mentioned above and read the comparison between Yao-Tmac to Kobe-Shaq. It's somewhere in the middle.
I noticed on the first few possessions of the game, Yao would have perfectly good position, but the ball got swung over to the other side, where Yao posted up again. I know that it's JVG's design to do that move, but I really don't see the point. I mean, if Yao was being fronted, then I would understand because thus far in his career, Yao needs a little help when he's getting fronted. But when he already has good position like that, what's the point of making him expend more effort in posting up on the other side of the lane. And on another note, instead of Kareem, Walton, or Shaq, does anyone else see similarities in Yao's offensive game with Kevin Mchale. Yao is really starting to impress me with the variety of ways he's getting his shot off. It seems like he's starting to go more to the baby hook, rather than the turnaround jumper. He's also going "glass" a lot and posting up at a lot of different spots. His dropstep is improving, he's really starting to "roll" off guys and getting open looks at the basket. You can tell that he's worked hard at his post game, and it's starting to show results. Now if only he can pick up some pointers from Deke about blocking shots and wagging fingers.
What about foul trouble? I think this was the first game in a while where Yao didn't get in foul trouble, or at least he got fewer fouls than any other game this season. Didn't he rack up a lot of fouls in other games in part as a result of us going to him a lot early in the game?
Yao did carry the team tonight. He had 8 in the first quarter alone and was aggressive early on. The problem is he had no help. When Yao shoots 52 percent and the rest of the team shoots 28 percent, the Rockets are in trouble unless Yao goes off for 50. It wasn't as if the team was getting contested shots either. They had, I believe, only 1 shot clock violation all night and only 13 total turnovers compared to 21 assists. The reason they got back into the game is because their three pointers started falling, they started getting to the free throw line and they played solid defense, particularly on Bryant. Yao still has stamina issues - he is unable to go more than about 38 minutes max in a game - which isn't a problem when McGrady is the second option. It's a huge problem when Taylor and Jackson are the second options.
That's another good point. Ref's seems to have really loose whistle in the first half. Many touchy fouls gets called in the first half to set the tone. While in the second, especially toward the end, you can get away with a lot more contact. This is probably another reason why JVG stays away from Yao early in games. Yao is doing a good job backing off of people in teh first half.
Sometimes while watching the Rockets...it really puzzled me why JVG choose to post up someone like Taylor and Howard while Yao is standing outside watching them. It's rediculous to me especially when the Rockets is behind. Although I think this could be Yao's fault as well for not posting up because sometimes it seems like Yao need to be reminded for him to post up. I mean at this time of his career, the coach should let him know by now there is no need to remind him to post up anymore...he's got to know when the team is behind....ok it's time to post up and be aggressive and not watching someone like Taylor take over his role. WHen the team is up by huge number like 10 points of something...then you have sometimes to play with Taylor in the post....but man when the game is closed....going to Taylor in the post instead of Yao is just a waste of possession in my opinion.
Compared last year, the rockets are making strides. I observed this year, yao gets the ball in a very deep position to score. Last year, yao found it hard to score against a hurting brian grant. And what made it harder was the plays of our backcourt last year. Now, with the all the picks and the continued movements of yao, he could set himself free and find a comfortable position to score. Thats why he had 32 which i believe he could have scored more than 40 if he only had a much better rythm in his shots. But it wil come. And so is the rockets. The month of november will be a getting to know you stage. I believe that the team will start to hum on december and they will break out before the all star break. Given that tmac stays healthy and bob sura returns.
I have to disagree with your statement Will. Most of the time Yao gets into foul trouble, its mainly on the defensive end. 've seen him get a couple of offensive calls go against him, but not enough to run him into foul trouble. His foul troubles come form his lack of lateral quickness and an incessant need to be involved in every single play on he defensive end. Someone needs to tell him how to play el Matador defense sometimes
How can JVG make Yao the #1 option when in the last few minutes of the game Yao chose to kick it out instead of taking it to the hole when he did get the ball. Several times in the last 5 min. he got the ball in the paint and dished it out for off balanced 3 pointers. We have enough trouble getting the ball into Yao .. The last thing we need is for him to throw it right back out when hes got it inside. This game was not Yao's fault by any stretch, but I think he just needs to get the mindset that everytime he has the ball in the paint he HAS to go up with it. There is too good of a chance that he'll make the shot or get fouled.
I don't know what off-balanced 3 pointers you're talking about. Yao did hit JJ for a wide open 3. He was definately drawing a lot of attention, but he could have gotten the shot off. JJ's 3 was completely uncontested, and worth an extra point, so i'm fine with the play.
i m sick n tired of hearing people complaining bout the last few possesions of the lakers game where passed out to the 3point line. Remember, it is Yao which hit the clutch jumper in the t-pups game to bring us within one point??? i dont think yao is scared of the responsibility and is just his sense what to do best in the situation. If jj/ward/lue have hit the jumper, then all people will praise jj/lue/ward was clutch no yao who sees the floor well. Some more all the passes yao made today is wide open, i didnt see any off-balanced shot...
Agree. Yao's stamina would improve if he was the #1 option. The offense flows through him. And that makes it easier all the way around. Plus when you make baskets and get open looks your stamina improves. Not physically, but mentally. And adrenaline carries you through the physical part. But when Yao is option #2 we get down 15, scrap back, and everybody is ready to pass out. It's frustration all the way around. Saving yourself for the 4th is overrated unless your team is ahead. If we were ahead fine. But we never are. Right now, we are constantly getting behind because Yao never touches the ball. It's absolutely absurd in my opinion. It's obvious Yao has gone to the next level physically. It's time to feed him the ball until he drops. I was almost seriously thinking that the offense would be better if it was Yao and 4 scrubs. At least the scrubs would get open looks and the offense would flow for an entire game. I was shocked that Boki looked at Yao numerous times and did not feed him the ball in perfect position. Boki was either told not rotate the ball or he he simply just did not make the right pass. Either way, Yao was an easy entry for boki on many occassions and he passed it up. I was ready to shoot boki.
Actually, I think it would probably have been more beneficial for Yao to play with 4 scrubs at least for a season or two. Yao is still trying to develop into a franchise player. If he has to share the ball with another franchise player while he's still developing, it's going to stunt his growth. Can you think of any other franchise type player who had to play with another franchise player while they were still developing? Shaq, KG, Duncan - all these guys were the de facto goto guy on their teams while they were still developing. If Shaq had to play with Kobe while he was still developing into a dominant center, I doubt he would be the same player he is today. Same with Yao.
You can see that JVG really struggles with how to deal with this issue. Tonight he had Yao Ming in durring the Rockets come back but left him in trying to get a little lead before sitting him again. I assume he did this because of the hole the Rockets got in during the 1st half when Yao sat, unfortunately with about 4 minutes to go in the game JVG had no other choice but to sit Yao to try and get him a quick breather. The Rockets just could not do anything right when Yao Ming was not in the game. Against the Grizz a couple of games ago and even against the Wolves, someone else was able to step up but not last night.
