The Rockets are not executing the PnR right. The dribbler has to be able to get around the pick and either drive or shoot if the big defender doesn't show. Our dribbler are either going too wide or too slow to do that. And the worst thing is that it is often done too far away from the basket. The big guy in the PnR has to be able to shoot. Yao is perfect for that. The problem is, the dribbler can't find him most of the time because he dribble to far away from the play. A TMac-Yao PnR should be a killer, comparable to Stockton-Malone and Nash-Nowitzki. Head seems to be the only other guard who is quick enough and can shoot.
Me I do not understand the PnR set JVG forces Yao to use on the offensive end. It has always boggled my mind but I have always deffered to JVG on that one believing that he knows more than on this subject. I believe he explained his reasoning behind this last season but I sure will like it again if he explains it all over to us because it pretty much makes little to no sense to many fans. I have also noticed that Yao is a student to a fault. I can count up 4 or 5 times per game where Yao just goes for the PnR on his own i.e. vacate the low bloack and come out to set a pick which was the play that was supposed to be run. Yao does this when the guards cannot get him the ball - though I like his idea and selflessness behind that, I will like to see a more patience from Yao. Yao sometimes "over" sets picks even when that is not the play called or in motion. That could be an evidence of Yao thinking too much or just showing little to no confidence in himself or his teammate with the ball at that time.
Frankly, our guards don't know how to run a PnR! The pick is set and then the guard dribbles past the pick, brushing his man off. In our case, Yao has to chase our guard down. From this point on, the play is doomed. As for Stockton & Malone's PnR, that's a 4 & 1 running that one; not a 5 & 1.
Poor Freak. Still so bitter. Man, some of you guys do not understand basketball. Ever considered reading some basic instruction manuals on strategy and offensive/defensive schemes? Might help.
Well Jeff, I just Googled it. Where do you find any info on having a 7'6 center who's a legit scoring threat running high-post screens and defensively is is expected to rotate out to the the 3 pt. line in JVG's system? The system when JVG learned it didn't assume a Yao Ming, and it seemed foolish to non-Rockets fans even when we were winning big late last season. But I'm glad your basic X's & O's are intact (they'll always be there, you know) but the national talking heads are sounding more logical to me than the Clutch Crew posts I've read tonight. But I'll make sure to buy a book tomorrow in case I don't know what I've seen over the last 35 years. Good grief.
Yep. There must have been a real high degree of difficulty in executing that ISO offense. The team couldn't learn it well enough in 4 seasons to make the playoffs once.
Very sorry to hear that wherever you live there are no game broadcasts this season compounded by a media strike. IIRC, the same thing happened in your part of the world about this time last year. Once you started seeing the games, you suddenly understood and disappeared...Let me quickly sum things up for you since you've been out of touch. There's this Top 5 player who missed quite a few games and his presence is severely missed on a team of spot up shooters. Just so you get a more vivid picture. It's sort of like what would have happened to Rudy T's Rockets had Hakeem gone down with an extended injury. Or more currently to Phil Jackson's Lakers if Kobe were injured. The Lakers' triangle would just look a whole lot worse than their current 5-6 record. Hopefully, you aren't digitally challenged as well because there is this really nice guy on Clutch Fans who posts bit torrents of the games. Strongly suggest you download a few because you're obviously missing a lot of information. Bad or incomplete information can really make someone come off like a dufus when they post. As far as the pro and con of Van Gundy, you have a well-known history of venting on the subject. Not sure of it's adolescent angst or some other juvenile psychological condition, but you're "single point of failure" is old, tiring, misguided, and uniformed. Now, it's not that I think VG is perfect. It's just that somehow, I am extremely suspicious that someone who posts in a Jr High style and has a myopic agenda knows more about basketball than a man who has a father who coached 50+years, a brother who is a successful NBA coach and who is as self-critical as they come in any profession.
JVG is not working, the smartest thing Rockets manager can do is identifying the fact as early as possibile, then making some actions.
Way to get defensive. What I'm talking about are people who say we should never run the pick and roll with Yao because it doesn't work when it clearly does and is often one of our best options on offense. I'm also talking about the fundamental reasons why the pnr is so effective and many here do not seem to undestand why it is run or why Yao is used for it. If you set up an efficiency monitor for the pnr in the entire league including the Rockets, you'd find it was the most efficient play in basketball AND the most efficient play for the Rockets. It is why virtually everyone uses it in one form or fashion. So, when someone decides that Yao should never set a pick again because Shaq never does (when he actually does quite often), yeah, I'm saying they don't understand the game because that statement is clearly indicative of that.
I will if you will. But the "no excuses" mantra means you have to accept that... 1) Rudy hadn't taken the Rockets to the playoffs after Hakeem stopped being a dominant Center. 4 straight years. 2) Rudy's last 23 games were .036 percentage points above Larry Smith's 28 Rockets games. 3) In spite of Scottie Pippen being a whiney b****...Rudy forced an obviously open court player to play inside-out standing at the arc while Dream and Charles backed it down in the low block. A misuse of Snotty Quitten's' open court strengths. But yet, VG is the only one who doesn't adjust to talent? No excuses right?
No argument here, but it has been amazing how poorly we've executed the pnr this season. Even when T-Mac's played I think there was only one game where I saw it work efficiently. But I do think a lot of picks Yao sets either seem aimless or ignored and that I don't understand. Again, I agree there's no reason the pnr shouldn't be one of the most effiecient ways to utilize Yao, but now it is looking like a lot of wasted effort. Sorry I got defensive.
There are many things "at work" here. First, a PnR is very much about timing. If the opposing guard sees it too early, they will force the Rockets' guard to dribble around the pick more deeply. IOW, they will not be "picked off". This makes the PnR less effective. Secondly (and excluding Luther Head), for the most part our guards are not quick enough around the pick even if the timing is close. All of the Rox guards can play PG but for the most part they are all SG's. Obvious exception here is Alston. He hasn't been with Yao long enough to get the timing down and who (for reasons I can't understand) appears to be reluctant to go full bore into the paint when the timing is right. (RA has been a horrible finisher thus far). Additionally, the PnR requires a response to how it specifically was defended...did the defending guard fight over the top with the dribbler, did the defense soft trap the dribbler, did they hard trap the dribbler, did the man guarding the picker back-off and let the dribble defender slide behind the picker? Right now in the NBA, soft trapping the dribbler is in vogue. (It's what the Rockets do defensively). The way you defeat an effective soft trap is to reverse the ball back to the weakside or split the double and drive into the paint. Our weakside shooting hasn't been good and when we do split the double we have made poor passings decisons in the paint. Again, having a ball handler (McGrady) quick enough to split the double and make good decisions and finish goes a looooooong way! It is also worth pointing out that the Rockets run a series of single high-post and double high post sets (Yao and either Juwan or Stro on the opposite end of the FT line) where the goal is not to actually run the PnR but bait the other team into switching while you running back screens on either or both sides of the foul lane. This "fake" PnR allows Yao to get low block position without truly having to "fight" for it. I hope this helps your enjoyment of the game and Happy Viewing!
NO EXCUSES is JVG's big slogan. I just assumed you would lap it up like you do everything else he says/does. Guess I was wrong.
There are many different posts with different reasons here against the way "we play" the PnR. To dismiss them with a sweeping statement that says basically PnR is a great tool, every team does it is assinine. There are the right ways to do it and there are the wrong ways. There are also other considerations. i.e. How much it costs to do vs how effective it is for us.
The only pick that Yao sets that is worth the energy he consumes setting it and is worth the risk of him getting an offensive foul for moving is the pick at the top of the key area with TMac where Yao is rolling right down Broadway for the dunk. All the rest of the picks that Yao sets that free up the dribbler to go to the other side of the floor or allow the dribbler to pass the ball around the horn are not effective. That play is designed to swing the ball around to the deep corner for the 3 ball or the dump in to Yao coming back into the paint. But they can't get the ball into Yao on that play and when they do, he's already laden with the double team which forces either a bad off balance shot or a pass back out. He shouldn't be doing all that. If they wanna catch Yao on the move they should just catch him running from one baseline to the other, not running back from 3 point line extended back to the other side of the paint. Let Swift set a pick down low for Yao that either frees Yao or forces the defenders to chase him and leave Swift down there freed up for the pass or the putback. Yao setting picks outside the key area takes up too much of the shot clock and it takes too much of Yao's energy. Not to mention, the defense sees what's coming before the pick is set and they are sitting there waiting to strip/steal the ball from Yao before it is even delivered to him. That play only works when TMac is out on the wing and the ball is thrown to him where he then has the option to flip it to the corner, flip it to Yao coming over, pull up with the jumper, dribble pull up, or dribble drive all the way to the hole. When TMac ain't in there, the defense is gonna wait for Yao and then play the perimeter loose. They'd rather give Wesley or whoever the shot out there, then to let Yao get the ball uncontested. My contention would be that even with TMac in there, the pick should be set out there by Swift, then let Swift rotate down to the lower baseline and set a pick for Yao and let Yao come over strong side with TMac after TMac has received the ball, and leave Swift weakside for the putback, or the alley opp, or he can fade out slightly to receive the pass and shoot the 8 footer. The pick play with Yao setting the pick on the ball and then the ball rotating to the opposite side and Yao running back to receive the pass is unproductive.
