yeah that system worked when we had a guy named hakeem who didnt have quite the same stamina problems as yao, and a plethora of guys who make open 3s and big plays. i hope you're not saying jvg is just trying to cut and paste rudy t's gameplan from 94, 95, because this team is not the same as that team. i agree, this team obviously isn't going anywhere without t-mac. but i feel like jvg should have been able to make some adjustments in recognition of the fact that tmac wasnt playing. instead, it looked like he just crossed off 'give tmac the ball' from the blackboard and stuck to the only other option up there, 'dump the ball in to yao and watch the magic.'
I think Battier is a viable option on ISO's when he uses his hook shot. He is stronger than most 3's, so it works. But he never seems to do it more than a few times a game. But you are right...he's not gonna beat anyone off the dribble.
What adjustments, though? I mean, we don't really have any players that can do more than compliment Yao/Tracy. They can all do good things and are solid players, but they are not playmakers or creators. Bonzi isn't ready but may be the answer V-Span can't hit a 3 and makes foolish passes Head can't hit a mid-range jumpshot Rafer is just Rafer...a second stringer impersonating a starter who makes bad decisions and has problems finishing Hayes has no real offensice skills besides cutting in for layups Battier can make a corner 3 and a jump hook, but that's about it Howard is Howard...a streaky, undersized jump shooter who seems to be giving a bit more effort Novak clearly needs more time to develop. Padgett is good for 3's (sometimes) I just don't see what options we have besides running the offense through Yao or using him for screens. A major problem with this team seems to be that no one other than T-Mac/Yao can hit a mid range jumper consistently. I just think it's more about how this team is built from a personnel standpoint. Perfect for Yao/T-Mac...extrememly flawed without them.
Agree totally. We need to see some tangible 20 point performances from Mr. Intangible, drawing charges only goes so far in getting you a W.
i agree, the personnel is not optimal. however, yao is a great midrange shooter. have him play high post to take advantage of that. its not as efficient as backing his man down and getting a hook shot or a layup, but it saves him alot of energy. it also lets the other players take advantage of more room in the paint for cutting. and i dont think vspan is a horrible midrange shooter, i just think his shot is disgusting and easily blocked. and this doesnt have to be the NEW gamplan, it just has to be thrown in there once in awhile to keep things fresh and the defenses guessing. when everyone is standing around watching yao, it lets the defense zero in on him and lets them rest because they dont have to worry about anyone else. have yao clear out of the paint once in a lifetime and let our little guys take advantage of the only thing they have going for them, speed.
You cannot take Shane's focus on defense to offense. that is bad. he scores when he thinks is the right time. he doesnt force it unlike rafer who shoots a trey even with 15 secs remaining in the shotclock.
Don't blame Van Gundy. If anything, this game has shown how valuable Tmac is to this team. As great as Yao is, we need a second reliable scorer who can kill the other teams when they practically throw everyone to collapse on Yao under the basket. Tmac just being on the court can help opening up the game for Yao already. That's why I don't like it when guys try to argue whether this is Yao's team or Tmac's team. The bottom line is we need both of them to be successful. The last season has already proved that this team couldn't win too many games when either of them was injured. Without either Yao or Tmac, this team is too one-dimensional and the plays are too predictable.
bingo. we dont need another scoring option, that's exactly where battier should be fitting in... personally i think it's ridiculous that folks are claiming we need another scorer to be successful; we have yao, tmac, battier, and now bonzi! scoring should not be a problem with this team. i agree with the assesments that van gundy doesn't explore the offense as thouroughly as he should... not nearly enough off the ball movement, relying on the same few plays over and over again.... we have the talent to run different plays in different situations, but you rarely see them, and it does get frustrating. i would love to see yao on the high post every once in awhile, or run the PnR with vspan or head (or whomever). something to keep the defense honest, forcing them to adjust several times. that's my biggest gripe with van gundy - his stale offense.
moving Yao out to the high post as a Walton/Divac/Sabonis type playmaker is an interesting idea, but overall, it really shouldn't be necessary. Shaq, Chamberlain, Jabbar, and Hakeem never needed to. I'm willing to bet that the opposing teams would consider it a success if they got us to move Yao to the high post as a playmaker. There is a lot you can do against teams doubling/tripling a low post center, without moving that center out away from the basket. Let's just work on that, and improve that. that said, I'd consider moving Yao out to the high post on occasion if we ever got Bonzi working the low post like he can. Certain defenses are going to make us look bogged down at times w/o TMac and Bonzi. I'd be happy if we won 60% of our games w/o TMac and Bonzi.
I suggest we go small ball and run a little bit. have Hayes/Howard running at the 5, Battier at the 4, Bonzi/Padgett at the 3, Head/VSpan at the 2, and Rafer/JLIII at the 1. It would be a good change of pace and would give yao a good breather. We could also utilize bonzi and battier on the low block. It would be a good suggestion i think.
It seems that this team has a very high BBall IQ. Isn't there an assistant coach on the bench who is more offensive than defensive minded to help create those plays? We know that JVG does a great job planning ways to create defensive havok for the other team, so to balance that out, he needs an assistant coach on the bench to be able to create a plan to execute offense havok as well.
i remember jon barry saying that JVG really gave him a lot of freedom on offense. with that in mind, the rockets dont really have great offensive creators. no one can make something happen outside of tmac. luther is learning but he is looking better and better. its too early for vspan.
I only suggested we change things up after the opposing team makes an adjustment that is working and when we are getting "trey-happy". But I would be interested to hear what other things you can do against the double/triple.
That's the problem. Against the western conference we suck. We don't have a good record. This is a problem waiting to blow up with no adjustments.
JVG is like a lot of NFL head coaches I see. Slow down game = running the ball = low scoring offense=good in games where its is close and fairly low scoring=not so good in situations with fast paced offense Great defense=shutdown teams holding them to record lows= probably can win more than half of your games= but when you face teams that are great fast-paced offenses or very well balanced- usually crumble. We're like the NBA's version of Baltimore Ravens or this years version of Denver Broncos (all defense with a questionable and sometimes disappearing offense). JVG is great defensive coordinator, but horrible offense coordinator. He should let one of the assistants manage the offense and draw up plays instead...look at teams like the Spurs, Mavericks, Lakers, and etc. Even though, they have great coaches, they also have great assistants who at times are responsible for creating certain plays on offense or defense, like in football. But whoever says JVG is a terrible coach knows nothing about basketball. His teams are usually the best defensive teams in the league and he rarely misses the playoffs. He took an 8th seeded team (even though it was in the East) to the Finals. No other coach in the history of the NBA has ever done that. Even though, he isn't a high-spirited coach, he is right about certain things = right now we are not as good as the Mavericks, Lakers, Jazz, Spurs, or Suns. We've had some tough losses this years (Spurs, Suns, and Lakers last night). We might be a T-Mac injury away from lottery. We lack a 3rd scorer, but at the same time we are in pretty good shape at 14-7. Remember last year we only had winning record after the 1st night of the season. We are in top half of the West and are in the thick of things because we do beat teams we are supposed to. Even though, I thought the whole win-now thing was crazy, because the Rockets were at least 3 or 4 seasons away from title anyway. I think this team will go on a tear at the second half of season; once JVG let the players play on offense and the players get healthy and more time together. And look at most of the NBA champions going all the way back to the late 80s, most were in top 10 or 5 in defense, while they were either at the top of league in offense or in 20s. Defense does win championships, but the offense has to be competent enought to do it. At the same time, great offense with an average to below par defense will not get it done (ala Colts, Suns, or Yankees). From what I've seen, I think in the right situation our guards (V-Span, Wells, JLIII, Snyder, Head, and Alston) can be just as good as the ones in Phoenix or Dallas. They are the same players. Those guards are very athletic and pretty good shooters, but they are not gamebreakers. If you put them on the Hawks or 76ers of the world. They would struggle for sure. The systems they play work because their staffs are setup for instant-fast paced (run n gun) and well-balanced offenses. The things is too let players play to their strengths. Our guards would average like 8 to 13 ppg in Phoenix/Situation. W Typically Houston, even in their championship years, didn't get off to a fast start and even lost to teams like Seattle, Phoenix, Orlando, and Utah. But when it came to the playoffs, as defenses tighten up and clutch play became more crucial...they ran all of these 50 win teams home. We're still getting in shape. We do not need go off and make rash trades, we have some good players with or without T-Mac. We could beat some of these Phoenix or Utah teams in 7 game series, if we can execute enough offense and the refs don't give us any bs calls. Yao is an MVP this year, nearly 26 pts. and 10 rebs game, if we win over 50 games, he should at least be second. He is not a perfect player, no one is. Heck, the league gave Steve Nash two MVPs and is not the greatest of defenders nor does score alot of points. Yao does have to average 38 ppg/19 rebs, because he doesn t have too. He is one of the best players in the league, but he is also the most criticized for lack of aggression, failure to win games, and etc. But I see other players in the league who never get criticized or picked apart, like Amare or Howard who both have fundamentally flaws in their games. Amare is average (to below) defender, while Howard doesn't have great offensive skill set. And they play on good teams, if you put Yao on a team like Phoenix, Orlando, or Miami. Those teams who be slightly better. He cannot do everything, if the role players do not come through or setup in a horrible offense. He probably won't winning, but MVPs are useless and writers do not always give to the best players anyway. MVPs (in previous years) 1999: Karl Malone - 23.8/9.4/4.1 1997: 27.4/9.9/4.5 2001:Allen Iverson - 31.1/3.8/4.6 2003: Tim Duncan 23.3/12.9/3.9 Last 2 years: Steve Nash
A lot of people here keep going on and on about how our personnel does not have the skills necessary to beat other teams besides Yao/Tmac. That is totally untrue. Every player on this team have strengths and weaknesses but they are still NBA players and with a good offensive plan, they can beat any team on any given day. It's called creating mismatches. It was used perfectly by PJ, but obviously JVG failed to grasp the concept (except Yao, which is obvious), at least for this game. During the game, you can see the Lakers exploiting height advantages and speed advantages. Using pick and rolls, I would see Head get matched up with Luke or Kwame against Hayes, and the Lakers take advantage of the height difference. Every one of our players can make point blank shots and open 5 feet shots. Why don't we pick and roll, Yao and Vspan to match VSpan against a center who definitely cannot keep up with Vspan on the drive. Maybe we can pick and roll Bonzi/Rafer so Bonzi can post up easily against a PG. We can set back screens to open up a shooter or drive to the basket. We can move Yao to the high post, when they start doubling, to clear out the paint, and then move him back when defenses are forced to respect our other players. Even Juwan can post up a SG. Even Rafer can get into the paint against a PF, assuming Yao isn't clogging up the lane. There are so many basic tactics. By creating mismatches, other teams will lose defensive focus as they are forced to help out on the mismatch. Basically, everyone becomes a threat. It's easier said than done, but then again that's why JVG is getting paid millions of dollars, to make it work.
I understand. And when we got Yao I dreamed of using him in the high post. But not much anymore. I think he is superior in the low post...and I'm glad of that. Well, the most obvious thing is to plant a PF at the opposite high post. That's what Popovich would do. I don't like to second guess coaches though. I like to just be a scout, and talk about what worked and what didn't work, not offer new things. I don't think JVG will put a PF at the opposite high post, at least not one of our PFs. btw: does anyone remember what he did with Ewing and Oakley, or even Ewing and Grandmama, or Ewing and Mason, in the years while Ewing was still high scorer on the team? What else can JVG do? It's common to suggest the entry passer should cut if Yao gets doubled. Be careful with asking for that, because that cutter is your reposting passer, too. Clearly JVG does use the entry passer/cutter. I think if he doesn't get the hand off, there is the option for Yao to pass to the key in timing with baseline picks with that cutter and the weakside corner man and PF. I'm not sure if we don't work on that or if Yao doesn't pass out front as the 3rd option much, but it seems Yao either gives the hand-off or makes a move to shoot, or the key player fills the wing to become the new reposting option for Yao. JVG also will send back picks for Yao to reposition on the other side. This all takes time. Now we are talking about Yao posting twice, one on each side. I'm perfectly fine with that strategy. There is a lot the defense can do wrong when fighting through picks to follow Yao to the other side. But that all takes time. If the defense stays up with Yao, and doesn't lose sight of the PF (hayes layups), then we don't have much time and I agree with JVG we are left spotting up, shooting or driving. Snyder and Bonzi could help this. all that said: when we "bog down" in games, it's not always a case of we should make an adjustment. imso, half the time Yao has just gone cold for chunks of time in the 4th. I'd would be saying, "damn that's a good shot for Yao. Let's keep going to him." Other times I agree, the opposition defense getst he better of us.
You really think that another coach could come in with our roster, minus T-Mac, and have them play a lot better? I mean, JVG isn't the best coach out there, but it's tough to be a contender with one guy and a bunch of role players...and flawed role players at that.
