Thought this was interesting and informative. it's a video of passes by Chris Webber. The stuff from Philly isn't particularly helpful but the stuff from Sacramento is good footage of what our offense can look like at times. Notice a few things.. 1. There's usually no low post presence. Derivatives of the Princeton offense invert the center position to clear the paint for backdoor cuts and other types of movement. Obviously Yao is the wildcard since he operates best in the low post, and for him to be effective while running these types of plays he would have to play webber's role of finding cutters from the high post. 2. Notice the use of cutters and off the ball movement. Guys move off of screens to lose defenders and cut, or better yet use Webber as a pick to lose their defender. Although sometimes they just do the standard backdoor cut of faking one way and then cutting directly to the basket. Movement creates chaos and usually a cutter will find the basket. Also, a lot of give and go plays involving Webber and a cutter. Get used to this on occasion. this won't be the norm because Yao is still a low-post player but it gives the offense another dimension and shows you what Adelman means when he talks about cutters and movement. <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TFJFZUm9tLs"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TFJFZUm9tLs" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
I forgot how great of a passer Webber is. If he was willing to take the minimum, I would love to have here even though he can't play a lick of defense anymore. He could show both Yao and Scola how to pass from the high post.
I think Scola's going to be good at this. That leaves Yao down in the low post, backing out (no 3 seconds) when Scola drops the ball to cutters, or slashing in for his own drop step and shot. What you see clearly here is your cutters have to finish. No teardrop . I think we're good there. .
I'm just curious because it has been so many years since I watched that team. I seem to remember Webber chewing us up and spitting us out every time we played them. I thought he was a great post player back then. Was it just us that he killed?
yao is no where close to the passer Webber is. Its not even comparable. I see Yao in the high post getting swarmed and getting the ball stripped by smaller guards. I dont think we will see much of yao in the High post maybe on a few occasions in the game but not as a staple of an offense. Hopefully adelman can teach them something good! i can already see Tmac getting plenty of cuts to the basket or if doubled there is always stevie!
If he draws enough attention, Yao being in the low post may be able to create some cutting opportunity at the weak side, however it is much difficult to pass the ball well to the cutter than passing from high post. That's why I agree to move Yao to high post sometimes, because a good cut play is one of the most efficient play in basketball, usually lead to a very high percentage shot, it's much better than Yao getting doubleteamed then shoot a turnaround fade away jumpshot.
I don't know if anyone on our team besides T-Mac is capable of making those passes. Maybe Scola, but from what I saw on Youtube he was highly turnover prone as well.
You obviously forget how good Yao's passing was in his first year under Rudy T., before JVG limited his role and kept him constantly in the low post. Not that Yao is anywhere near as good as Webber, but he's certainly as good as Divac or Brad Miller. And now that he'll be utilized more as a passer, who knows how good he'll get? He's certainly got the basketball IQ required for the job.
no big men on our team is on the passing level of webber, not even CLOSE. hell not even close to divac or miller. i haven't seen scola's passing skills so i can't comment on it. yao is a good passer if he faces who's doing what, not back passes like webber in that video. what i hope is that yao can bring his man out when he does go out of the paint and thus freeing up space for cutters like tmac, bonzi, francis, james. i think you'll see a lot of cutters and tmac doing those same webber passes. he does those passes to rafer all the time once a game. as long as our offense generates enough layups that can generate enough EASY pts, we have 2 great half-court players.
He played a lot in the low post as well. The Kings didn't just run backdoor plays. They also ran ISO plays for Webber, pick and roll (or some derivative) between Bibby and Webber or Bibby and Miller. And they occasionally even ran some triangle offense. But when they ran the princeton-ish plays, they always cleared out the paint so cutters could freely move to the basket.
No, I haven't forgot about Yao's rookie year but he's isn't close to being the passer Webber is and he ain't Divac either. But he doesn't need to be because in the low post Yao will draw double teams which should free someone up. It's on the person who is uncovered to cut towards the basket and look for a pass. Tracy, Shane, Francis, MJ, Scola, Bonzi should all be good at this. Webber is one of those guys who only needs an inch and will thread a pass like a good PG. It's rare to see that level of skilled passing from the PF or C position. This is why the Pistons players heaped so much praise on him the minute he joined their team.
What I was trying to say about Yao is that he's never been asked to be much of a passer, so there's no way to know exactly how good he is. Given his great shooting touch and his height, I'd be willing to bet he'll be as good as Divac or Miller after working under Adelman's system for a while.
This adelman team will be different from the sacramento kings adelman team because of the creative abilities of the players that he has presently. In sacramento the pure princenton style was necessary and effective because you had players who couldn't create their own shot and the movement was key because by them not being able to take a guy one one one, ball movement and player movement was mandatory to get these guys open so that they would be threats offensively. You had bibby who can't really create his own,you had christe who was the same,you had peja and then you had vlade and webb who both preferred to be outside and shoot jumpers sp the princeton style fit like a glove for this team. Now in houston you can run the same system and take it to a whole other level. You now have mcgrady,francis,james,brooks,wells etc all guy's who can create their own shot. You add ball movement,player movement,strict screen setting and now you have a team that has an added demension with creating their own O mixed in with offensive discipline and structure with the concept now that everyone is a real threat and everyone is in full particpation. The mega thing is now if they start to overplay the system by denying passing angles to intiate the offense,now adelman has guy's he can go to that can create for themselves which he didn't really have in sacramneto other than bobby jackson. The offense here in houston will not be protypical sacramento kings style of play. It's like in chicago when phil jackson came to the lakers with shaq he didn't run the same brand of triangle as he did in chicago with michael jordan. In chicago the triangle was basically geared towards post up play at the pinch areas around the free throw line which helped jordan with his turn around mid range fade away game. In La he ran it more low post to fit shaq's dominance down low. Yao won't be exlcusively be in the high post,adleman posted valde and webber in low post positions depending on the flow of the game and what the opposition was doing. Yao will be in the low post 65-70% of the time, the high post will give the defense a different look and it will give space and oppurtunities to the guards and forwards to work. In sacramento after the peja trade adelman ran the same system with wells and artest he just morphed the style to fit the post up strenghths that these two players posessed. The key here is balance and not being predictable and keeping the defense guessing making you difficult to defend.
that was a great video. T-Mac can make all of those passes that c-Webb was making. As long as t-mac catches the ball 18-20 ft out instead of behind the free throw line, he can do whatever he wants to anyone. That will be huge for us, esp if the lane is clear for cutters or for T-mac to go to the hole. I'm VERY excited for our team this season.
I agree. Can you see that all easy baskets for Tracy? But there is ahother question: Can Yao pass the ball on the high post like Webber did?
Man that is all I remember him for in the Kings days. Webber was a "true" "point forward." They try to call Dirk that but he isn't even close to the passing skills of Webber. The Kings were a super exciting team at their peak w/ Bibs, Webber, Stoyak, and Divak
If Yao spends anymore than 20% of his time in the HP making passes then Rick Adelman has failed to utilize his most dominant weapon on his roster. It would make me sick to see Yao in that role, Adelman would have to be a blind fool to do it. Which is why he won't do it. Yao will reside the low post, we will rarely see that incarnation of offense on this roster (unless we sign Webber). What Adelman did in Portland is probably going to be closer to our scheme but not even that makes sense. If we a running that Kings scheme and Yao (the most dominant player in the god dang league) is spending half his time in the HP then Adelman will my #1 enemy. That video makes yall happy? Its making me cringe...
Yao will be in low post 75 % of the time. He will work from the high post because that is the system and it is more than just yao needed to be effective for the team to exceed and to get deep into the playoffs. It was too predicatble last season when the rockets throw the ball into yao and everyone else just stand around and watch and they doubled and triple team yao and nobody else were threats to keep the defense honest. The high post set is perfect because you allow more guy's to touch the rock and you get 5 guy's invloved making you difficult to defend. The spurs get the ball into duncan and they let him go to work but as soon as the defense doubles and triples duncan or they muscle him out of the low post the spurs had options and their option was to bring duncan out to the high post and make him a playmaker giving the spurs a different attack and not letting the defense smother the low post attack which was predictable. The high post set will allow yao to be a playmaker it will also open the lanes and give space for the guards to do their things. Also you won't be predictable because you can also run the attack through scola on the other side. -Constant motion -multiple screens -multiple pick and rolls on both sides -low post attacks(yao,bonzi wells,jackie butler) -High post two man games -numerous guys who can create their own offense(james,brooks,mcgrady,francis) -Three point shooting (battier,james,brooks,head)
