It's good to set your sights so high... You need to realize that getting anywhere in the playoffs means beating a team like LA or SA in a seven game series. Anyone who thinks that task is made easier without Yao is nuts.
Basing your playoff strategy on one matchup makes zero sense. Who's going to match up with Shaq or Bynum in the paint now? More than likely the Rockets are going to have to double--against teams with guys like Kobe and Amare.
Actually Yao scores on a variety of shots, including dunks. Or did you somehow miss the dunks he made against Malik Rose in the NY game or his posterization of Garnett in Boston? Yao's actually a pretty good passer for a C, especially out of the double. Adelman has commented on that aspect of Yao's game numerous times in the post-game pressers. Defensively he's not the shot blocker that Deke is but his size alone makes him a huge intimidator in the paint. He's top ten in the NBA in blocked shots and he changes numerous shots that he actually doesn't physically get a hand on. And finally he's averaging 3.33 TO's on the season, not four or five. Whatever.
hell man... Yao is a dominant low post scoring option, nobody can stop him. Dwright?SQ..? NOBODY...as DY said Yao's a lots of ways to shoot in the basket.
even when yao played shaq earlier in miami this year, we needed double teams. in fact, we don't need to double when deke guards him though (but deke can only play 20-25 mins). amare can be contained by hayes, no problem. bynum? um, last time i saw, he has no post presence. he's a very athletic guy who can score off of alley-oops..., but landry/hayes can keep up with him. like i said, boozer is a better matchup for hayes. scola/landry will guard okur if we play utah. deke won't see a lot of minutes in this matchup. i think outside of tim duncan, we don't need to double anybody. and we usually don't double tim duncan unless he's hot. i think our defense is better without yao in the sense that we can matchup with any team and adelman is willing to pull deke out if he's a bad matchup (say against smaller teams or quicker big men). he couldn't do that with yao (same with JVG). yao should not have played a lot last yr v. utah b/c of the defensive mismatches but b/c he was a great scorer, he would play. we won't have that hesitation with deke. we can switch parts to match up with EVERY team we play, trust me on that. the only worry is the low-post scoring. when our jumpers were not falling v. the hawks, that's when you miss yao. you don't miss him on defense too much if you ask me.
exactly, i think it's not a coincidence we struggled with our offense with landry out. landry brings a WHOLE other dimension to our offense. we couldn't run the pick and roll as effectively with hayes/scola/or even yao at times as we can do with landry -> b/c he looks to DUNK every time. we missed his 10-12 pts in the paint that would have easily given us some easy baskets in that first half against the hawks. he also has a very nice mid-range jumper. you saw how hesitant tmac/alston were at passing to hayes off the pick and roll at times. you don't get that with landry. if landry's healthy, he'll help compensate some for yao's low post presence.
It depends on the match up. Yao has always been a good match for Tim Duncan, for example, whereas guys like Duncan and Garnett are in the elite minority of players who are going to give Chuck Hayes fits. Hayes and Landry are athletic but what they lack is size. They are not going to be able to match up to a Dwight Howard. I couldn't disagree more with the idea that the Rockets have an answer for every match up. Bynum is a legitimate seven footer and he just has too much length for anyone on the Rockets to guard him. Asking Hayes or Landry to keep up with him when he has the height advantage he does just isn't fair. Look at the problems Atlanta gave the Rockets with their size and athleticism. It's tough to say, but my guess is the Rockets are going to have their toughest games when they go up against teams with legitimate, traditional big men centers. Luckily Bynum is still out for the Lakers game, but every indication is that he will be back for the playoffs.
It's one of Yao's off game,ok? Deke was eaten by Shaq last year in one game. Yao is still the best player playing against Shaq and Duncan.
I think its a valid question. I don't think Rox are necessarily better without Yao in the long run. I think he's the best all around center in the NBA today, especially considering his stellar free throw shooting (wonder why he shot less free throws this year after playing more minutes??) But I don't think he's the type of player to showcase an offense through. Maybe its a silver lining he got hurt. Man our expectations are going to be high next year....60-65 W's anyone?
The thread title may be a bit misleading, but the first post in the thread and some of the content discussed make this a very good thread from a basketball standpoint. There is still a lot of things up in the air, and against certain teams in the playoffs, we will miss Yao. The Atlanta game is a perfect example, we needed Yao offensively. But I would go as far as saying that from a defensive standpoint, this isn't even debatable, we are better defensively with Yao out of the lineup. I can say that with near certainty.
As of now, we are certainly better on the defensive end without Yao. However, that's only because Deke is stepping up his game and we're not playing against the elite teams with the elite big men. If Deke decides to retire after this season, there is no way we'd be able to replace his presence without Yao.
You're not going to be saying that if a big center like Shaq, Bynum or Howard rips the Rockets a new one in the paint. The issue is match-up's. There's no universal defense in the NBA that's equally effective against all teams. Yao does a very respectable job shutting down opposing big men in the paint and blocking shots. The Rockets' lack of size has already been exposed in the Atlanta game.
Without Yao, opposing big men can rest on the defensive end as Mutombo is not a scoring threat - it also clogs up the lane more as Yao is a threat from 15-17feet
