Yao and His Picks

everytime he sets a pick, I say nooooo.

I dont want him to pick up a foul, I'd rather have Scola or Artest set a screen, Yao is not a threat on the pick and roll.

However, when he sets a screen, no way defender gets around that wall.

 

I always thought Yao sets way too many picks and most of his picks are solid. Another thing is that our PGs don't want to wait for him to completely set so it looks like Yao can't pick the defender.

 

The main puprose of Yao setting picks is to pull his man out of the paint. This allows cutters to get open inside and ball handlers to penetrate. Once the defense is on the move, Yao can get back into position easier to receive a pass. If the defenders cheat underneath the pick, Brooks or Artest can pop the wide-open three.

 

how could yao pick so early selection sunday hasnt even passed by yet!

 

If Yao would break for the basket after his high post picks, I feel like he would just pile on the points. But instead, he is slow off the pick, and you just know somewhere John Stockton and the Mailman are hugging it out for being on the same page.

 

to be honest when he sets picks it does look sorta lazy. lowry and scola should run the pick and roll every play they are highly awesome at it.

 

Yao said Duke is going to win it all in the NCAA tourny.

 

Scola sets the better picks now, but that wasn't always the case. Yao used to lay guys out with his picks. The Tmac/Yao pick and roll was money in the Dallas series; too bad Yao's not too good at catching on the move anymore.

 

There does seem to be a disconnect between Yao and his guards. The pick-and-roll is obviously not a move they look for. It usually shows that the Rockets' offensive plan has been disrupted, meaning Yao couldn't get close to the basket or had to come away from it. Often the guards don't even make a strong effort to run their defender into the screen.

I want to see an actual pick-and-roll with the ball going back to the roller (Yao). That was such a devastating move in the 2005 playoffs against the Mavs, but it seemingly disappeared from the Rockets' playbook after that. I rarely see the Rockets guards even looking to give the ball back to Yao when he screens for them. One of the reasons Yao's turnovers are so high is because of the manner in which he scores: back to the basket, with multiple defenders collapsing on him. While Yao IS a post up player and should play that way, other talented big men like Dwight and Amare have benefitted more from "easy" shots such as pick-and-rolls or hand-offs near the basket from a penetrating PG.

 

that's because t-mac was the only guy tall enough to pass it to Yao while he drove. I did however see Kyle Lowry pass it to Yao once he rolled which was refreshing, but he had to lob it over his defender in order for Yao to catch it. The point of Yao's picks is for our guards to try and get in the paint.

 

You don't need to pass it high on the pick-and-roll though. I've seen plenty of straight and bounce passes being used for the play:

Nash bouncing it to Amare

If the guard needs to lob it over his man then something is wrong; the pick-and-roll is supposed to free him up and give him space against his defender.

 

Maybe Yao is worried about all those little guards' heads banging into his crotch?

 

Yao sets good picks, but the ballhanfler has to do the job of setting the man up. You should wait till he's set, then make a decisive move.

 

That's always a stupid play. Never worked. Stupid coach!

 

hahaha