1. Yao isn't going to change into some aggressive beast. He just isn't so give that up. I think the best we can hope from him is a continued commitment to blocking shots rather than taking a charge. 2. The fact that our best defensive team does NOT include our 7'6" "franchise player/team leader" says most of what needs to be said about that. I mean our best defense includes a "center" of Scola and a big man of Landry/Hayes. All good defenders but well undersized against post players. The fact that they are still better than Yao speaks volumes. 3. I think we can all agree that Yao is a weak link on defense but that's ok because he is so dominant on offense, right?? Our "franchise player" went 7-9 overall and 1-3 in the second half last night, and this is a common occurence with our team. So maybe the coach has to be responsible for getting him the ball, but at the same time he is a turn over machine. He had 4 turnovers despite the fact he was rarely getting the ball. This doesn't even include the numerous amount of times that Yao would get a rebound only to have it whacked out of his hands. 4. OK ok so he isnt good at defense and can't hold onto the ball BUT he helps makes his teammates much better right?? Yao's +/- last night was -18...and it wasn't a blow out. Artest was 0-8 from 3pt range and had 2 more turnovers and his +/- was -4, that is how helpful Yao is... Finally for my own amusement I did a comparison between Yao and Dwight's +/- stats. The reasoning for using the 4 player combo instead of 5 is it is the best way I can think of to disregard the trade. The 4 players were Turk, Lewis, Dwight, and Bogans for ORL and Artest Battier Yao and Scola for houston. Obviously the PG play does affect these stats but I don't know how else to compare. For the record our +/- and winning % is better with Alston at the point with those 4 than it is with AB. Just saying... Category Yao Dwight +/- Overall 375 414 Vs Good Opponent 43 2 Vs Avg Opponent 93 143 Vs Bad Opponent 239 269 1st qtr 148 196 2nd qtr 84 73 3rd qtr 78 55 4th qtr 61 83 Clutch 22 43 4 Player combo 91 118 yea yea I expect the head to head record to show up almost immediately but I am not talking about that because the ONLY time that even possibly matters is if they played eachother in the finals. Bottom line: Yao is what he is and ain't gonna change, he can only get worse. Best case scenario is we trade him this summer or by the deadline next year before he can opt out and put his max contract money towards someone else. I like Yao and all but his weakness against smaller athletic guys is a big problem when 75% of the league is using smaller athletic guys as opposed to the classic big slow center. Bring the hate
I think you're right. Though, I also think the number of coaches in this league who will run zone defense in the last few minutes of the game are few and far between. I don't think I've ever seen it really...maybe Flip did it a bit back in his T-Wolves coaching days...but for reasons justified or not, coaches are hesitant to run too much zone or to rely on it too much when it really matters. But generally, I agree.
what are you looking at to back this up? I'm assuming just what you think you see on the court...? As opposed to some sort of stats. If stats, please provide links. Otherwise, I completely disagree. The Rockets defense is considerably worse with Yao off the floor than with him on...imo. They do a much better job protecting the paint when he is around, and for all the jabs about him trying to take charges, his blocked shots have gone up lately and block or no block, he typically does a very impressive job changing shots. I think this is just an unfounded jab at Yao, though I'd actually be interested in a poll - Are the Rockets better defensively with Yao in the game? Yes or No. I vote yes. Hey, great, way to use one game and make conclusions! Never mind that his Roland Rating is by far the highest on the team. Or that the top 6 and 8 of the top 10, top 5 man units for the Rockets include Yao. Or that he was +8 against Denver (best on the team), +22 against Memphis (second best on the team), +8 against Phoenix (second best on the team), only -1 against Utah (best amongst Rockets starters that night...by far, everyone else was - double digits), or that NBA.com has his efficiency stat at +23.38, which pretty much puts him up there with all the other all-stars. His faults are well documented now, and certainly frustrating, but this is the type of one game reactionism that makes this board frustrating at times.
I'll take jumpers over layups at that position always. Lucky for those guys to shoot j's when they could be on a team with 12 guys that can't throw a pass in to them at all......F666ING FUNDAMENTAL BB!
Yao is never going to be who we want him to be, an aggressive, hardnosed, athletic center who intimidates. That is not who he is. In that sense he will always disappoint in some way. I don't think he really has leadership skills either. I am thankful for what he does do. The bottomline, the Rockets have never surrounded him with players that fully compensate for his shortcomings. Landry brings some missing athleticism to the front line, but a Travis Outlaw type player would be a nice complement. Length and "hops" would make Yao look a good deal better. Tall athletic teams like the Lakers, suck up rebounds like milk duds.
I know Yao played a bad game, and I want to find an excuse for him: fatigue. We played the 8th game in 12 days, and Yao is not known for good stamina. Whether this is a good excuse or not, Yao protected the ball ok usually, he was a little bit out of character yesterday.
The Laker can packed the paint becasue we not able to make any open 3. If we can make the open 3 Yao will play a lot better. So Yao performance really depend on can his teammates hit the open 3.
well it shows we need to avoid lakers and the jazz in the first round, which at current seeding we're fine. we'll meet either one in the second round, but hey at least we're able to get out of the first round
bottom line. best team in nba beat a team that is clinging by fingernails to the 3 spot in the west. and the best player in the nba got pissed off and went to work. if we had any d on kobe last night we wouldn''t be having this conversation.
I think it's pretty important to remember in this discussion that Yao is mostly deaf in his left ear. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=hughes_frank&id=1678375
We need to stop letting Yao's liability overshadow his strengths. The problem with Yao is he doesn't overwhelm in any one part of his game... he is productive and consistent in many areas and considerably lacking in a few. Many star players have major strengths that make up for weaknesses (Howard's strength and rebounding overcoming limited offensive options, Lebron's driving ability offsetting his jumper) others flat out have little weakness to exploit (Wade, Kobe, Duncan). Yao doesn't have that luxury, but he can excel if the team uses him, within the team concept and not within the star concept, to exploit other teams. He reminds me of that tall, sort of out of shape guy out there playing pick up ball at the parks. When the team doesn't really use him he is just this tall guy that uses his size purely to get rebounds but rarely runs and helps on fast breaks (which is like 3/4 of the offense in pickup games). Every once in a while a team (usually losing and probably not as athletic as a unit) will pick up on him and continue to feed him with quick passes over the top when he flashes near the middle. He strings a few together and all of a sudden it seems like this unfair advantage. Eventually some teams figure out how to stop it (front him, out-quick him) and the team with the tall guy goes back to what they were doing before. They might try to continue to forcefeed/cherrypick (usually with little success) or strictly run other plays (like playing 4 on 5). Whatever they do, that tall unathletic guy is now an anomaly that gets respect, and while they will lose for not using that to their advantage, there is now precedent. Other teams will pick him up later on with the same idea in mind and teams playing against him will expend much energy and preperation in response. Thus, Yao may not be in either category of "star," but there is a reason that despite his limitations, he is considered a star in this league. He is "that tall guy," and other teams DO plan for him. So instead of exploiting Yao as a mismatch, why not exploit other teams concentration and anticipation of Yao as the mismatch? The key is balanced. I don't think Adelman wants us to forcefeed Yao, but at the same time Adelman knows he is one of our big guns. I felt last night our advantage was their lack of big men. In the first half we played a balanced game and Yao got his then rested. Pau had to play longer and started to wear down, evidenced by missed layups and missed rebounds. In the second half, Yao stayed in the entire 3rd. Yao is an advantage for us over Pau when both are full strength. Once Yao gets fatigued his production drops tremendously and Pau can still be effective. Kobe was going to get his, we just needed to score and we didn't. Switching in Carl for Yao earlier and letting Landry and Scola finish the 3rd would have worked out a little better I feel. It is a judgment call, the game was clearly in the balance. Do you change things up and try to change the momentum (for better or worse) or go with your starters and try not to let up too much more game? There is ALWAYS a moment on the switch where Yao gets Kobe on him or Ariza or is completely open. It seems like Brooks will ignore (or can't see it over Fisher) this when he is in pg mode (when he is in scoring mode, he just reacts and I believe he reads better ie drives and kicks to the open Scola) and just continue to pass it to Battier or Artest on the left or right side. They will then proceed to pass to Yao. Why this is so awful is because other teams get those points. The Rockets have to play great defense not to let Battier or Brooks get caught against opposing big men, or leave them open all together. Other teams capitalize on this situation. This means we are expending more energy on defense and stil occasionally giving up the freebies while on offense we don't get those freebies too. Lowry seems to understand that timing a little bit better. It isn't easy, but it should be doable for any NBA starting caliber pg, and hopefully Lowry does get the timing down. He found Landry flashing or cutting a few times and believe he could do this for Yao once that timing is established. Yao is ready for it, you can see him practically begging for that pass which would give him a higher percentage shot, higher chance of a mismatch, and less of a chance of offensive fouls or 3 second calls. -V p.s.- Also I feel like we should try to tap the homecrowd energy and let's see if the audience can affect the "actors on stage" so to speak. How about cheering and whatever when we have the ball but become dead silent (no anouncements, cheers, anything) when the opponents take possession. Players like to "silent the crowd" but what if the fans act independant to their actions. It could be ominous and jarring. It could give them that "something isn't right feel" and be enough to get them to miss some jumpers here and there. Most players are too good to allow the enviroment to affect them much, but as sensational creatures and beings, humans react to change by doing different things. That can be huge in a game so dependent on rhythm and energy. If anything, maybe it could give our players a placebo affect. It could build a Houston comradrie doing something unique to the venue and location. Just my 2 cents gearing up for the playoffs.
Defense side, zone shall be choice in some period of game. But actually PnR defense is more important to improve for Yao and guards. Coach need pratise some plays assuming defensing Utah, No and LA. Offense side, Yao recently use too many post in left side because data show he has better hit ratio there. But everyone could know stats. I do think Coach need design him more play to run post attacking, not only jump hook from left. PnR ran by Lowry and Yao is another better choice.
