First, congratulations on Yao! Currently Yao is top 20 in the following 11 categories: http://www.nba.com/playerfile/yao_m...x.html?nav=page Ranks #1 in the NBA in Field-Goal Percentage(0.577) Ranks #11 in the NBA in Blocks Per Game(2.0) Ranks #19 in the NBA in Offensive Rebounds(70.0) Ranks #17 in the NBA in Offensive Rebounds Per Game(2.7) Ranks #10 in the NBA in Blocks(52.0) Ranks #15 in the NBA in Double-doubles(9.0) Ranks #17 in the NBA in Offensive Rebounds Per 48 Minutes(5.0) Ranks #17 in the NBA in Defensive Rebounds Per 48 Minutes(9.7) Ranks #13 in the NBA in Rebounds Per 48 Minutes(14.7) Ranks #10 in the NBA in Blocks Per 48 Minutes(3.72) Ranks #4 in the NBA in Efficiency Ranking Per 48 Minutes(33.05) Secondly, it seems that teams are paying more and more respect to Yao by doubling or tripling him down low (see the last two games). I am wondering besides kicking the ball out to open teammate for jumpers, what Yao and Rockets can do to make opponents pay, especially if the open men cannot hit jumpers?
Despite what the mainstream thinking may be, when we run our offense through Yao, its not anything like it was with Hakeem. There is alot of cutting and slashing to the basket going on at times. Weve seen this when yao makes some of those eye popping passes to his teamates for layups. However, sometimes, depending on whether the opponent is playing a zone or not, it will be a matter of making open jumpers or not.
so you are saying that when opponents play zone and double team yao, the only way to beat them is hit open J, or we will be dead meat?
You might be suprised to find out that most NBA players can make 50%+ of WIDE OPEN Shots. If Yao is getting double & triple teamed then someone is WIDE OPEN. If he or they can get that person the ball so they get a completely WIDE OPEN, UNCONTESTED Shot, they should make 50%+ of them. Unfortunately, our shooters prefer contested, not open, or just plain bad shots. That is why they shoot 37%-42%.
Please go back and re-read my post. I said that 1) The way the offense works around Yao is not the same as it worked around Hakeem, thus hitting open jump shots isnt the only to beat teams when Yao is being doubled. We have alot of cutting to the basket which have resulted in layups. I said that 2) Depending on if our opponent is playing a zone against us, hitting open jumpers will be the key to winning. One thing I failed to mention is, our offense and depth is such that we dont have to live and die with Yao as the offensive option and hitting open jumpers. Lets not forget we have two of the best players in the league at creating shots for themselves. So no. In the end, Yao getting doubled and us not hitting our open jumpers does not mean we are dead meat.
