Thank you Juugie... I was wondering if anyone else had noticed this and was going to post it in another thread, but didn't feel like wasting the time arguing the point. People just don't seem to realize that in order for Yao to be effective he needs a good back court that the defense honors. Why? Because he can not create his own shot. The guards also benefit from a low post presence. That is how it is supposed to work on paper. You get the ball inside, whether it be from a pass to Yao or a penetration by Francis, if the defense doesn't shift then the primary option takes the shot, if it does then you pass to where the defense shifts from and it is that mans responsibilty to make the defense pay. The problem with the Rox is that there is no one there to consistently make the defense pay. Sure Rice or Posey can have a good shooting night every now and again, but they are few and far between. When they do we win, when they don't we don't. I think people here have focused to much on how many teams have won championships with a great\scoring pg or with a great bigman. What we really should be focusing on is how many teams have won w/o that role player that could consistently stick the open "J" to make the defense pay... Lakers - Horry, Fox San Antonio - Kerr, Steve Smith Bulls - Paxson, Hodges, Kerr Rox - Kenny Smith, Horry, Maxwell (was kinda streaky, but came through in the clutch) Look at some of the better teams in the league now... Sactown - Peja, Hedu Dallas - Nowitzki, Nash, and the Rockets have... who... anyone... Bueller...
I think Rudy intentionally reduces Yao's high post game (he already has) and lets him develop a lower post game. Just be patient and everything should be fine next season.
In the past ,Rudy did more with less, now he's doing less with more. I knew we were in trouble when Minny ws playing without their 2nd leading scorer and was still ahead of us. They didn't talk about the injuries they had and SA never talks about their youth playing big minutes in a championship hunt, not playoff hunt. Utah, never talks about the loss of Marshall ,their 2nd leading scorer leaving or the fact that Andrei is only 21yrs old. This team is full of excuse from the coach down to the players. The backcourt has no clue on how to play simple effective basketball, the coach has a system in which he forces square pegs into a round hole offensively. Now we look up and we're a game ahead of GS who has gotten better throughout the yr and 1 game behind Phoen who is in a slump also. Get ready for more excuses after this season.
You bring up excellent points. it's also important to note that it isn't just that we have featured Yao, but that we have little variety in featuring Yao (just as we had no variety in featuring Francis). Even the Lakers and San Antonio don't resort to plain old post-ups with O'Neal and Duncan every play so why should we do it with Yao? Yao runs the pick n roll well and has a great outside shot. Let him use it. Also, as you pointed out, it is too easy for teams to defend this set when Griffin and Posey continue to brick shots.
Yeah Steve's clearly outplayed by Parker. Steve's an all-star, the superstar of this team while Parker's a 20 years old sophomore. Steve is supposed to dominate him and especially he's always the 1st option on our offense while Parker's at best 2nd on their. But then he let Parker get above his season average and only outscore him by 5 pts. So you really think that Steve's outplayed Parker and played good D? Go watch KG, Kobe etc play, they not only dominate their counterpart on offense, they shut them down on defense as well and outscore their counterpart by at least 10 pts every day. That's what I would call outplay others, dominate others. That's what I would call true superstars.
One such obvious problem, and a quick easy fix. SF & CM are simply playing too many (ave. 40+ every each game) minutes. They are tired ! That is why parameter defense is slacking off from time to time, and those TO's are mostly made in the critical 4th quarter. Being physically tired will cause the mental errors. I just hate the way they stroll up the back court when it is already 15 point behind in the third quarter. Solution is right there. Play less minutes for both. Say, play like 30 - 35 minutes each for the game. 3,4 and 5 postions are all stacked/ shared with at least 2 player rotations. Need more guard subs, with Hawk and Moochy or possibly move Rice down to play a outside shooting 2 guard...
I will say this in regards to DD, remember the wizards game when Francis choked ,traveled and hoped mobley would bail them out? Yao got the rebound, Yao passed it to "leader" steve. Mike closed in...Cough cough cOUGH...end of game. who messed up not yao or rudy, but steve. Steve blew that game.
Steve makes poor decisions at crucial times more often then not. The only time he has been succesful late in games is the little flip pass from Yao at the top of the key, and that has been a called play off of a timeout. The problem is that if Steve can not get to the rim, he has no clue what to do. DD
Juugie: You make some valid points, but a key question regarding your info is this: Our team will more likely than not, eventually reach its true potential with Yao as the focal point of the offense (inside-out). So, do you speed up this whole potential-reaching process by keeping Yao as the focal point and losing a few games now? Or do you change things around where Yao Ming plays a secondary or 3rd option role, thereby slowing the overall process but giving us a few wins now?
I've been saying all along that the Rockets need to get a stable guard, not necessary a PG, to share the ball handling duty with Francis. Many time this season, it seems the player didn't have any idea of what they were doing. They were just following through the motion on the court. I believe an experienced veteran can change the Rockets' fortune instantly. Too bad, they picked the wrong person in Rice, who couldn't even get his own house in order.
Here is a simple fact. The rockets have the 2nd most dominating center in the league. Simply put, the Rockets should be one of the best teams in the West. What seems to be the problem? I'm convinced that Francis might be the one of the worst point guards to ever have played the game. I'm also convinced that Mobley's ego is bigger than his game. <B>If we miss the playoffs what should the rockets do?</B> someone start this thread...
Why does everyone think Yao Ming is the 2nd most dominating center in the league? HE IS NOT!!! well, at least not yet.... he will be, one day, but he is not right now!!
Given the pitiful situation for the center position in the NBA, 2nd best center (even if Yao really is) doesn't mean much.
The thing that is lost is defense from other guys, especially the guards. All I know is, if they didn't let an injuried Kobe, a 40 years old Jordan and Manu Ginobili drill us all night long we would've much better chances winning those games. The Rockets were playing well because of their defense. Put the clamps down and show some heart!
there's practically no dominating center besides Shaq now. period. if u want me to name a center, I will say Duncan (he is a center/PF afterall), Ben Wallace, Big Z and Yao....... there's no obvious 2nd best center in the league right now.... that's for sure.... since Duncan is normally listed as PF, he is not considered as a center by lots of ppl, that leave us with a lot of ON-PAR center for the time being...... next season or so, maybe u can say Yao Ming is the 2nd most dominating center in the league, but right now, I just don't think he can be called that yet
ahh so we can feature yao while losing, tell everyone to be patient b/c we're trying to build up yao for the future, but then blame the guards for all of the problems in the present. how convenient. well of course stats don't matter when they don't back up your point. intangibles, things that can't be proved, hustle, smarts, savvy, all those things should be brought up. i would love to know how parker set things up in the first then ran it smoothly when he shot 18 times and had 4 assists and only scored 15 points. did he drop two big dimes in the first then ration the other two out over 3 quarters to make things run so smoothly. did bricking all those shots inspire timmy to go to the boards, upping his energy level, thus enabling him to dominate our own dominant frontcourt that carries our backcourt? come on, don't try to make this look like steve got outplayed out there. or outsavvied considering parker basically did nothing better than steve except have tim duncan as a teammate. parker's season avg is 15.4. he got 15 pts. how did he go above again. oh, he also took 18 shots to get 15 pts, i'm sure you would be none too happy if steve did that carayip. yeah, he only outscored him by 6, but he also outassisted him by 4, so that's 14 total points, sounds like some domination. steve shot 53%, parker 38.9%, amazing D from tpark. steve also grabbed 7 more boards. thorough domination by parker. only thing parker has on steve is 3 to's. i think steve made up for it in other areas, but i just must be biased.
So Francis, now "outplayed" a Tony Parker is something you're proud of, something we should give credit for.
