I'm with you. Last year when Yao was playing heavy minutes before the injury, Deke was kind of like a cheer leader. Even in garbage time Adelmen didnt rest Yao at times.
Very true. Adelman likes a center who's able to make mid-range jumpers. Sabonis, Rasheed, Divac, Brad Miller, and now Yao.
Yao played heavy minutes because of matchups. Not many teams can throw two active 7 footers at you like the grizzlies did yesterday. Scola is not nearly big enough to contend with those two guys. The load on Yao is alot lighter this year. We dont dump it down to him everytime down the floor anymore. were using him in the high post alot and that will keep him fresher. Do you want to keep Yao's minutes low? of course, but you have to win also. We needed Yao to play heavy minutes last night in order to get the W. That's the bottom line.
And then? Honestly thats a maybe and on top of that if Yao keeps playing those minutes I am sorry to say but its a HIGH risk of a repeat of last year. And to play him that long against Memphis of all teams???? Who cares what seed you get as long as you get it. Seems Tmac fans have already done the research showing Tmac shoots a better percentage when playing away. Shiet, as long as the YnT plus RonRon are healthy with a 8 seed or better its game time.
i've always said adelman should have kept the same distrubution that gundy used. It was perfect, kind of.
I thought Adelman was quoted to say that he was going to carefully manage Yao's minutes. I think it is just game situation last night. The game was tight and they didn't want to lose the home opener.
okay, maybe it's just me, but how can you be displeased with distribution of minutes after one game? Let's at least get a couple weeks into the season to see what the pattern is. Memphis is an unusual case. They have three seven footers on their team. There is also still a lot of maneuvering going on with rotation. Adelman is trying to figure out the optimal combinations on the court, but with so many injuries to work around in the preseason he didn't get to play as much then. Give the man time to figure it out. No one, including Adelman, wants Yao to play too many minutes. The only person who was happy with Yao's minutes last night was probably Yao... and he probably wanted to play more. Just give it a couple of weeks, then you can start complaining.
The Rockets purposely left a roster spot open so they'd have the ability to add a player in the middle of the season. Getting a 7-footer is one of the options they're looking closely at. They'll do fine with what they have, for now. They won 22 games in a row while often playing small up front, after all.
It's simple, if our moving offense was not clicking, we had to heavily relied on Yao's post games. I do not like Landry/Hayes front court. Landry needs to play with a low post player threat to be effective.
I think he needs to play with a penetrating guard to be really effective. That's where we missed Aaron Brooks.
I agree. The reason why that particular lineup was successful in preseason (and it was very effective) is because of the dribble penetration of Brooks. Luther for some reason wasn't getting good screens. That's something I noticed a lot of. Instead of setting solid screens we keep slipping them and it's taking away from the flow of the offense. IMHO. The only way to make a slip screen effective is for it to be a surprise, for it to be the exception, not the rule. Landry had trouble getting going inside because of the length around him. But there is no reason why, with Aaron back out there that the aforementioned group shouldn't be fine. man, sadly I just left Luther out in the cold. I am so glad I am not Adelman trying to figure out this rotation.
I had no issue with the minutes players got, aside from Scola being limited to 25 minutes. The rotation itself seemed goofy. Why play 4 guys off the bench with Artest for long stretches? That mistake of a lineup (Head-Barry-Artest-Landry-Hayes) single-handily allowed Memphis to get back into the game in the 2nd quarter. I was stunned that Adelman didn't play Scola at center. He's sitting on a good high post motion offense crew if he plays Scola instead of Hayes when he rests McGrady and Yao. Instead, he tapped a lineup that was so offensively challenged we nearly blew the game for no reason. Head-Barry-Landry-Hayes combined for 10 pts on a putrid 2-11 shooting. All of those guys, save Hayes, can get buckets, but not when they're all in the game together with Artest. I have no idea what the hell Adelman was thinking there. Evan
We were slipping the screens because Memphis was jumpingout so far on the ball handler before the pick was even set. Yao needs to do a better job when he roles to the basket. He is clumbsy sometimes when he gets the ball more than 10 feet from the basket. So either he needs to develop a pick and pop game, or he just needs to stay down low.
If they are jumping the ball that quickly then you set the screen solid and there should be an opening between. It's going to be a blocking foul on the "big" that jumped out or you are going to get a quick step on your defender to the basket. They were not at all effective at slipping. None of them. From Yao right on down to Chuck. The Griz are quick, but a well placed screen should have helped to clear some space.
playing yao heavy minutes is a gamble so as long as we can win by playing yao with heavy minutes, its worth it. Not to get injured also of course
As long as Yao isn't playing in garbage time. If he has to play 38min in a close game I'm cool with that. Of course we all feel that this game should have been blown open by halftime and cruise to a 25pt win in which Yao sits out the entire 4th.
I think Yao had to be on the floor during most ogf the game becasue we wre going to lose it, in addition he is needed to be there with all other combinations to get artest, barry, ... familiar with his game and mesh together.
Yeh. We flat out stunk on pick and roles. I think slipping could be effective especially with Mcgrady handling the ball. He usually finds a way to get the ball to you. That being said, when Yao is the one rolling to the basket, you have to be sure the pass leads him directly to the goal. Anything too far out will be a turnover. Yao sets great picks, but I hate seeing him that far out from the basket. I understand that you have to mix it up on offense, but screen and roles are clearly not Yao's strength. I'd much rather see him pop out for a little jumper, or just stay down and let someone else be the screener. That way when his man switches to cover the roller, Yao can get himself an easy dunk or an offensive rebound.
The Rockets are going to play Yao 48 minutes a night if they have to. The plan is to limit his practice time, not how much he plays in actual games.
