Yao does a pretty good job passing out of double teams because of his height. And while the Rockets might have enjoyed some initial success after Yao went out the rest of the season they struggled. The formula is real simple: a double team on Yao means open looks for the rest of the team. The Rockets need to exploit that.
yao's slow to react to double teams and usually he passes to a 3pt shooter and that's the same shot we get from tmac's pick and roll. we get that shot anytime we want. you're asking for shots nearer the basket and yao rarely passes exactly to guys for easy buckets. he usually passes back to guys at the 3pt line b/c he struggles to find anybody else but pass back out to the perimeter. our offense is at its best when tmac is at the high post (which is why it's baffling it took adelman until freakin' game 6 to decide to do that on a consistent basis). tmac is our best passer. he sees everything and he gets guys a lot of looks AROUND the paint, along with 3pt shots. tmac doesn't necessarily should shoot, esp. if his shot is off. but tmac has multiple things he can do at the high post and it's very hard to double team him there b/c he's at the triple threat. i wouldn't just pound the ball into yao and run the offense from there with double teams. he's simply not adept at killing double teams. what i would do is start the game with yao and see how teams play him. if they double him a lot, try to involve yao via pick and rolls or roll him out to the 15ft for a mid-range jumper (HE HAS TO PRACTICE THAT THIS SUMMER). no point in pounding it to him and he gets doubled and passes back to the 3pt shooter, which wastes time. i agree the best option is a one-on-one yao b/c he eats anyone alive 1-on-1. but not every team plays him straight up. so really, our best offense is tmac at the high post b/c he can initiate many things from there.
Get rid of Bobby Jackson, Luther Head, Rafer, Battier, and the #1 pick in the hopes of landing a 3rd scorer.
It doesn't matter who Yao passes the ball to out of the double team. This is supposed to be a motion offense. That means when the ball comes out whoever gets it needs to be Johnny on the spot and either take the shot/drive if he's open or keep the ball moving until it finds the open man. Why would you assume that Yao has to get the ball directly to the open guy? Move the ball, break down the defense with that ball movement, get the easy, open bucket. Similarly the pick and roll is not a play you associate with a motion offense. The Rockets are probably going to rely on it to some extent no matter what but I would like to see its use kept to an absolute minimum. Also, there's no way that Yao should be relying on a 15 foot jump shot. He's at his most effective deep in the paint where he is almost guaranteed either a bucket and/or a foul. If he can't get good position then he needs to pass back out and repost deeper. Once he does the other Rockets need to have some court awareness and get him the ball back if he's deep in the paint. One more time: the point of getting the ball in to Yao isn't so that he can score necessarily. The point is that if he draws the double team that's a net advantage for the rest of the Rockets as a whole.
move the ball, shane don't stand on the perimeter, make cuts, i know you work hard playin d and it's alot to ask for concidering the amount of effort you bring on the devensive end, but at least jog in the paint. rafer, calm down shoot when you're open or REALLY feeling it (game 22), yao keep the ball up high, go strong, dont take ****, get mad. tmac, dont worry about getting injured play strong we need that. scola go up strong dont do crazy shots and work on the free throws. bench...luther....die/retire
Thanks, I often feel under appreciated and need occasional affirmations. Just trying to "keep it real!"
Really??? I don't think this post is solid at all. Random complaining with no solutions. I hate it when my employees come to me whining about this or that and when I ask them for a solution, they say I don't know. Hayes started because Scola needed time to adapt. When he did he went to the starting lineup. Alston is the only point guard we have and there is no easy way to get another one. What do you expect management to say? "he sucks, but I have to start him anyway". We have a crappy bench. Why? Because we had a crappy gm in Dawson and now we are in salary cap hell. The bench improved over the year before because Morey did the best with what he had. He will hopefully be able to pull something off that will help us out again, but he can't perform miracles and get other teams to take our crap for their stars. T-Mac has always been injury prone, but was pretty healthy this year. Yao has feet problems. What a suprise he's 7-5 and weights over 300. What do you thing your conditioning staff can do about any of that? Billups was hurt for the finals, I guess Detroit should can their staff too. Quit whining.
My basic game strategy: ... ... Score more points than the other team But seriously, capitalize on Adelman's offense. Our players have to learn it and not sway to the McGrady-is-a-ball-hog offense of the JVG era.
What kind of business are you in that allows you to ignore obvious problems and stay on a course that is not producing the results you want? My point is that significant changes have to be made for different outcomes to be achieved. The Rockets are stuck in a formula that is not working. Change. Do you actually believe that our starting lineup is capable of anything but regular season "success?" This team has been floundering for THIRTEEN years. The Francis era failed and according to some like Magic Johnson, the TMac/Yao era has failed. When your business fails, do you continue the same course? Yes, a healthy Yao and a healthy TMac with the right role players should go far. Well, Yao is not healthy and due to basic physics will probably continue to have foot problems. TMac is not healthy, his jump shot is going fast and he is one tweek of his back away from ending his career. We don't have the right role players. Our starting lineup is relatively weak even with Scola. Our bench is even weaker. Sounds more like logic than whining. I say that the "streak" will be remembered as the "high point" of the TMac/Yao era. It is my view that there is no more gas in this tank. Let's move on. I have proposed solutions in numerous other posts. Now is the time to trade TMac, Yao, or both for young, tall, athletic players in order to build for the future. I do not subscribe to the theory that nobody wants them, that we won't get anything for them. However, that will be the case if the team waits much longer. I would rather spend five years rebuilding than five years of "more of the same."
It will...if Yao can be as effective as the Dream...and we can get decent penetration...and we can hit our open 3's That style might not apply here...
Only advice the rockets need to win in this league is to go ahead take a third huge contract that is worth it. The two team that have made it this far have a huge payroll we need a true third threat
That would be a pretty cool idea to try. My fantasy has always been to have a second unit capable of playing uptempo ball once Yao sits. Clearly, playing any form of fast break basketball with Yao is simply not an option but imagine if we had a quality FB point, athletic wings and some shooters to change the tempo. It would offer an interesting dynamic. We would be a halfcourt, inside-outside team when Yao was in the game and a fast, athletic, up-and-down team when he's not. This would be a great change-of-pace look that would force the opposition to substitute to match our personnel. Also a great way to spark the offense.
Thats simply not true. People always mix up fast break offense with the quick halfcourt offense (in which the bigs clear out and the guards penetrate). Fast break offense can be done with a big center. The reason we can't is because Yao is a very poor outlet passer. The big man must rebound the ball and quickly get it to a guard on the run who passes it up court to a slasher. Yao usually fumbles with the ball a while and waits for a guard to come within 5 feet of him before he passes it, the defense is set by then. Didn't you watch some of those ESPN classic laker games? The suns do pretty much the same thing now with Shaq. The lakers do it with Pau and before with Bynum, the sixers with Dalembert. The outlet pass is an underrated skill.
You're out of your mind if you really believe the reason we get almost no transition or fast break points is due to Yao's inability to outlet pass. I almost don't even know how to respond to this. Outlet passing is a simple skill that anybody can improve. It's not hard to catch the ball, hit one of your outlet guys and bolt down the court. The reason we can NEVER be an uptempo team with Yao in the line up is due to his simple lack of speed. There's no other way around it. He's simply too slow footed to ever play the run-and-gun style of ball. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing either since Yao is the perfect type of player to anchor your offense on. If you want a true inside-outside post player there are only a handful of guys in the game right now that can handle the type of offensive load that Yao can. I recognize that, appreciate that and enjoy having that luxury. All i'm saying is it would be nice to have a solid FB point and some athletic wings/shooters for a decent change-of-pace line up to throw the opposition off guard and spark a run here & there.
the fast break does not include the center accept for the outlet pass. Our other problem is that the rest of the team does not run because they are stuck in the JVG era of everyone crashing the boards. Alot of teams nowadays run a psuedo fast half court offense where the big man is quicker and slashes to the basket utilizing PnR and dribble penetration. In the old school there weren't as many guys like that but they still ran. I'm not saying that we can "run and gun" but it is very possible for the rockets get more fast break points if Yao becomes better at the outlet pass and his teammates run the floor, he should never have to bolt down the court. The fast break is not all about having the fastest guys, its about making quick decisions (something Yao and the rockets have problems with).
