I see more and more teams copying the strategy of fronting Yao and with Yao's limited athleticism (can't catch and score off the lob). As a result, this forces us to go to an athletic lineup which doesn't match up. Luther is a good scorer, don't get blinded by the GSW game. However, for as many points as he scores, he gives up the same amount (do you hear the beeping sound of Luther being backed down into the paint). Kirk, love his hustle and leaping ability, however his offensive game is limited (memo to Kirk, stop shooting 3's and try a Sam mid range J). Shane, High IQ, great hustle, cannot be relied upon for consistent scoring. Chuck, High IQ, great hustle, limited scoring. Teams leave him wide open with no regard Juwan, game is in the deep freeze, no jumper no points and is definitely not quick enough to stay with younger players. Tmac, excellent when healthy and passion is there. Goes into the tank everytime Yao comes back. Plays very good defense when inspired (Kobe, Lebron, Dirk, etc...) Too many big men with limited athletic abililty on the team with Jake, Deke, Yao, and Juwan. That's way fronting Yao and playing small ball kills us. I'm afraid that we will have to get athletic quick in order to compete for championships, which will require overhauling this team and leaving only Tmac (maybe) and Yao.
Getting more athletic certainly will help....but only if they are "smart" athletic players verus "dumb" ones like Stromile. I think though, more than anything we just need more "multi-skilled" players on this team. If you add in one or 2 more guys that can create their own shot that really puts a TON of pressure on those teams that are using that junk defense against Yao. Teams that use that defense are basically saying we have to either 1) hit the 3pt shot or 2) attack the basket on drives. Sure we can chuck away at the 3ptr shot but that is low percentage (especially compared to Yao's normal looks). So the more optimal strategy is to attack the basket and force the defense to react. Heck they probably would leave Yao to help and then all of a sudden you have Yao open for a pass. The PROBLEM with this is, we just dont have guys that can create their own shot and attack the basket. We have Tmac and Rafer and Rafer sucks at finishing. So right now, it's not so much about our offense working right as much as we dont have the right personnel to attack this defense. This is one reason why I kind of would like to see the Rockets still make a Mike James trade in the offseason and then perhaps pick up Grant Hill with part of our MLE. That would give us TWO more guys that can attack the basket and at the same time be guys that can mesh in our system.
It's true that we dont have an athletic slasher who can drive to the lane constantly, McGrady settles to his jumpshot too often (maybe he starts getting to the basket when the playoffs come). Snyder has all that u need to be a good slasher but i think it's cause of JVG that he doesnt get an opportunity to really show what he can do, Jeff needs to give Snyder a little more freedom @ offense so he can do things that he's best at. Luther should probably penetrate more often too, we all know that Head can explode(Turiaf) and get to the freethrow-line.
Funny how Tmac is constantly criticized for not driving on every possession, but the management gets a pass for not picking up one player that can create his own shot. This is the only guy on the team that has to create his own shot, shot for others, get the ball to Yao, initiate the PnR, and he isn't even the pointguard. Just asking, do you think it wears on him sometimes?
i dont think you need to be that athletic to compete. miami wasnt a quick team. i dont put athletic and san antonio together...You need a big man, guys around him who can knock down shots, and a few guys who can create off the dribble....and with that you should be able to compete
What? Miami has D. Wade and S.A. has Manu and T.P. Guess what they all have in common? They all go to the hole...hard. That forces the defense to leave there man, draws fouls and free throws. When the 4th quarters rolls around people don't want to pick up that 5th and 6th foul and if they do help other people are open. They're athletic in the right places.
you kidding me? shaq is the quickest big man ever. his most important gift is that speed did you watch last night's game sas vs phx? did you notice why suns high pick and roll doesn't work at all on spurs? while it can kill rox easily
i don't know why you ignore the difference between our big man and theirs, while point your finger to the guards. yao and mutumbo are both very very slow, that is why rox has problems playing with teams like suns. but more and more teams are like this style.
even at age 35, shaq is not slow at all compared with yao, and he is much better ball handler and passer.
Here's the deal, if you front Shaq, he has the athletic ability to "GO GET" the ball if it's only a few feet away from him. Once Yao plants his feet he is immobile to catching a lob. I won't mention the inability to finish at the rim. Shaq at 35 his 5 times more mobile than Yao. Also, we don't have an athletic power forward who can consistently hit open fifteen footers. Watching Chuck and Juwan is killing me and us. We have 4 spots on the team taken up by slow, non shooting/scoring big men. (Deke, Jho, Jake, and Chuck) that is 2 too many. We need more 6'9" or 6'10" HIGH IQ types that can shoot consistently.
I've been saying this for 3 years now, but Rockets management refuses to listen to me. WE NEED SOMEONE WHO CAN CREATE THEIR OWN SHOT. Mike James was decent at this, Wells could have been decent at it, and Sura/Barry were better at it than anyone on this team not named Tmac and Yao. Our supporting cast is extremely one dimensional, and each player has a glaring weakness or flaw in their game. If you add a couple of players that can put pressure on the defense with offensive variability, the Rockets offense would explode and we could be a contender. With this team, I get the feeling that if Yao or Tmac have an off night, we will lose to a good team. We don't have any reliable players that can pick up the slack unlike ALL the other good teams.
shaq is and has always been quicker than yao. he's suprisingly athletic and mobile for a guy his size.
trust me when i say timmy d means more to san antonio than their athleticism. It's all about having a big man.
I have a very odd idea. When teams are fronting Yao, instead of trying to make a difficult pass to get him the ball, try this... How about the player who's supposed to make the pass entry be located somewhere around the top of the key (if not, then dribble there or pass to a guy who is near the top of the key), so that he could "pass" it off the backboard. He could act like he's shooting the ball, but purposely be way off so that the ball only goes off the backboard. If Yao is on the right side of the rim, then the shot should go off the right portion of the backboard. Since the defender is fronting Yao, Yao can easily grab the "rebound" and put it in. Of course, Yao would have to know about the play in advance so he's prepared for it. Have a player shout out "BACK" or something like that to signal that the ball will come off the backboard. They'd have to practice this a lot in practice. The pass and the catch are the two hardest parts obviously. Yao is so limited in movement, so he needs to have good reflexes. The shooter or passer needs to be very accurate with the "pass". You don't want the ball to hit the rim. You still want to put enough arc in the ball, so the ball doesn't ricochet off the backboard too fast for Yao to catch. If you can execute this play consistently, how do you stop this? The other team would either have to stop fronting Yao, or bring in another defender to put behind Yao. That would mean that a player who doesn't even have the ball is being double-teamed. We could easily find the open man and go from there. OK, that was a crazy idea and will never happen. But my bigger point is that if Yao is getting fronted, it's so much easier to get the offensive rebound because technically, he's already boxing out his man. Instead of just trying to demand the ball, he should also try to anticipate the shot and get in a good rebounding position. I learned from the Dwight Howard TNT Fundamentals show that if a player shoots from the right side of the rim, chances are that the rebound will come off the left side of the rim and vice versa. I believe Dwight said that this happens like 75% of the time, and he's shocked that more people don't know about this. Yao should take advantage of this and place himself on the opposite side of the player with the ball.
What we lack is perimeter athleticism....and our two most athletic players are at the end of the rotation (Snyder) or not in the rotation at all (VSpan). Maybe next year. DD
Haha, DD with the "V-Span is our savior" madness. You do realize his jumpshot is pretty mediocre right? Snyder has played recently if you've noticed. Not too good I might add. You can say what you want about Bonzi "not fitting". Snyder is just "not good". You are right of course about us lacking perimeter athleticism. But if T-Mac, Alston, and Battier can hit shots consistently from outside, I think we'll do just fine in the playoffs. If Rafer/Snyder/Head could shoot well from three consistently, the lack of athleticism wouldn't even matter on the offensive end. With this team (well, I guess any team), I value perimeter shooting over perimeter athleticism. We need interior athleticism much more than we need perimeter athleticism. If our defensive scheme is to pack the paint, we might want to have players that are mobile, long, and athletic (and to think we drafted Novak over Paul Millsap... sigh... ). On offense, well obviously, can someone please help Yao? Chuckie is doing an admirable job, but the guy has no offensive skills what so ever. At least Juwan can stretch the defense with his jumpshot, but it's on and off. It needs to be on throughout the playoffs. If Garnett does indeed opt out of his contract like he said he will, I hope we at least give him a call. T-Mac will for sure. It seems that on the court, KG is pretty tight with Yao also. If we can't get him, Jamaal Magloire sounds good (and no, I'm not saying this just because of what he did against us... I've wanted him since last off-season).
I guess what I said in my last post applied for the main topic of the thread. SHOOTING >>> ATHLETICISM We just need to be more consistent from outside in the playoffs. We were 4-18 from three in the Blazers' game. That won't get it done. Good shooting will make up for a lack of athleticism on offense.
Of course, the lack of shooting is why we drafted Steve Novak in the first place. Unfortunately, the Rockets were unaware of how terrible he was in other aspects of the game. Hopefully they will consider the other aspects in the next draft when evaluating a player like Nick Fazekas, another good shooting PF. Fazekas can rebound also, which is a plus. But if he can't play team defense, he won't be getting off our bench if we draft him.