Durvasa its really quite simple. Ball movement looks better when the ball goes in the basket. Ball movement was good in Charlotte, Rockets won, but the ball didnt go in the basket. And yes, they had a small experiment with the old JVG sets with more PnR and ISO but they scrapped that probably sometime before the last Dallas game. (According to the Blinebury blogs he was commenting on good ball movement and the Adelman offense during that game)
With T-Mac, you have a player who's capable of drawing multiple defenders with his dribble and picking out the open player. While it may be the case that the Rockets have to use more passes per possession when he's not in the game, I think McGrady has the ability to make better quality passes that lead to better shot opportunities. I think this is an important point. Ball movement isn't just about pass frequency. It's also decision making, and quickly taking advantage of holes in the defense by delivering the pass on the target. I think you get more of that with Tracy McGrady on the floor, as opposed to Luther Head or Bonzi Wells. Against the team we're facing right now, the offense looks good. But will this level of play cut it against the really good defense teams? I have my doubts. As I've posted elsewhere, I do think there's things McGrady must do better. He should take notes from Luther Head on how to run out hard in transition or make good basket cuts. And player movement will facilitate better ball movement. But here's where I probably differ from most of you. Even if McGrady doesn't do those things and he plays like he played under JVG, I still think our offense is much better off with him than without him.
Blasphemy!! Do you think he will be able to play off the ball and do the things he is supposed to do in this offense?? I do, because I have seen him do it before.
I think he's capable. But it will be rough for him initially. He doesn't sound too confident about his body right now, and it will take him some time to get back into shape. We definitely shouldn't expect him to be 100% until February.
That's the only thing I am worried about. A Knee injury is double bad because you cant keep working out to stay in shape, even if you had a different injury that kept you out of the game.
So, this is what you really want to say, after 6 pages. You think the run we have isn't a result of better-run offensive, rather it's a combination of weaker opponents, and/or guys hitting shots. You could have said it without all those stats. Oh, You also think Tmac is talented, (who doesn't). You think his talent can make up for less ball movement. Now we are finally into discussions, how do you explain the possibility that Guys are hitting more shot because they get to touch the ball more and the reconcile the fact that we gets very bad offensive output against terrible even with Tmac? These won't be in your stats also. Oh, and plenty of others pointed out the possibility with Tmac fitting into this style of play. No one is denying his talent.
Actually, most have pointed out that T-Mac will NOT be able to play this way. That he will come back in and start jacking up 22 footers with 20 seconds left on the shot clock every other play and holding back every fast break chance he can get. They forget that he was playing(and very well) in this style of offense(at least a watered down version of it) from game 1. They just remember the T-Mac of late when he was trying to play hurt or when nobody could hit a shot.
What is really funny and NO ONE has addressed in the "team ball movement better without Tmac" argument is that we played crappy teams the last few years and he was out, and the team did NOT look this good. In fact they looked lost...and they were clobbered in the games.... Now with crisp ball movement they are able to hang in and beat those teams without arguably their best player. This team is getting it....and only the blind are not aware of it. DD
I'm afraid you got hung up on the initial post, and I had to respond to whatever remarks you came up with. I've been making this point about weaker competition pretty much throughout the thread. Yes, I think his talent can improve the quality of our passing and the shots we get. More touches lead to more shots, but not necessarily better shots. I think we've benefited from some rotation changes (replace James/Francis with Head/Brooks) that's put more efficient offensive players on the court. I think Rafer is being more aggressive with his drives to the basket in T-Mac's absence (same thing happened in previous years ... he becomes less of a standstill shooter without Tracy). I think getting into our offense faster, and that's leading to better scoring opportunities. And I think the defenses we've been facing are subpar. For all these reasons, I think our offense has held up well without McGrady. I wouldn't attribute it to improved ball movement due to McGrady's absence. But people do seem to forget that he was already fitting into this style of play earlier in the season, before the injuries to him and Rafer hampered the team.
Well, we do have superior role players compared to last year, but I don't deny that the ball movement looks better with Adelman than JVG. I'm questioning that the ball movement has improved over what it was before the injuries to Rafer and McGrady. I thought it was established that the ball movement in the offense was improving earlier in the year, after that extended break when the Rockets had some extra practice time to work through it. We were playing pretty well, but then injuries to Rafer and McGrady curtailed the progress. We had a great offensive game just before McGrady got injured against Chicago. I don't remember anyone complaining about lack of ball movement in that game.
OK, our role players couldn't make a shot in like 10 game stretch. However, They did fine in the first 7 games, with TMac. They did OK last season, with TMac. Apparently when you do your reasoning, you ignore all of those facts, just concentrate on that 10 bad games with TMac, and compare those with the recent 10 games without TMac. Bang there's the conclusion. TMac makes his teammates shoot bad. Brilliant!
There is no doubt the offense looks and runs smoother without Tmac. Tmac is a great talent, maybe too much for his own good since he always needs and wants the ball in his hands. There is no doubt that the rockets are scoring more on fast breaks also. Tmac never ran the fast breaks unless he was leading the pack. I have seen many, many Rox games and it is quite obvious. As for ball movement, I would say that it does without a doubt. Look at how often the offense puts pressure on the opposing defense now. It creates more offensive rebounds, more open shots, more easy buckets. Before, the only easy shots were when Tmac drove to the hoop and help defenders left their man, leaving someone open. No back screens, back cuts, double screens, etc. Pressuring the defense makes them work harder. The only decision maker was Tmac. Now Yao, Rafer, Scola, Bonzi, Battier, can all be a threat to score or make a great pass. How can that not be better? Lastly, I can't stand watching Tmac suck all the momentum out of a run with a "heat check" fadeaway three with a hand in his face.
Tmac brings more FGTA, but when he is off court, the ball is shared equally by all players. In RA's system, there is a pivot, now it's Yao, and the pivot player is not necessarily the finisher. The pivot means that every player has to move around the pivot. Now Yao has to be the pivot if he is on the court, because he is slowest and tallest in the team , and doubled teamed whenever he is on the court. With Tmac in, Tmac need the ball in hand, usually he will shoot 30 times at his will if he feels good, this is Tmac's basketball. Before Tmac abandons TmacBasketball , he is not the legitimate candidate at the pivot position in RA's system.
the offense is better WITH tmac. see the 4th quarter as an example. scola has gotten the same open shots; he just hasn't knocked them down. i just feel he is kind of hesitant of mistakes when he plays with tmac. he'll get over that. rafer, on the other hand, has to tone down his trigger.
The offense has been pretty much the same. As I said before, the only reason why the offense looked smoother without T-Mac is because that open spot at SG gave our best off ball cutter, Bonzi, more PT.
The offense has looked a little shaky in the last two games but it's tough to say if that's because of T-Mac. He's most of the reason the Rockets didn't collapse in the 4th and lose like they did to Philadelphia. Although he still takes a few long distance, contested jump shots it looks like he's trying to involve his teammates and his assist numbers show it. There were three or four plays where he drove baseline and dished to an open teammate for a basket. On the other hand the movement off the ball has broken down in the last couple of games and the passing's not as good. There was zero intensity on the floor today though. Hopefully the Rockets can get it rolling again. Either way the next couple of weeks will make things clear.
