The Western conference playoffs are dominated by great guard play so far. So adopting the zone defense rules, the face value of jump shooting PG has skyrocketed, while those relying on athletic ability has been downgraded a couple of notches. Bibby, Sam, SN are all deadly jump shooter (SN's bad shooting is one of the direct reasons that Dallas lost to Sac in the 1st round). They, along with Parker can pun fast breaks and P&R to perfection. Just watch TP and TD run consecutive P&R to free TD for a 13-15 footer is a thing of beauty. And these PGs definitely know how to give balls back to the big men after P&R, which is something that the Rockets don't know, or don't want to do. I also keep thinking about why the other PGs of the top teams in the West know how to set up easy baskets for their teammates, their big fellas, while the Rocket guards consistently fail to do so. Is this the main reason that we are not an elite team in the West? Also TD has proved that he is the real MVP in the playoffs. KG has disappointed his fans rountinely in the postseason. Unless he does sth dramatically to pull Minny over Sac in the second round, he will probably be labeled as a Pippen clone for the rest of his career. Shaq is in a real decline and it's realistic for Yao to overtake the #1 center position next season and be the man on the Rockets team. If he cannot be the man on the team within the next two seasons, I don't care about trading him away in 06.
I don't understand your thread title. Did you mean to say that x = negative b plus or minus (the square root of (b squared minus 4ac)) over 2a? That's more like it.
I'm a big Yao fan, and I think he is going to be great eventually. BUT you cannot compare PG on how they set up their teammates when teams have TD/KG vs. Yao. Yao isn't anywhere near their level as a player yet. TD/KG pretty much set themselves up for baskets with movement and athletic skill. Sorry but Yao does not have that. I believe that TP is a better PG than SF3, but I really don't think you should use the basis of how their big man performs. Yao would not perform anywhere near TD/KG even with a great PG. He's just not there yet.
Just the fact that Parker can pass it back to TD in a P&R situation for an open jumper shows how much better he is than SF at setting up his big man. If SF could do this, Yao would get a ton of open J's EVERY game.... and Yao's J is at least as good as TD's. These are just the simple types of plays that we (SF and Mobes) can't execute properly that really hurts us.
I think that one of the problems here is that SF and Cat trust their own ability to shoot difficult shots more than they trust Yao to hit the easy J. They spent too many years as gunners. That's why they have to be broken up. In order for Yao to develop, he has to get more touches. And that's not going to happen with our current backcourt. Look at the Lakers. They are a better team when all of their stars get involved. But Kobe still feels the need to take over games, taking away touches from their other stars. Contrast that with the Spurs where TD is the man, and everybody plays to complement him. Unless we start playing to complement Yao, we're gonna end up like a cheaper version of last year's Trailblazers.
Yao's outside J is better than TD's, period. If we are to keep SF3, we have to trade away Cat and move SF3 to 2. Getting a PG that has basic PG fundamentals is a must for the Rockets to succeed. Seeing Parker and Bibby running P&R and setting TD and Webber for wide open jumpers just make me sick because I believe our big man can knock down those shots with consistency if we run these plays routinely for Yao.
BTW, all the elite PGs in the west conference knows how to penetrate and shoot a floater with great efficiency, and yet I have not seen SF3/Cat making a single one of those shots in the whole last season.
This statement just negated your entire post. Ya, people were dissapointed that KG has never gotten out of the first round, but he is the BEST PLAYER ON THE PLANET. Pippen got a bad rap because he couldn't win w/o MJ (also, because he just sucks as a b-ball player and a person). KG is probably the most liked player in the league, led in ppg, rpg, and double-doubles.
I don't care whether KG is well liked in the league or not, or whether he is the best player on the planet. MVPs routinely steps up with game on line and lead by example. KG was 6-21 from the floor for a mere 16 points along with 6 costly TOs. That's not going to win you many games, IMHO. That's why I still root for TD for league MVP this year. TD steps up when his team needs a basket in the 4th quarter in a playoff game. He even makes his FTs in the 4th quarter. Too many times KG just disappears down the stretch and letting his teammates and fans down. Maybe I should just think of KG as the MVP of the regular season, no more.
one thing i notice about bibby, TP and cassell is that not only are they good at spotting the open man, but they know how to make the pass that will get the pass to the open man. thats just good court vision, and its something that doesnt show up on the stat sheet. i don't think francis has this ability, but then again, we aren't even close to the quality of passers on the other teams.
PS = in response to your actual post - KG is better than everyone in the league - I am glad that people are watching games other than Rocket games, but I will bet this post is based on the ONE Laker-Spurs and ONE Kings-TWolves playoff games - since those are the first non-ROcket games the thread starter has probably seen all year
I have had NBALP for years and routinely watch about 15-20 Spurs (after they get TD) and Wolves regular season games respectively. I do watch all of their PO games this season though. TD is my current favorite player because of his ability to deliver where it counts. KG is the probably the best player in the league right now but I question his ability to deliver under pressure.
In that case, why you hate Steve Francis and like Yao so much? In the playoff-clinch game vs Denver, the person who step up the big time was Steve Francis, the person who seemd totally lost was Yao Ming. In the playoff games, the person who lift his game the most was Steve Franics, the person who played subpar or average was Yao Ming. As you said, you hate a guy "too many times just disappears down the stretch and letting his teammates and fans down." And I agree SF and Cat should pass the ball to Yao more when they play PnR. But on the other hand, you should ask Yao to shoot the ball whenever he has chance. In the fifth game agasint Lakers, I saw at least 3 times Franics passed the ball to him after PnP, he was wide open and yet he selected to pass. One of them directly caused a turnover and led to Lakers 's fastbreak. So don't put the blame on his teammates too much, a great player never blame his bad performance on his teammates and his greatness never reply on his teammates' greatness.
I don't hate SF3, neither do I hate Yao. I realized that Yao and SF3's games don't compliment each other and usually one of them has an outstanding game at the cost of the other's game. The Rockets have to decide whether they need to build around: 1) SF3; 2) Yao; 3) neither. Since they have decided to build around Yao, SF3 needs to go in exchange for players who are better fit for Yao's game. Meanwhile, if they decide to build around SF3, let's trade Yao right now in exchange for runners and gunners who are also great athletics. Maybe T-Mac, Carter, Pierce? I am sure SF3 along with any one of these 3 guys can at least get Rockets a chance to compete for the #4 best team in the west and have a decent chance of advancing to the second round. Championships? No chance. Or they can deal away both Yao and SF3 for some other guys who have a chance to be a franchise player down the road and build the team around him. The current Rockets don't play like a team and the total package << individual pieces. As such, bringing players who can play smoothly as a team is a must.
KG has been in the league for 9 years and he is the league MVP. Yao's play in the PO was so-so, but he was up against Shaq in his first PO appearance. If Yao gives such uninspiring performance in the postseason in 2 years, I will definitely be among his harshest criticizers.
Right on! I saw just so many good picks Yao set to free up Francis and Mobley, while Yao was rolling out and wide open for a J, they just opted to go for that difficult layup. Only about 1 out of every 5 picks Francis & Cat kick the ball out to a wide open Yao for a J.
