Seattle has exposed the Rockets and Boston followed the blueprint. Let the PG penetrate and then pass it back out to the 3 point line, where they work it around until they get a wide open 3 point shot. If JVG had any brains left in his receding hairlined head he would have gone to a zone to stop it. Also, if you want to beat the Rockets DOUBLE team Francis or Mobley on the high pick as neither one of them is capable of passing the ball to the WIDE OPEN Yao Ming or Mo Taylor on the roll. Same ole same ole...don't know why I expect this team to grow or Mobley & Francis to get it after watching them fail for 5 & 6 years respectivley. And Yao....Chris Mihm and co. are scrubs...reach down and check to see if you still have a pair, because as of right now I am changing Yao's name to Yao Mangina...because he plays like he has no balls. DD
I'm coming around on Mobley. He's earned my respect, I certainly don't expect him to do anymore than 15pts with decent rebounds and decent assists and some good defense. Yao has regressed, and Francis is just incapable of running this offense so far. I can give Yao a chance seeing as how he's probably (hopefully) just exhausted and it's not even half way through his second year. Francis is in his 4th season now. We're hoping Francis will grow, but some people are just immature forever - it's a fact of life and we may be dealing with just that. I'm not too thrilled with JVG either. Ok, so the defense works now - so why the hell isn't the offense improving now that we can dedicate a good amount of time to improving it?
JVG seems unable to respond, react, adjust, whatever to the other team's gameplan. He may be a defensive genius, but please tell me where's the genius in staying in man to man the whole game if it isn't working? At least TRY to throw in a zone here and there, dammit.
The thing about Yao is that he plays like he is so small, as big as he is he should be spreading out his arms and legs and CREATING a massive target that is easy to pass too. He doesn't do any of this, he is the smallest big man I have ever seen...he simply fades away. Not that our guards could pass it to him anyway..but.... DD
Yao just struggles against teams like Boston, Dallas, and Seattle. I'm really lost as to what type of teams Yao likes to face. If he's going against against smaller quicker teams, they're too fast for him. If he goes against slower but more physical teams, they're too strong for him.
It is not just Yao, our guards are horrible at passing the ball. I wonder if Yao gets tired of rolling off of the screen only to have our guards attempt to dribble through a double team instead of passing to the open man. This team is broken, and has been for the last few years. Time for a lineup change...... I wonder if we can get Troy Murphy for Cato, because Cato is AWFUL on offense.....he needs to go back to being a backup. DD
I don't know...we have to adjust in different situations.. Cato for Troy Murphy no..they already have Eric Dampier. But I think Troy Murphy is going to be a free agent this summer..or restricted maybe. We could get him or Mehmet Okur or Jamaal Magloire. Cato is good some games and bad other games..all teams should just leave him open on the outside..he rarely makes it from outside..gets lucky sometimes.
How long will Yao have to continue to play basketball year round? Will he ever be able to concentrate only on the NBA season? I'm hoping that his shortcomings right now at least have some relation to all the basketball he's played. He's got to be rather exhausted. I'd like to think maybe he can establish himself better - or maybe learn to change his game - once he's had an actual offseason of rest.
Come on guys, quit making excuses for a 23 year old Yao. He is FRICKEN 23, he should not be exhausted from playing basketball. I think that most of Yao's problems are in adjusting to the speed of the NBA, and having to change life long habits..... He is just not ready to dominate, and may never have the tempermant to do that. DD
You're kidding, right? Like I said - it's only a hope - but at the same time there's no way you can downplay that much basketball. Why do you think so many players make noise just about the olympics or summer games? That, combined with the adjustment you mention, are not small things. I'm sure even you're a little winded after a night of pickup, right Da?
Rokkit, I think Yao is tired, but I think it is more a mental than physical strain. He seems to be struggling with finding his place in the NBA. JVG is trying to make him a low post guy, and that is hard to do especially with zone defenses. Actually, Yao should be at the elbow more often, and take those 18 foot jumpers....mix it up a bit. DD
The mental can have some correlation to the physical. But I definitely agee with you about finding his place. Yao's problem is a whole combination of things right now, unfortunately. And I'm not sure how many of those things can be corrected.
Totally agree with everything you've said DD, especially the Yao Mangina hahahaha.....I love the Rockets, so much and it's really killing me to see a team that can appear so clueless sometimes on offense. We're so much better than our record and the way we played tonight - it's so damn frustrating that they're just not getting whatever they need to get!!! There's some of my venting....I could go on, but I'll just stop 'cause I'm too pissed off.
I think steve and cat need to be traded for yao to blossom into a dominate player.... IN chinese culture.. it is just the right thing to do to defer to your senior.. Yao is playing so timid, I think is partly because he is not going to demand the basketball from steve or cat. Steve has long been established as the leader, so does Cat.. as long as they are here.. yao would defer his game to them. The other possiblity is Steve somehow transformed into a floor general, which I doubt is probable. or.. maybe steve and cat can get injured.... but that sounds cold hearted and mean spirited...
If Yao isn't working out for this team, I think the Rockets should trade him. However, I think they should do this with any player who isn't working out for the team.
I love it when they double team Cat up top. He splits it all the time and then we are playing 5 on 3. Other than that, I am right there with you. I can't stand it when Francis dribbles backwards toward the timeline and just throws away the opportunity created by the double team. Every time someone is doubled it means someone is wide open. We need to put those people in a position to score (ie Pike at the arc, MoT at the FT line extended, Cato/Yao near the basket, etc.) It is possible to make people pay for double teams, for full court presses, for any defense really. We have enough good offensive players to be near the top of the league. Three of our starters have averaged over 20 points per game for a season before, and a fourth is Yao Ming. There are two things holding us back. 1 is that we deliberately slow the game down to give us every defensive advantage we can get. The results of that speak for themselves. We are one of the top defensive teams in NBA history. 2 is that our PG is incapable of running an offense. I don't think moving Steve to the 2 is a good idea. It would cause as many or more problems than it would solve. I really think that trading Steve is the best option.
The blueprint for beating the Rockets is to schedule a game against them following a big win. The Rockets always lay an egg after emotional victories.
Stop making excuse for Yao. He sucks not because of his teammates. I doubt he's the stamina to play in nba. If it cant be GREATLY improved, as a yao's fan I would also suggest rockets to trade him now.
