wow, i thought u couldn't get any worse. so if you believe what yao says about tmac, u don't believe what tmac says about yao (which has ALL BEEN nice things b/c he could have dissed yao so easily).
um b/c of JVG's freaking substitution pattern. the first yr in 04-05, tmac and yao were able to get off at the same time later in the yr b/c tmac played 41mpg. last yr, tmac and yao played the first quarter together for like 7 mintes, then yao goes out. yao comes in the start of the 2nd and tmac sits for like 6 minutes. they end the 2nd quarter together. it's the same way in the 2nd half. w/ kobe and shaq, they were on the floor A LOT together where one guy does not sit out for 5-6 minute stretch so only one dude gets into a rhythm.
I think the Rockets should run AND should look for Yao as the first option when settling into a half court offense. Kareem, when he was with the lakers, wasn't a participant in the laker fastbreak offense, meaning... he was always left behind (look at the tapes), but he was their first option in the half court offense if the team was unable to score on the break. that's why the lakers were so dominant in the 80s. not only do they have the running game, but in the playoffs, when the game SLOWS DOWN--they also have two of best low post operators/performers in nba playoff history in jabbar and worthy. And I have to disagree with mcgrady. Rick should play Yao in the low post, not the high post shooting jumpers. Mcgrady should run the fastbreak offense like magic or penny hardaway.
yao will be in the high post A LOT. everybody from adelman to the players are talking about that. so i think he'll operate there around 30% of the time he's on the court and adelman will see if he can still dominate that way. if not, then he'll move back to the low post exclusively. but tmac, bonzi, rafer, scola, hayes all said that yao will be in the high post more as a playmaker. they all say tmac is going off the ball more. james looks like he'll play more w/ tmac/yao b/c he is flat out shooting like crazy right now. francis is looking more like w/ the 2nd team w/ his penetration. now that i think about it: these lineups make sense starting PG - james SG - tmac SF - battier PF - scola C - yao 2nd unit PG - alston SG - francis SF - tmac PF - bonzi C - hayes and u can add a few more players in there but i think those 2 lineups will be VERY prominent.
Play Yao in the high post, play Yao in the low post? What this is all about is confusing the opposing defense on how the team plans to play a certain offensive set. It's all about making the team's offense less predictable to opposing defenses than it had been under JVG or Rudy T.
You make a good point about the minutes that they played together, but you can't really blame JVG for his substitution pattern. The Rockets last year without Yao or Tracy were obviously useless. They needed one or the other on the floor at all times. The substitution pattern makes a lot of sense when you factor that in. It does make me wonder if JVG's offense could have been a lot better if he had a decent bench and could have played Yao and TMac together more. I think you still have to come to the conclusion that JVG's offense was, like his personality, too focused on perfection. You can't have freedom if all you care about is getting it exactly right all of the time. That ultimately stunted Yao, because he became too predictable. It stunted the Rockets, because a well-coached, less talented team in the Jazz were able to be prepare perfectly for them. Perfectionism is great for D where you are trying to react, and not so great for offense, where you have to be creative. Le Roi Est Mort! Vive Le Roi! Let the Adelman era begin!
If an over the hill Vlade Divac can produce in what should be a similar up tempo offense then Yao should be able to in his prime.
From Blinebury's Blog So Scola at center and Hayes at PF? Interesting. I wonder how much of that we'll be seeing.
Don't worry this guy is a proven YOF. Tmac is one of the easiest players in the league to get along with and everyone likes him, including Yao. Give it a break guys.
The "over the hill" Divac wasn't that productive and was more of a chemistry guy. During his best years with the Kings, Divac was a very good player, a low double/double guy, a much better passer than Yao and he was quicker on his feet than Yao. Divac isn't a very good comparison. Because of the big difference between Divac and Yao, our offense isn't going to look 100% like the Kings. The concept of motion and cuts will be there but the physical and skillset differences between Yao and Divac are huge. Divac wasn't a score first player; Yao is. That, by itself, will be a drastic contrast. Divac's highest scoring year with the Kings was only 14 pts/game.
To me Less Tmac = More team. Last year the other team knew that they could double TMac at the top, and contain Yao on the block and the Rockets would struggle. And it caught up to them in the playoffs. This year, they will be able to put 5 scorers on the floor.....and make the other team's pay for that strategy. Less Tmac = stronger team. DD
Less T-Mac could mean no on thing. I this Tracy will handle the ball less, he will control the offense less but he can still be very effective scorer.
Not that I doubt that he knew without looking it up who did the quote... but its easy to find out if he didn't... just search for "Who said less is more" I can't say that I would have known it without all my history of design and architecture classes in college.
Ever since he became a star, he has been asked to play iso, one-on-one (sometimes one-on-five in Orlando), be the playmaker, rebound, and play defense. Hopefully with RA's system, Tmac might be able to have a breather, which means more Tmac (in reference to another article posted here), especially during the playoffs
Can we also say that part of the reason V-Span never excelled with JVG's offense was that it was too focused on perfection? I'll still agree with most people on this board who will say that V-Span wasn't good enough, but most of all, at playing individual man-to-man defense or doing the spot-up shooting that JVG wanted him to do. On JVG's first season with the Rockets, could we also say that Steve Francis never excelled under JVG's offense for the same reason like what I just asked about V-Span?
