ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Spurs 10/26/2007 (PRESEASON)

Yeah yeah. Save your bull-crap about being a Rockets fan. YOu can't be a Rockets fan and hate Yao Ming. You're a pure Yao hater. You've repeated bashed Yao Ming like a Suns Phoenix fan would. You've questioned his dominance, and you even say crazy things like the Rockets would be better off without Yao Ming.

I repeat: You cant' be a Houston Rockets fan and bash Yao this way. You've said some of the most purely virulent Yao-Hating comments I've read on this forum, and that includes obvious T-Mac only fans. And I will call you out everytime you try to hide behind the "Im a Rockets Fan" bull-crap.

 

it's matchups. mutumbo playing more would have been good i believe too but not like 20 mins like u think. maybe 12-13 mins a game would have been great for me.

he said the team would still compete well without yao and that's the truth. if yao goes down w/ an injury right now, adelman can really use his offense and make us the one of the highest scoring teams in the L.

but that doesn't mean we're a better overall team. we need yao to win the championship.

 

I think the team may be better without Yao because the team becomes more balanced. There's more cutting, more sharing of the ball, and everyone gets their shine. This was evident last year when Yao missed those stretch of games. Mutumbo held more than his own when Yao was gone. He averaged rebounds at a much higher rate and was a much bigger force on the defensive end. There isn't any question that Mutumbo was better defensively in all aspects compared to Yao last season. Those missed rebounds at the end of game 7? Mutumbo wouldve grabbed those.

 

No, he's saying the Rockets might be better off without Yao. This is a ridiculous notion. The Rockets will not win a playoff round without Yao. You can mark that down. Clearly he wants his team to lose, since our goal is not to make the playoffs, it's to advance.

There's a point when hating a player becomes hating on the whole team, and this moron has passed that point long ago.

 

good comment.

our Dfence was poor. we had moments of tightening, but overall poor.
And our Offense didn't look so hot either, actually.

Why am I optimistic again? Er, geez, prob not from anything from this game, 'cept maybe Bonzi.

 

for stretches in a game, they are better off without yao. u don't think a small lineup w/ hayes/scola will cause a change in tempo and activity in the game. we'll be quicker, faster, more energetic...

i don't think u can deny that. the team has proven they can WIN regular season games without yao. that's what roff said.

he never said the team can win playoff series without yao. of course we can't win a playoff round w/o yao. the same way we can't make the playoffs w/o tracy mcgrady.

let's just say this, we need yao to win the championship. we don't need him to make the playoffs, but we need him to get our ultimate goal.

so relax: adelman will change. you will be happy when yao gets his 23-25 pts.

 

A good part of the reason is that the Rockets have such a poor draft record. Historically, they seem to rarely get much out of their draft picks.

Since they haven't been able to build and improve the team through the draft over the years, they then have tried going about improving the team in some other way, which is either by trades or free agency.

 

I have to agree. There were times last year when our offense looked constipated because once the ball got to Yao in the low post, it was all set-up and never pass out.

Yao is dominant in the low post, I would say best in the league. However, making that your only offense is predictable and wont get you anywhere, winning for this Rockets team has to be a team effort.

 

BS... you can pass out of the low post. look at TD/spurs

~70% of the half court possessions should have yao in the low post. i dont think adelman is dumb enough to not realize this especially after tonight.

 

if yao shot 55%+ like shaq did in his prime, he would be our #1 option no doubt.

but he shoots around 49-50% (which is low for a big man). he turns it over.

that's what JVG tried to do at times and it'll get stagnant and predictable.

 

Buddy, w/o YAO in last year game 7, those last mins rebounds are useless. It was YAO keep the team in the game until TMAC step up in the fouth

And everybody get their shine... but not stable, we dont have T.Parker, We dont have players like DET's.. ROX more like a MAVs team but headless...

 

In theory, you can pass out of the low post. But Yao is not as good a passer as Tim Duncan. He doesn't read defenses as well, and he's more likely to get the ball stripped from him when the double/triple teams close in. Putting Yao in the high post makes it easier for him to survey the entire court, and harder for the opposition to collapse on him.

 

but the thing is yao can't dribble if his man goes up on him. if u give him 10 ft of free space, yes he can shoot or find a cutter. but that's not the case.

yes he has his limitations even in the low post, but he's more effective down there. the only way he can impact our offense is if he scores and he only scores in the low post.

 

i think it was tmac in the first 3.5 quarters doing all the work or 90% of it.

 

Yao just stepped in his prime, we'll see.

P.S. last 3 years Yao's shooting percentage are:
06-07 48 51.6%
05-06 57 51.9%
04-05 80 55.2%
and since hes a much much much better FT shooter. hes our #1 option.

 

For a guy who takes every opportunity to criticize T-Mac and question his value to the team, this is quite a hypocritical post.

 

Exactly, I wasn't trying to make a blanket statement about passing out of the low post, it was Yao specific. I believe he can get better, but in the past, once it was in, it rarely came out on a pass. I really like Yao, as a player and a person. I merely call it as I see it. I think Yao's game will go to a whole new level once he gets comfortable working in the high post on occasion.

 

that's a DECREASE you're showing. notice his fg% is high when he wasn't guarded as heavily in 04-05 and he saw man coverage every night.

he needs to get that up to 55% with the coverage he's seeing AND the volume of shots he's taking. and reduce the TOs.

adelman seems like he's making tmac the guy w/ the most freedom and i believe his shot attempts will go up. tmac can score in more ways in this offense than yao can and thus that'll make him more dangerous.

shaq wasn't an average ft shooter and he'd make a #1 option over anyone but jordan.

 

but he has gotten worse as the preseason progresses from the high post as his man follows him out there now.

and that got him worried too by pruyen's post.

yao has a lot of limitations as this preseason goes on. we want to limit that. so put him in the post. no need for experimentation anymore. yao is just not that good out there.

 

You forget that Yao is also a good screener, and one of our more effective plays in the past was the pick and roll at the top of the key. If a defender closes in on Yao and there aren't any open cutters, Yao can pass and set a screen for a guard at the top of the key or on the wing and then roll towards the basket (or to the open spot for midrange jumper).

And everyone arguing that we need Yao to be a dominant force inside to be a great offensive team -- there's no evidence for that whatsoever. We all want Yao to be effective, but our offense has been at its best when we've had a balanced attack from multiple players. Opening up the middle for other players by moving Yao away from the basket from time to time will allow that.