No need to get offended. Cat is entitled to his opinion, however he should really start some soul searching for himself. If everyone just looking at himself and try to do whatever they can to fix their own part of a big problem, Rox will become a great team. Clearly the team's problem is not the lack of use of all weapons on the team. People need to knock down wide open shots. Yao just slam over Big Ben's face, how is it passive? It's nothing wrong in trying to involve your teammate when you're great passer and when you're trying to fit in and make everyone happy. How many weapons does Rox have exactly? You can say Dallas has a lot of weapons. For Rox, besides Yao, no one is really consistently shooting a high percentage even when they're wide open. Instead of saying Yao likes to pass a lot, Cat should realize when Yao's passing a lot, he creates a lot of opportunity for his teammate to score, he would be the receiving end of good teamwork.
rvpals, That was the end of a series of quotes in the interview. He blamed himself well before that final question and essentially said he has soul-searching to do and needs to work on his mental game. This is what you get when you pull one question out of a series.
I don't dislike Mobley at all and he's playing well recently. But why he rarely pass the ball to Yao is beyond me. Also, if you look carefully at what he said, you'll find out his logic really sucks. Oh well I cannot ask him to be a math or computer major. But is <i>passing</i> the best technique to get <i>lots of weapons</i> involved?
I will NOT believe ANYTHING that Cat has to say about "sharing the ball" until he clearly demonstrates a serious commitment to passing, which means more than just handing it off to S.F. in the backcourt, or dumping into Yao because of Rudy's STRICT INSTRUCTIONS to do so. In other words, Cat AND S.F. need to practice AND USE the PnR, and the PnP where Yao is the recipient of the pass and not just someone who is supposed to rebound their ridiculous shots against 3 defenders in the lane!! Frankly, the whole team needs to attend a b-ball camp for 12 year olds so they can learn the most fundamental skill in the game: Passing!!
I don't know where all of you are getting this idea that Mobley doesn't pass, but it certainly isn't from watching the games. Maybe you are box score fans or something. The fact is that Mobley does pass. On many occasions he initiates the offense by passing it to Yao in the post. I have also seen him pass off the break, throw outlet passes, and drive and dish. I would say he passes as much or more than most any other shooting guard. The fact is, Yao is 7'5" with good shooting touch and footwork.He must not allow single coverage by the likes of Brian Grant and Kurt Thomas to keep him from scoring. If he abused single coverage then he would get doubled consistantly and be able to pass to WIDE OPEN guys instead of just kicking it out to someone who is covered. We also need to involve Mo Taylor. In recent weeks his hook has been automatic. We need scoring from all five positions to keep the defense honest. Should Yao get the ball a lot? Yes, and he does. For people to keep b****ing that he doesn't get the ball enough is rediculous. The worst part is when people complain both about these quotes and that Cat takes more shots that Yao. Cat said he wanted Yao to shoot more! I think Mobley's game might just need the least adjustment of any of our starters.
Cat's comment that yao passes even when he is single coverage is just indicative of Cat's mindset, when he sees one defender, he is taking it to the hole orjacking up a shot, no questions asked. He expects the same from Yao and everyone else on the team. I have to say, statements like that are very revealing of what a guy's concept of team game is.
StupidMoniker, I am by no means a Yaopie but please carefully review what you just said. He should score just because it is single coverage? What are you r****ded? Did you ever play basketball? My high school coach woulda made me run laps for hours for even think such a stupid thing. So a guy handling th eball on a 2-1 fast break should never give it up since its just him versus the defender? I don't care how much of a advantage you have, you always pass it to the guy who has a better chance of scoring, this is so frigging r****ded. I hate people who wanna only see Yao do well, but at the same time r****ded somments like this form the other end of the spectrum is totaly toally stupid. Go for a shot just because its single coverage, if that was the case why the hell would anyone else go on a fastbreak when Cat is handling the ball, afterall they only get to be the decoy. I apologize for losing my cool, but cmon. Did anyone not see the Princeton offense, a bunch of scrubs none of which warranted double coverage, pick apart previous NCAA champ UCLA? By your logic, every one of the Ivy League scrbs shoulda taken it to the hole against UCLA just because there was no double coverage. Look at every good team in the league, do any of them have such stupid thinking? CWebb has it over most oponents every night, but he passes it even when theres only single coverage, Duncan also. God this has to be the stupidest justification of jacking up bad shots that i've heard my whole life. Go forit just because its single coverage, donot shame yourself by passing, display your skills. r****ded r****ded r****ded
I can't believe anybody really thinks Mobley is completely ok with Yao. Defend him all you want... but no resentment? No occasional refusals to give him the ball in an obvious situation? Pfft. I'll buy that argument with Francis. But Mobley, all too often, takes a bad shot rather than give Yao the ball. When it happens once in a long while... it's fine. But when it happens every game, it's a real problem. When Yao's backed his man down in the post, give him the damned ball. And stop the dribble-dribble-try-to-beat-the-entire-other-team bull****. It's not just that Mobley made these comments. He looks for Yao less than anyone. He takes more bad shots in a game that Yao's taken all year it seems. And then he talks about "spreading the ball around." To frickin' who? Who really is the focus of the Rockets offensive sets? 1. SF 2. Yao. 3. Mobley 4. Taylor Once in a blue moon, one of the other players (especially Rice or Griffin) will get one... but those are definitely very occasional things. When you've only got 4 dynamic offensive players... and one of them is not only the best passer of the bunch but is also 7'5.... well, I think the circumstances speak for themselves.
The best shots in basketball are open shots, not contested shots when you're covered. In an ideal offensive scheme, no player would shoot until 1 player gets absolutely open. I would take 5 bad shooters to shoot uncontested shots over 5 great shooters shoot contested shots any day of week. I don't quite understand why Mobley would think Yao needs to shoot every time when he's single covered. I wonder if he thinks the same about himself. This attitude of his is simply no good for team basketball.
Mobley considers it being agressive and that's always a good thing in NBA. I think he's right. I do hope Yao shoots every time he's single covered. heck, i even want to see him score when he's double teamed. if he can't do that, he'll never be dominant. you can hardly be dominant if you don't have a strong desire to score.
This is very interesting claims, Mobley passes the ball as much or more than most any other shooting guard, and Yao does get the ball a lot?
screw that. the last thing Yao needs now is unselfishness. he needs to be MUCH more agressive. he needs to shoot when he's sigle covered in the paint, period. and do you really think an open EG at the three point line has a better chance hitting than a single covered Yao in the paint?
But it's difficult (actually near impossible) and no good to encourage "selfishness" to 1 player and promote "unselfishness" to others.
I don't know if anybody noticed or it has been talked about yet but, did anybody else try to figure out what Cat was screaming at Yao about during one of the breaks. It seems like he was saying "You do it. You do it". He seemed as if he was pissed off after another one of his own bad plays. Someone tell me what that was about.
Not to argue with ya carayip, I'm just having trouble understanding why you consider this a either/or proposition. Beating single coverage is what it takes to draw the double coverage to produce a much more wide open teammate. Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and several (several) people have questioned Kevin Garnett not taking his man more aggressively at crunch time. Webber gets the criticism, too. I believe everyone agrees with Garnett that the system is more important to follow for 3 quarters, but the game changes in the 4th....that's just the way the NBA is played, especially on the defensive side of things. With Yao, when he becomes dominant, it will really be his job to get the team off as much as any PG. He will have to know when to attack, and will have to appreciate the fact that if he can force change in the defense by dominanting single-coverage, then that will make it much easier for the rest of the team. It is not selfish to recognize when you are the one who can dictate what the defense does thus giving your team the advantage based on your personal skirmish. And this is more true regarding low post players than any other position.
I agree. HeyP. Want to take on another bet. I bet people will criticize Yao the same way they criticize Garnett. They are one day going to say that he is too passive. Remember Magic's comments last year during the playoffs. I expect to hear the same crap but this time addressed to Yao. Garnett a number two option. Biggest BS I have heard in a longtime regarding a Franchise player.
What if Yao, Steve and Cat all think they can beat their man when single or double covered? Isn't this philosophy/attitude the reason people get frustrated with the dribbling, off balance shots and terrible team play?
Yao is not built to be Stoudemire. It is not good trying to mold someone into something that he is not meant to be. Yao is a team player, and he'll always be. He will always be a cerebral player, rather than a brutal thug like Shaq. It doesnt matter if you are single covered or not, you always pass it to an open man rather than forcing up a shot. As a matter of fact, thats exactly what happened when you see him kept missing all those turnaround J's, while the rest of the team was standing on the weak side. Just let Yao develop as a complete player. We should emphasize improving his upper body strength, but dont put all his other attributes to waste.
