First of all, don't expect Yao to out quick his defender from the elbow. That's not even the point. Miller or Divac rarely dribble the ball when they were setting up the offense. When Yao is facing the basket, it will be either a catch and shoot situation when his teammates draw in the defense with penetration, or he could roll to the basket for rebound if his defender leaves him to help out. Yao got stripped mostly by a pg from the blind side or when he's making a spin move toward the basket. None of these will be an issue near the elbow. Lastly, it's always much easier to defend someone if you know where he will be all the time. Of course, unless your name is Shaq, and the refs allow you to roll over your defenders with immunity.
i disagree. Yao is already better then rik was. He is just very inconsistent. Yao has much more talent. i think Rik is one of the most overrated centers in history(in holland that is). Yao has better moves, has better courtvision. And a better body. I am disapointed in yao so far. But this year i'm disapointed in al the rockets. I hope we will get better. I think JVG should be fired. if he does not let the rockets play better. Rudy had the rockets playiong alot better then JVG did.
Yao's issue is his physical condition. Nothing else. The fact that he is so easily elbowed out of position. He can hit the fade easily if he wasn't shorting it so often because of his lack of proper conditioning. The fade gives him all the weapons needed to be a great big guy (shot blocking, spot shooting, fade, rebounding). If you want another Brad Miller, then fine. But I think that's selling Yao short of his potential. He needs to accelarate his strength and conditioning training. It's really that simple. If he can't get in better shape, then I think he become a role player and spot shooter at best. That would be very disappointing in my opinion.
Miller will often put it on the floor and drive to the hoop if guys give him that. That's why it's tough to guard him. Have you been watchign games this year? Yao is stripped constantly on moves to the basket where he dribbles. No, not only by a PG from the blind side.
You people are either stubborn or too lazy to read. As I just posted earlier, none of us want Yao to be TOTALLY like Miller. Yao is more like a player in between Shaq and Miller. Why not fully utilize all his strengths, both inside and outside. If y'all keep on insisting "CEMENTING" Yao to the low post only, there's a good chance Yao won't stay after his contract is over. We all will be sorry when we see him wearing some other jersey, and kicking our asses.
I guess you and me are not watching the same games. Miller drive to the basket most of the time when his defender left him momentarily open to help out and was late to recover. Don't tell me Miller is naturally quick to the basket. It's tough to guard him because he is a good shooter surrounded by other good shooters. Yao got stripped 95% of the times when he was making his spin move with dribbling toward the basket in the low post. Never said only by a pg from the blind side. Guess you can't read too well. On the other hand, it'll be most likely be a catch and shoot situtation for Yao if he works in the high post. But then again, we'll never know for sure, since we seldom have him to do that.
I like this. Another nice thing about this play/Yao in the high post is it could potentially make Boki much more effective. I'd like to see Boki cut more.
so we used a first pick on a 7'6" center who can't play at all with his back to the basket? whom we need to move AWAY from the basket so he can shoot jump shots??? at 7'6"?? really??? if that's the case, the problem isn't with the system..the problem is an overvalued player. if what he is saying is true..that Yao is really just a Brad Miller...and i'm not sure it is...then we should trade Yao right this second...right now...instantly. because his value on the trade market would far exceed any value he would provide to this team on the court.
I think this will be my last post in this thread, cuz seem like many of you have problems in comprehension. None of us ever said Yao "CAN'T PLAY AT ALL WITH HIS BACK TO THE BASKET". Name one or quote one post that said Yao should be utilized at the high post ONLY. Geez, you people have thick skull.
If true, then yup. But short of that, I tend to agree with what some others have said - mix it up, let him play in a bunch of spots and learn/develop a feel for which is hte best at a given time.
does brad miller EVER play with his back to the basket??? he's talking about running an offense through the high post. i'm saying if you're 7'6" and you need to have the offense run through the high post more often than not, that instantly detracts from the value of you being 7'6" on the offensive end of the ball.
I guess I do need to respond afterall. Nobody, and I meant nobody, ever said we should restrict Yao's offense to the high post only. Some of us are just saying we should "mix things up" , be a 50/50, 30/70, 20/80, or whatever. The high post game should be part of Yao's offensive arsenals. I simpily don't see how any reasonable person would have problems with that, or unless your name started with J and ended with G. By the way, I don't know if Miller is capable of playing with his back to the basket at all. But I do believe Yao is capable of playing at both the high and low posts.
who are you arguing with?? i just said i don't have a problem with mixing things up. here's the quote in the article: "Just look at the way Sacramento uses Brad Miller right now. In fact, if you switched Yao with Brad Miller tomorrow," my point is that if you have to use a 7'6" guy away from the basket a bunch then you really minimize the strenghts of having a guy who is 7'6" on your team. that's it. that's all i'm saying. i'm not saying Yao is a bad player at all. he's a good player. we need him to be a GREAT player. i'm not enamored with the idea of spending a #1 pick on a 7'6" guy whose specialty is knocking down jump shots. that's not really what I had hoped for out of Yao.
I'm not sure that I agree. At his height and with his shooting touch and passing ability, Yao becomes a double threat up high. He's also in position to set more effective picks. It's much more difficult (really, more risky) to double team up high since it leaves the lane with only one defender (who can't be one of the guys doubling Yao). This isn't where he should be 100%, 90%, or even 50% of the time. But it would open up the offense to an astounding degree. I'd compare this to Michael Vick. Seriously. You don't want a QB that simply runs all the time, but to tell Vick that he has to stay in the pocket 95% of the time just because that's the nature of his position, it's a supreme waste of his talents. The key is to find the right balance between his two kinds of game. Evan
I'd be all for Yao focusing on the high post, it would not be a waste of his height because it still gives him an advantage in passing to the cutters. But the problem with him doing that is the Rockets don't have anybody that can fill in down low to do the rebounding and get the easy put backs. For Yao to pattern himself after Walton he would need his own version of Maurice Lucas.
Look, people... 2 points is 2 points. Yao USED to shoot exceptionally well from the high post. He was at a 75% clip or something equally outrageous. Why argue? Do you just love to flex? Is there something more satisfying about 2 points from the low post? Anti-high post people forget the success and real beauty of this classic attack with Wooden proteges Kareem and Walton. The set I described above is just a classic triple post, featuring 2, 4, 5, with 1 and 2 as cutters. So there are multiple options with Yao/Tmac set up high. Tmac has enough facility with the ball to create on his side and Yao can direct traffic and use his superior size on his side. It makes perfect sense. You take that away from them both when you make Tmac go around screens and Yao pretend to be a wrestler. Mix it up is the best, but I'd start high post. When that pulls the defense, Tmac can feint, Yao can always slide low, catch and put it down. No dribble. Ball never touches the floor. I'd LOVE to see Yao and Tmac connect on an oop. Both ways.
The way he is shooting J at high post makes you wonder if they even practice him at high post making those shots.
