Their offense allowed the biggest blowout in game 7 in NBA history. Winning is decided by both ends of the court, not just one. Had they have a better offense, they needn't go to game 7 in this series. The Rockets lacks both offense and defense in game 7. If they hold the Utah for 5 less points on D, they won. If they scored 5 more points than Utah, they won. They didn't excel on both ends of the court to win. That's just a fact.
All we need is a 3rd Scorer and a nice supporting cast. We can't live off Yao and Tracy when they struggle.
Which is why this post exists... they need more talent... not simply a "system" that incorporates talent you already have.
Keep dreaming if you think he's the biggest problem. Worst case scenario... he masked more problems that the team actually had (ie - they overachieved).
So what do you do if two pseudo-superstars aren't enough? We flat out lack the talent to win in the postseason right now, which is pretty disturbing when you have 2 top 15 talents (though I disagree with Sam's assessment of Mac/Yao slightly -- to me, Utah said let anyone but TMac beat us. They sent 4 different defenders at him and tried to trap him on the perimeter often. Still, superstars overcome that.) There will be a couple of guys out there this summer who are available either because of injury troubles or attitude problems. Carlos Boozer was Public Enemy #1 last year in Utah, and they couldn't find anyone who would take his contract (oops). Golden State got Baron Davis for Speedy Claxton and Dale Davis (expiring contract). Do you take a gamble on a guy this summer to try and get over the hump? If you do and fail, it probably sets you back 3-5 years.
Whatever... everybody needs a scapegoat. Watching these teams left in the playoffs really doesn't make the talent disparity obvious at all. Oh, if we only played V-Span and Novak... oh the crimeny! I'm automatically penciling in the Rockets for 57 wins next year... since they'll have a new coach... since he has to at least get a 5 game improvement. Right?
I'm a big fan of Mc and Yao, and even I won't let my homer glasses blind me from saying that they are the softest, weakest "superstars" I have ever seen. These two are terrible compared to past supers, which means we need much more on this team.
The saddest thing is he merely adjusted in that series. We all know he WAS better than he played but he kept making those mistakes yet managed to change between games. They said the coach and Yao studied vedios after games and adjusted in next games and these all sounded like bs in the series.
The best Yao played was when he finally started asserting himself in the 4th quarter of game 7. He quit letting them push him around, and imposed his will. Yao has all the skills he'll ever need... its a mental/warrior approach that he needs to obtain. And don't give me the "nice guy" excuse... Duncan's a nice guy, Olajuwon was a nice guy, and even the "soft' Robinson was a nice guy.... but when you got them out on the court, they wanted to be the best no matter what.
JVG doesn't know how to use Yao and T-Mac. Plain and simple. T-Mac is a great playmaker who would excel with more quality off the ball movement. Yao Ming is one of the best all around centers in NBA history. JVG tries to force T-Mac into a one on one speacialist and static jumpshooter, he could do it a bit, but not as good as before. JVG tries to force Yao into a low post specialist, he could do it, but not as good as Shaq. Yao is an all around center that can excel in all types of offense, he's not just a low post specialist. What 111 need most is a flexible offense and corresponding sets of role players that free them up to play their types of game, not an one dimensional streaky offense and just one type of role players. In other words, they need a better coach with more flexibility and variations. If one type of offense doesn't work, they need to change their sets. You realize that Yao is Shaq and T-mac isn't Kobe, they aren't the greatest one on one duo in the world, neither were Malone and Stockton. What you do is free them up to play more of a team game, not hang them to death on the one on one tree. JVG is anti-flexibility. It's a tragedy to let him keep coaching 111.
All you're doing is repeating what Will said.. Yao and T-mac aren't as good as Kobe and Shaq. Sure, you can gimmick up the offense, and turn Yao into a hybrid Vlade/Brad Miller... and turn T-mac into a hybrid Bibby/Doug Christie. That's still not going to be enough... they're still going to need more help. The question is, where do they get more help? Will the new coach be suiting up as well?
uh we just need some clutch role players. that lakers team had fisher and horry, 2 of the clutchest role players of all time. and voila, look at what they're doing NOW => still clutch. what did our role players do? SUCK IT UP. tmac and yao (yao has to be more dominant), but we have the stars. our role players just shot SO BAD that even shaq/kobe can't win a ring w/ this group. they would get past the first round, but wont win he whole thing.
