Fronting

Totally no sense. The only problem is on Yao. Do not stay in the paint still, this wouldn't be an issue.

 

The ball moves faster on a pass than feet do rotating, you get them rotating it is easier to attack.

A quick swing to the elbow and then to the side and BOOM....attack.

DD

 

yeah, that's how you get open shots from the outside...but you don't necessarily find lanes to penetrate from that.

 

ball moves faster than bodies.

plus even if they rotate, their center is out of the paint, so their defense will be distorted as hell. penetrate and dish. or penetrate and kick out.

the other side of the floor will be a total mess.

 

the easy option on the other side will be to take the outside shot, yeah.

but if they are committed to abusing that defense, they will have to penetrate also. we haven't seen them do a lot of it, but provided they get past the perimeter defender, there's an easy shot awaiting them. it'll take more energy and effort than simply taking the jump shot, but i think it's much more worthwhile.

a simple head/ball fake will prolly get the job done, since portland will be trying to close out on the open shot.

 

fine do it...please...do something.

i vote for you guys to be coach instead of RA if it's this freaking simple. i can not understand how this team looks so lost everytime they see it....we all know it's coming!!! we've all seen it umpteen million times.

 

I am sure Rick Adelman has told the team, but it is more about aggressive attitude.

Remember how often JVG had to remind TMac to take it to the hole instead of shooting the open jumper?

That is what is going on here. we can get wide open 3pt shots any time we like due to fronting, but to attack the basket gets a higher percentage shot when the 3s are not falling.

It is a delicate balance, even Rudy T had to fight this same issue...people fall in love with the long ball...

DD

 

I don't know why this is so hard. This thread was created with a good idea in mind but with the wrong principle. The principle should be how do we stay efficient when yao is being fronted vs how do we get yao the ball. Anyone that has watched enough know yao is beating a fronting defense, but that doesn't mean the team has to crumble offensively. As you've said, yao is going to just have to get offensive rebounds or shoot elbow jumpers. I think both are great options, but one thing adelman should do is take shane and even scola out the game and replace them with wafer and landry. They need guys that can slash to the basket when fronting goes on. Landry provides more range and a over the top option also. Wafer makes the opposition play closer to him, plus adelman can run a down screen and he can curl and make something happen. They can run pick and roll off the front with a kick back to yao at the ft line. Like the other thread, don't worry about yao in situations like this, just keep playing and he should find a way to still be effective.

 

Offensively, switching out Shane and Scola for Wafer/Landry makes some sense. Though, I do think the Rockets value Shane's ball movement on the perimeter (which, along with penetration, is important in beating a front).

From Adelman's comments recently, what keeps Wafer off the floor is the defensive side of things. Ironically, the "offensive" coach seems reluctant to replace Battier with Wafer, while Morey (from recent 610 interview) seemed to be in favor of getting Wafer more minutes.

 

If hes being fronted and the defending center is putting all his
weight on yao...why dont yao just swiftly backup or spin away causing the
defender to fall on his arse....quick pass to yao bucket!

 

This is basketball 101 when it comes to feeding the big man in a front defense and I'm dumbfounded as to why Adelman doesn't implement this strategy. Lowry couldn't throw the entry pass to Yao at the Mavs game because he knew Yao would be trapped with the weakside help behind him. So what you do is have someone set up a screen for Scola on the weak side who flashes to the top of the key. Lowry passes to Scola who then passes to Yao as he moves to the basket. The guy fronting Yao will not have the angle to disrupt the pass. Even if there is weakside help, Yao wll be right underneath the basket, eliminating the need for any dribbling or long strides which gets him in trouble.

The beauty of the play is that it gives Scola so many options. Assuming the screen is effective, Scola will be relatively open so he could decide to shoot straight-away jumper, drive into the lane, or bounce pass it to someone slashing to the basket. When Lowry and AB try set up the entry pass, everyone in the arena knows what's going to happen, but a pass to Scola at the top of the key brings a lot of unpredictability to the table. You could easily substitute Artest for Scola but I trust Scola's decision making much more than Artest.

I also don't understand the high-screen pick and rolls with Yao and AB/Lowry. Landry or Scola need to set the picks and have AB/Lowry drive to the lane ready to dish it to Yao near the rim as the defense helps. Yao isn't quick enough to slash to the basket after the screen so he is only limited to shooting a long jumper which I'm sure the defense is happy with, while Scola is certainly someone who can pop an open jumper as well as slash to the paint.

 

(because yao isn't that quick)

 

Durvasa, I think battier is only effective when yao is being doubled. In a way, scola also benfits from yao being doubled, but when yao is fronted, it pretty close to singling him. When the front starts, you need penetration or penetrating passes. Wafer is a penetrator and to a extent, landry can put it down and finish also. Plus with landry, you can back screen and throw it over the top. When shane is in the corner with no threat of putting the ball on the floor, his man is closer to yao than to him. Against Dallas, he actually put it on the floor and got fouled. If we could trust him to do that a lot more, it wouldn't be a problem, but we know shane. Wafer will put it down and either keep going or pull up mid range opposite yao. This gives yao inside position to get rebounds. Maybe adelman will click and do something different because we know its coming in the 4th qt. The last game against portland it came and they almost blew it. There is no excuse of why the offense should stagnate once the team is facing a fronting defense.

 

durvasa, you have to admit Wafer's defense is atrocious. When he isn't filling it up, Wafer kills the Rockets when he's on the floor.

 

When Yao is on the floor,Shane can shoot. His ability to put the ball on the floor is limited. I expect Portland to attack Yao and put him in foul trouble in addition to fronting.
Yao has become better in managing fouls but they will definitely hope that our guys will get deflated with this strategy.

Ron should post up more often when Yao is not on the floor and when Luis is having trouble around the basket. Luis and Landry need to hit mid-range jumpers, Carl can also get to the basket with his hops.I feel if Ron can get easy baskets or at least get to the line,his outside shot will go down more often but he needs to cut out the 1 and 5 stuff.
Unfortunately, his ball handling ability is not good. Wafer is the best at putting the ball on the floor and attacking,he needs to be aggressive and to pass.

 

This is a significant problem. If Ron was an efficient player it would not be a major issue. Wafer could come on for limited minutes and just slash, hit the occasional outside shot and hopefully pass the ball.
Von needs to play his natural game but he needs to make a better effort on defense. He had started showing some improvement defensively but is having a lot of problems right now.

 

ibm,I didn't mean to jump ur thread and misword my intentions. I know where your complaints and heart lie in the matter. I think that anyone that has watched the team long enough know yao sux against the fronting defense. Does the rest of the team struggle with it? Yes, but most is because they're wasting clock trying to get him the ball. I think instead of being stubborn, just fold up and let yao kill them from 15 ft.

If you told me in the 4th qt yao shot 6 wide open 12 ft jimmy's vs the root canal we see when he's being fronted, im taking the wide open jumpers. If he shoots and make them, which I know he can and will, they will stop fronting or they will stay close enough the baseline will open like a hookers vagina. That's why adelman is so frustrated. He know the team have a flexible offense that should be reactionary vs rigid. Taking what the defense gives you don't mean draing the shot clock and jacking a 3. Also, fighting the front looks good, but yao hasn't learned to pressure release. That means, get on the blocks and stay there. If the guy is anchoring or rooting down, seal and walk under the hoop. This opens a driving lane. Also, just move up the lane to the ft line and wait for the kickout at the ft line. We've been saying the same thing forf yrs.

 

No kidding.

I do think the ball reversal and reverse seal by Yao is not all that effective because Yao is just not good at sealing his man, he doesn't get wide or low enough, and honestly, I think a lot of it has to do with his center of gravity being about chest level of the guys guarding him, Yao just can not get leverage.

So to me, it is about the other guys attacking the basket and moving their butts to the open spaces created by the other team OVERCOMMITTING to Yao, that is what it is really....another team taking Yao out....Great...that leaves more opportuinities for others.

You know why teams had to stop doing it on Dream? Because players like Elie, Horry, Smith, Cassell and others took advantage of it.

DD

 

DD, that's also why I said wafer and landry needs to come in for shane and scola. Guy attacking the rim. That's why I thought the game was lost against dallas. At the 8:36 mark, the mavs had 3 team fouls. If they had guys attacking, they couldve won from the ft line.

I can only dream that yao played college ball at georgetown under thompson.