GUYs, try to suggest some solution for the FRONTING problem.

Yao comes from under the neath the front and sets a pick on the ballhandlers man and then roles to the bucket. Both the shooter and passer are wide oepn

 

Nah, I got confused... my mistake.

I don't know where my head is at tonight haha.

 

Is it legal to have someone like artest to "unfront" yao by trying to establish his own posiition in front of yao?

 

if we ruin the spacing of the defense, then its easy to get the ball to Yao. Check out my poorly drawn diagram on the first page.

 

Spread the floor with shooters and rotate the ball quickly to get it to Yao when he flashes back to the other side(Yao has to get better at sealing the guy fronting him - plain and simple). Otherwise, the Rockets need to be able to take their man off the dribble in that spread offense and get in the lane where Yao can easily put one back with a defender behind him. The obvious solution to attack the basket is to work on some quick hitting screens to give the ballhandler a little bit of room since a big fronting Yao won't be there for help Defense....or bring Lowry in the game .

Another more far fetched solution is to run a screener off Yao and make Yao's defender decide if he is going to play the screen or front Yao. Unfortunately, we don't have a guy who shoots well off the screen(think Rip Hamilton, Ray Allen, Mike Miller, etc...it's a lost art sadly) or else that would be money but you could run a quick pick and roll type scenario like this. Set Yao in the mid post with two spread offensive players on his side, one with the ball at the 3pt line between the elbow and the inbound line near the coaches and one deep in the corner at the 3pt line. Have the corner player rub off Yao by running between him and the ballhandler towards the center of the court. The ballhandler either throws it to the cutter coming off Yao's screen at the top of the key or rotates the ball to the next ballhandler opposite him who then feeds the cutter. Then the cutter can play a pick and roll situation with Yao and makes the read according to who his man stays with - Yao or the cutter. The key here is a quick hitting play to get another Rockets player the ball right at or above the free throw line.

Again, all this depends on Yao becoming better at sealing his man. He used to be awful at this(anyone remember when Najara played with Dallas and tortured Yao this way?) but he has gotten better. Still for a guy as big as him, there should be no way a guy gets back around him once they commit to fronting. Also, it really forces Houston to have several good passers on the floor if the defense chooses to do that so personnel plays a big part too...

 

The best solution has been to swing the ball to the other side and let Yao repost.

I propose a statistical inversion when Yao is involved:
Yao should get the assist when he scores, and the player who successfully gets him the ball in the right position should get the points.
Given Yao's team first attitude, I think he would go for this.
And it somehow seems appropriate.

 

also called the Pick n Roll (PnR). i mentioned this before in a thread about RA unable to coach 'in game'. when the team suddenly fronts yao, it seems RA is unable to do something about it.

best option is PnR with a big guard or probably a forward. Shane/Ron/Scola can do since they have outside shots. if they do it in the midarea, the distance to the hoop will be short enough for yao to effectively roll to the basket. or he can pop out and shoot the mid range. or ron/shane/scola can do a give and go.

you cant do a PnR at the 3pt line as it is less effective w/ yao (he'll be too far out to roll and out of his shooting range if he pops)

best PnR ive seen is with Scola. Tmac/Rafer PnR w/ scola is almost a guaranteed bucket. best give and go is b/w yao and head.

 

Heck, it's very simple. Whoever's man is fronting Yao, they should cut to the basket and use Yao as the screener and force the back man to leave Yao and chase or let the cutter go. Either way, it's simple. The cutter receives the ball and either has a layup, or if Yao's back defender has taken the cutter, the cutter simply dumps back to Yao for the slam. It's simply a matter of timing between the cutter and the ball handler/passer. And if it's the the ball handler's man that is fronting Yao, they should be free for the 17 footer.

If they front Yao on the catch, the man who has been left should automatically start his cut so Yao can simply tip it to him when he goes up for the catch, instead of catching it.

The fronting defense is a joke. It's simply a matter of cutting and getting their timing down. I do not understand why it has taken these guys so long to figure it out. It is simple to beat.

 

forgot to mention that its best for yao to PnR with a bigger guy is because when they switch, yao can roll on a defender who's smaller and the passer gets a defender who's just slightly taller. if yao does it with a PG, the PG will have a very big defender who can challenge his shot and Yao gets a PG on him who'll flop and get a charge against yao.

 

practice, man.

 

Its still basic ball. Swing the ball and pin,dribble penetrating , or flash at high post. As crazy as it sounds, I think subbing Cook for the pf and putting him at the top of the key eliminates the backside double.

Brooks with the wing dribble, yao on the blocks getting fronted, cook at the 3 line, ron on opposite wing and battier in the corner. Now all the defenders have to stay close which allows the lob or dribble penetration for brooks.

 

quality post. now this is the kinda stuff i enjoy reading.

 

and the pick n roll issue, Blazers literally catch up by pick & roll and 3pts after that.

 

The solution is very simple: Post up Scola on the other side. Scola will school any single defender. Why doesn't he get more shots in the post anyway?

 

we will always have an issue defending gthe pick n roll with yao in the game.

 

...basically a far more concise way of saying what I was having difficulty communicating.

The idea to bring Cook in is a great one though - basically he just allows them to spread the floor without going too small(maybe going soft but not small). Realistically I can't see Cook getting too much PT though but thats for another thread.

....btw I didn't see the Portland game - is this thread in response to that one? I assume Portland would try a few different looks since we could feasibly face them in the playoffs....well that's what I would do. In general teams don't front Yao much unless they have smart coaches and even then they save it for a crucial point in the game to derail Yao and Rockets.

 

People have mentioned it before and alluded to it here, but all Yao has to do is turn and seal his man. Quick ball rotation to the other side and Yao should get the pass in a position he's comfortable with. Use that big body to your advantage big fella.

 

same story. the rockets never lob it. but indeed they need to practice the lob. yao just needs to make the catch and the guards need to practice throwing it and get some reps in practice an in game situations before the playoffs. yao needs to seal his man off better. he needs to do a quick spin and seal his man, the spin would be the cue for the passer to lob it, while yao cuts toward the rim. yao just needs to seal his man better and create that separation.