HEADS UP: ESPN - 1st and 10: "Rockets: Better without Yao?"

Bayless is right! look at how Kobe and the Lakers are doing without Shaq. look at the Heat's record without Shaq. take out the best center in the league, and your team is bound to excel.

although the Rox are doing pretty good w/o Yao.

BTW, has that fool looked at what our record is when both are on the floor?

 

greg has friends?

 

They all missed the point. It is not about the team is better without Yao, it is about T-Mac played much much better after Yao's injury. His shot was awful, and he took more than 20 shots per game. That wasted too much offense opportunies. If someone check T-Mac's statistis before and after yao's injury, it will be more clear.

 

Spoken like someone who hasn't actually watched Yao play. Some of the sports "pundits" out there sound a lot like certain caterwalling BBS posters we know.

 

skip's delivery sucks so everyone hates him, but he's not always wrong...

in this case however, he was r****dED.

greg anthony ATE HIS LUNCH. i had to laugh out loud a few times.

kudos to GA for taking skip to school on this one. he's a pretty good comentator.

 

skip bayless is a tool, that sad thing is that he actually believes that crap he says. I wish they would replay that show, at least Greg Anthony can speak objectively at times.

 

I know, I couldn't help but laugh once I heard that. It's like saying Shaq shoots too many three pointers or something like that.

 

That's BS.

T-Mac took well under 20 shots a game before Yao went down.

 

I'm arguing that they are both idiots for different reasons.

But as to T-Mac and Yao. I agree with those here who claim they are unselfish players. They are. I agree that they don't actively compete for shot opportunities too. However, when they were both playing it often seemed that the team would either defer to Yao or T-Mac from quarter to quarter. It seemed like it was about getting one of those guys the ball, not about getting whoever is open the ball. And that always seemed to go for stretches - even whole quarters or halves. One or the other was taking over, but it very seldom seemed to be a combination. That's what I mean.

I think part of that problem was that T-Mac was down on himself and feeling like his injuries had slowed him down and part is that T-Mac would go stretches looking to prove he's unselfish and defer to Yao even when he should have been taking the shot. Other times it seemed like the whole team made a concerted effort to either get the ball to Yao or get the ball to T-Mac. I tend to think that had they both been healthy this whole time, that would be resolved by now. But it doesn't change the fact that earlier in the season it seemed like we only ever had one go to guy at a time. And that's what I mean. How often did they BOTH have big games?

 

i think you're spot on regarding the team force-feeding one or the other the ball. i know yao is the highest % shooter and therefore the most efficient scoring option, but im not sure i agree with a strategy that requires the rest of the team forcing the ball to either one of them. whether its yao or tmac, when you're standing there for 5 seconds staring at the guy before you pass the ball to him, its going to make it harder to get the ball to your man in his comfort zone. id like to see us put the ball in tmac's hands to start to get the whole team involved, and then start establishing yao when tmac is out. i think yao can handle not having the ball all the time better than tmac, who is much more of a rhythm player.

its a difficult but good problem to have. im sure this team will figure out how to play with both of them, and it isnt really true that tmac was taking less shots early on when yao was rolling. he's just making more now. hopefully his shooting % isn't a function of yao not being on the court.

 

Tell us what was the %?

 

by my calculations, tmac took about 17 shots a game before yao went down, including 1 game where he only played 11 minutes and took just 5 shots. taking out that game, it was closer to 18 shots a game. he's taken 23 since returning. so about 5-6 shots more per game. so if he keeps playing like this when yao returns, but gives up 5-6 more shots a game (which he doesn't necessarily do given his increased confidence and the realization that he is still more talented than any player in the nba), we lose the 3 or 4 points tmac scores from those 5 or 6 extra shots, while adding yao's 26? ill take it!

 

No kidding, Bayless is a moron but then again would we expect anything else from skip?

 

I always said I don't wanna hear Greg Anthony talk about basketball. But compared to Skip Bayless.......... To be honest, Skip Bayless is a 100% proper ass. And then he claimed that 2GM's said they're better without Yao. They probably said they prefer to play against us without Yao. It's stupid s*** like this that causes Yao to say he "does not want to ruin the chemistry". Greg was right on this topic. And Skip's knowledge of basketball, or lack thereof, is baffling.

 

I'm sure it wasn't stellar. Does it matter?

It doesn't make your previous statement true.

 

Grendal, don't you live in Dallas?

I remember you from the 05 playoffs. You going to the game?

 

20 games

142-339 FG's

.419

16.95 FGA per game (17.58 if we take out the game dookiester mentioned)

 

So you don't want to show the SG%? then what is your point of argument about T-Mac's awful shot? Go to do simple math and I am sure you will find T-Mac has a significant difference in term of SG% among other numbers before and after Yao's injury.

I guess you must think it doesn't matter.

 

The point being overlooked in this entire discussion is McGrady's health. Coincidentally, T-Mac's visit with Dr. Patterson came about the same time as Yao's injury.
That's why the Rockets are playing better and that's why McGrady is shooting better. He doesn't have the tightness in his back that he had in November and early December.
To suggest that the Rockets are better without Yao is a silly argument made by people who don't watch the team.

 

My arguments? Last time I checked I did not make any statement(s) that needed some arguments.

OTOH you did and were proven wrong.

When we're fully healthy, no, I don't think it matters too much.

Mostly b/c T-Mac is a player who contributes our game in much more ways than just scoring.

And our record with both T-Mac & Yao proves that. And that's the only thing that matters to me... winning. Screw the fancy stats.