Bingo. But first, he has to actually seal the defender, jump and catch the ball. You really do make a good point. The thought of Yao keeping the ball up after catching it seems like a stretch.
My 2 cents... Moving Yao up the lane to run (UCLA) shuffle cuts is a nice idea. And I used to be very much in favor of it myself until a thought occurred to me. Other than McGrady (and possibly Luther Head), we really don't have anyone who can run past Yao's high-post screen quick enough to make it effective. IMHO, opposing defenders can just sag back and go behind Yao. If you stop and think about it, it's not much different from a high PnR which we already run without much success. The above is really a shame too because Yao is really an average low post passer. The problem is not his passing skills in the low post. The problem is once he starts his series of low post moves, it's like a learned dance step that doesn't include a pass to a teammate. Yao would be good in the high-post, but I'm thinking his teammates wouldn't be. IMHO (and in addition to what Smeggy said), you beat the fronting by reversing the ball back to the weakside as Yao goes through the lane. This would be effective if we had more slasher types but I digress... There are some pretty good posts in here but they all have a common denominator..timing. We have a new PG, a new SG and a new PF all in the rotation and our timing (and spacing and ball movement) is not very good now for what we started learning in training camp. McGrady is such a great 1on1 player that it gets glossed over when we win. Then again, 2-4 is pretty close to the same %age as 6-11.
As everyone who has played the game of bball knows, fronting defense is not the best choice in defending the post. If you have a ball handler who is also a threat to score, then no one wants to play the fronting defense. The problem with us is that we don't have anyone who is capable of scoring at the wing, other than TMac, so the on-ball defender always lay back a step or two, then the weak side defender also lays back a step or two, make the pain area very crowd. Until Skip, or someone else can be a thread with the ball, which will help to space out the inside for Yao, there is really not a good solution to counter the fronting defense. I have high hope on Alston to utilize his penetration with the ball distribution ability, then Yao will get loose easily. Right now, Alston has been playing under too much control.
This is where those bad drafts in the past come back to haunt the Rockets. The PG/PF holes are the ones they have yet to fill and until they do so, Yao will continue to see fronting defenses because they work. Without a topflight PG to run the offense and score when needed and a PF who can also play in the low post, the Rockets are simply too vulnerable to this defensive strategy. Yao will see this defense until the Rockets start making other teams pay for using it. Even if JVG were to listen to the suggestions on this board such as running the Triangle Offense, this team still lacks the guards & forwards to make it work effectively. Plus, the Triangle is extremely complex to learn and implement and it's highly unlikely that this group has what it takes to master such an intricate scheme.
What Smeg and Gater said. It really isn't brain surgery to beat zones if you think about it. It's more about whether or not the players on the court have the smarts/skills/confidence to execute. As much flak as I give the Spurs, you don't see them running away from Duncan because he's being fronted. They have the players and system that know how to get him a better shot when he's being fronted. Fronting SHOULD only be an effective means of confusing the rocks for a few possesions, not a legitimate way of freezing out Yao.
Not much. It's just that there's not much roll because Yao is being fronted down low. You are actually using him to shield the bucket for the driver and get 2 defenders tied up away on the far side of Yao. The other difference is you are having Rafer penetrate to the hole instead of TMac. The Rox don't seem to use the pick and roll play except between TMac and Yao. I think it may help if they were allowed to improvise the play with Rafer when he sees the fronting defense. Run his defender down into Yao's defender. Of course, with Yao's luck, he'd be called for setting a moving screen.
knock. the open looks down and other teams wont be able to sag off our shooters to front yao. yao is the one getting hurt the most, cause of our shooters slump. its effecting him the most.
