Is playing Yao in the high post a good or bad thing?

That's why me and you are fans and rick adelman is the coach with 700 + wins and 2 NBA finals under his belt.

 

well actually tmac missed almost as many layups as jumpers yesterday i think he's still got his shot. and he did drive to the rim. it's just that the whole team got complacent yesterday in the second, or the blazers played better, or both.

tmacs shot selection is way better this season, it's not even comparable. yao PERSONALLY is going to have to grind it out for a while learning how to play the high post, meanwhile the whole team is in enjoying an open lane.

i think it's better for the team so far that yao plays about half half in the low and high post, but for yao himself, he's going to have to work MUCH harder just to be on par with last season.

 

No his shot selection is not better. It's exactly the same. I still see the same midrange jumpers, pull treys in transition, and not driving much. His shot was hot in the first two games and it was not yesterday. This is how it has gone for 3 years with him, and I see no reason it won't continue to be that way.

Adelman is already moving Yao to the low post way more. I say probably a 75-25 distribution. I'm sure he has heard Yao's complaints and noticed that he really sucks at the high post, and thus has adjusted accordingly. I see no reason why he would change it. JVG was absolutely right when he said Yao is very average outside of 10 feet; in fact I think he understated it, Yao downright sucks outside of 10 feet. I'm sure Adelman has realized this as well and will use the high post maybe 15-20% of the time as a changeup rather than a primary form of offense.

 

3 games into the season with a 3-0 record and some people are questioning Yao place in the high post already. Why don't we give Yao some more time, maybe 15-30 games to make any real judgements (and that might not even be enough time) on Yaos effectiveness in the high post. Or we can just expect Yao to pick up playing in the high post for the first time in his career after 3 games, with an entirely new offensive scheme.

 

JVG said it best, and i'm just paraphrasing: "Yao on the low block, is dominant. Yao on the high post, is average." Truer words have never been spoken.

 

Uh, yeah his shot selection is better. He's driving way more now, and getting all the way to the hoop because the lane isn't so clogged. Last night is a poor indicator because it looked like the team coasted in the 2nd half.

Yao is experiencing growing pains because he's playing in a way he hasn't played in a long time. T-Mac and the others are playing extremely well because the offense is much more open. Yao is going to get his points and become more efficient as the team gets better and more accustomed to the offense.

Again, it's not about one player. The team looks to be playing well, and they can actually win without both superstars playing well. You're turned off by this offense because Yao isn't playing up to par yet. Well, it's only 3 games into the season, and Yao is obviously still learning and getting used his new role.

 

Once 82games gets their act together and put their stats up I'll be able to show you that he's still taking the same distribution of jumpers and layups as last year.

Yao isn't just experiencing "growing pains," he is INCAPABLE of playing well at the high post. He CAN'T DRIVE. There is a reason why it is called a triple threat position, you need all three options available to be effective, and Yao is missing one.

He's apparently not getting used to his new role because he has already complained about not getting enough touches in the low post, and accordingly Adelman planted him in the low post in the past two games. I'd look for it to stay that way. Adelman has surely realized that Yao is a complete stiff, even worse than Miller/Divac, at the high post. His value is in the low post. Hell some stiff center who can shoot jumpers like Michael Doleac or Raef Lafrentz can probably stand in the high post and be as effective as Yao.

 

like i said when many complained in the preseason, adelman is seeing what we are seeing. he's just not adapt to playing outside 10ft. JVG said he was an average or below average player outside of 10ft.

so now adelman sees that. occassionally yao will be out there just to clear space, but he'll be in there a lot more.

 

well u saw less spacing than u saw in utah. it's a good thing that yao is stationed in the post b/c that's only where he's effective. but u saw less interior space for tmac as usual. when he got to the rim, there was 3-4 ppl crowded in there, unlike v. utah.

but i guess if u want yao to do well, u have to sacrifice some other things. and he missed 4-5 layups, a few where he got fouled and one goaltended.

but everyone sucked in the 2nd half. yao was 2-9 after starting out 6-8. tmac was 1-9.

 

Yao and McGrady are individually at their best when the other isn't playing.

Getting them to both be at their best when both playing is still a problem. JVG couldn't figure out how to do it, and it remains to be seen if Adelman can do it.

 

that's kind of true. shaq and kobe worked well b/c shaq was an athletic freak and could move quickly out of the paint anytime if he knew kobe was penetrating.

but this is a good problem to have. like most of you, i was disappointed as is adelman at yao in the high post. i had high hopes that part of the game will really make him into a truly dominant all-around player. but that's not the case.

i think v. the blazers, yao got like 85% of his touches in the low post in the first half. the whole game tmac only got to the line 2x.

it's not that they can't play well together, but when yao is in the high post, u sacrifice most of tmac's penetration. u want tmac's penetration, u sacrifice yao's low post touches.

so what i think adelman should do is to put yao and tmac on OPPOSITE sides of the court. that will allow yao to stay in the post. but if tmac drives, yao will be on the opposite side of the basket and can move out a lil easier.

we used a lot of yao-tmac pick and rolls and his man always sticks w/ tmac.

but again, it's a good problem to have. the offense is still a work in progress. but now we know where yao touches should be. after this game, it's up to adelman to create more plays putting tmac in better positions to score.

 

Yao in the high post is good in that it creates more spacing and allows more players to attack the basket. T-Mac will especially benefit from this, and having a dominant T-Mac has come with much more success than a "dominant" Yao.

 

tmac can get his anytime. tmac will play more with the smaller lineup as we go along in the season so he'll get his spacing. but i prefer if we start out games where tmac can get 1-2 easy baskets so he can get his J going.

but we need yao to be dominant. when we play the mavs/spurs, teams are going to key on tmac. we need yao to punish the mavs front line and possibly put duncan in foul trouble. yao needs his touches in teh low post for sure.

 

If by "dominant" McGrady you mean McGrady whose shot is on, then you'd be right. Too bad his shot nowadays is off as often as it is on and we'll get 8/25 days more often than we would like to see.

Maybe you'd like watch Andrew Bynum as your center instead.

 

Quick question. Why are you so quiet about the last game? Remember you were sooooooooooooooooo excited after the Utah game when Yao didn't play well. You were like a kid in a candy store and bashed Yao left and right in that game thread. Remember? Where is your enthusiasm/excitement after the Blazer's game? I guess you are eagerly waiting for his next sub-par game (and even better if the Rockets lose too) to show your excitement again, right? Hey we are 3-0 after that game. At least pretend that you are excited about the team.

 

look every guard goes through bad stretches. kobe shot 6-17 v. phoenix. he shot 13-32 v. us.

when your J is not on, obviously you're going to struggle.

but tmac will get the spacing he needs moreso than last yr so than he can drive and get to the ft line if his J is not on. he didn't have the spacing yesterday b/c we wanted to establish yao. but as the offense improves, we hopefully can incorporate tmac's penetration w/ yao's post up.

trust me, tmac will go to the line enough and penetrate enough where even if he starts out bad (1-6 v. LA), he'll have a good game shooting-wise. i expect him to shoot 46-47% this yr.

according to jon feign, tmac average 8 shots in the paint in the first 2 games. that will increase as we go on. he only had 3-4 in the blazers game so hence the poor shooting.

 

for one i didnt watch the game. secondly im sure yao had his usual turnaround jumpshots or hookshots to get his points. t-mac seemed to play subpar though. i knew he'd take the night off.

 

yao is not a power player. but the jumpshots/hookshots/shanghai shakes that he took are closer to the basket. v. utah, he was WAY WAY outside the paint. he was much better at establishing position v. portland. he's strong than pryzbilla or aldridge, but not okur. so hence the struggles v. utah.

 

I lived in Southern California during a couple of the laker's championship years, and Shaq didn't do any better of a job than Yao is getting out of the paint. He clogged it just as much. But Kobe was an insane at finishing in traffic during his younger years, so big man defenders didn't affect nearly as much as they do Tmac. He used to slam it down like a Power Forward. Also, Kobe used to be VERY good at that 10 ft. shot, where he could get it up before the interior defenders got too close. Tmac does neither of those things.

 

It will take some time for the high post offense to become instinctive. There were opportunities for back door cuts that were missed. In the second half, Tracy was about to cut to the basket, basically unimpeded, but Yao threw it out of bounds instead. In time, those types of mistakes shouldn't happen.

Right now, Chuck and Luis see more comfortable in the high post. Yao's advantage there is his height, which allows him to look over defenses and potentially exploit angles that aren't available to the others.

It's not like Yao in the high post has yielded zilch. He's gotten a couple assists in the first couple of games, and it's created some decent shots for his teammates. I thought there was improvement in the third game, compared to the first two. It should continue to get better.