Is the current rockets team really a 'YAO' away from a true contender?

I think the twin towers thing is a little overrated, anyone remember that the lakers won the title without bynum who was injured/ineffective. Odom was their intangibles guy providing all the rebounding, fascilitating, etc...

Looking at most title winners, you have one legit post man with a garbage cleaner who does the little things. Haslem, Oberto, Ben Wallace, DRob, Perkins etc...

 

Odom is still bigger than the PF/C rotation of Battier, Scola, and Hayes. Oberto, Perkins, David Robinson are bigger also. Pistons could compensate for bad matchups for Ben with a roster full of bigs to make up for his size.

Antoine Walker was at the PF position. Haslem's height wasn't a problem at the SF.

 

I actually like our PF rotation if Yao is fully healthy, they each offer a good compliment to Yao and is also CHEAP so more money can be spent elsewhere.

Scola is a great pick and roll defender plus a serviceable postup and midrange shooter. Plus he's more a hustle rebounder, so all his strengths match with Yao's weaknesses and vice versa.

Chuck can be a situational matchup against players that Yao can't defend.

And Battier can offer an optional smallball lineup that could see some play, i.e. Yao and 4 3 point shooters.

 

I do not think Lakers can win this year.

 

Has Kobe retired????

Then then can win....

 

I think this is pretty much spot on. The thing is, people who are expecting Yao Ming to be the Yao Ming we had back then is just kidding themselves. Yao has been injured 4 of the past 5 years, and he is coming of yet another surgery. No way will he be the franchise center he was when Tmac was still here. He'll be even slower, and as far as value goes he'll probably be in the 10-12 million range. This will give us a nice lineup, but no way will it make us contenders.

We need another piece if we want to contend with the lakers (preferably Bosh or Cp3).

 

Best Post in this topic.

 

Not only will Yao come back next season, but rockets are also going for a power forward.

Such as: Amare, Bosh, David lee

 

A healthy Yao?

Yes.

DD

 

Tmac is as good as it can be, if you are looking for a side kick for yao. He is an explosive scorer that can score anyway from the field. His passing ability especially post feeding is almost 2nd to none. And his presence of commanding double team create even more space for Yao. Not to mention his pick and roll with Yao is one of the most effective plays in the game. Just too bad he got injured and got old too quick.

Kevin Martin's best asset for Yao is that ability to knock down that 3 as well as he do not need to hug the ball to score. Other than that, I can't see how the rest of his game benefit Yao. He is not a good defender which leads to more penetrations that Yao have to cover. His much better on the open court than playing the half court set. Scored tons of his points by going to the rim.

On that point about Kevin will be able to exploit Yao's double team, check it again, its usually the 2 post players that will double Yao. Not the guard. But with Kevin and Brooks running around the court, we should see a lot less fronting.

 

(somewhat)OT: Here are a few Yao vs. Dwight articles

I agree with what one of the posters said about Yao and how he kind gets hyped up against better opponents; teams - Lakers, Celtics, Trailblazers, Cavs or players - Dwight, Shaq, Bynum, and other big centers or is slightly better player in the playoffs.

Though, I want to add, I think Dwight Howard is the opposite, he plays extremely well against the average competition and teams with weak front. But, he does struggle a bit against teams who can throw big bodies at him and ...is offensive limited against certain opponents. As Yao can be limited against, smaller-athletic teams.

I do think Dwight is probably a better player (and is more healthy), but he is not far and away better than Yao. It is more like the difference between Deron Williams vs. Chris Paul or Peyton Manning (circa 06) vs. Philip Rivers (circa 06).

Also for Dwight, even he does win the rebounding (or block shots) title, he's still nowhere as good as Shaq was in prime or even five years ago (or any other of the premier centers in 90s). I'll even make the case, he is not even as good as what Yao was 4 to 5 years ago.



http://*******************/articles...ight-howard-who-is-the-best-center-in-the-nba

http://www.thedreamshake.com/2009/4/7/825187/a-quick-note-on-the-yao-vs-howard

http://www.***************/Story.asp?story_id=12224

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/sports/2008-01/08/content_6378479.htm

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080119153409AAyJbn1 (Some Laker fans should stop trying...)

http://dimemag.com/2008/12/whos-better-dwight-or-yao/

http://dimemag.com/2008/11/7-nba-players-id-hate-to-have-on-my-team/

 

Anyone who thinks Yao will be healthy and able to play 30mins is a fool. Please show me a team that has ever competed for a title when their best player is limited to 20-25 mins a night. In the playoffs, there will be nights when you need your best player to be special for 40 mins. Does anyone on this board think that can be Yao? I thought not. Its time to make a huge move or start over. I prefer the later.

 

He will play big minutes in the playoffs, of course. You do realize you can limit him in the regular season and ramp up his minutes as you get into the postseason?

 

no way.... the reason i say that is because if that were the case we would not be as bad as we are right now. you see how the lakers played without kobe ? denver without melo ?

the defense is horrible and im sorry but yao is not going to solve all of our problems..... plus i doubt he ever plays a full season plus playoffs anyway

 

This. This. And this.

 

No.

But we're close. It doesn't even have to be a Bosh-caliber player, I just think we need one major upgrade SOMEWHERE. PF...SF...anywhere.

 

I agree...

I believe the Rockets have gotten to point, where they can probably get a decent playoff seed with Yao not playing too much or not playing him at all, during certain stretches of the season. We'd be able to do that, if we can replace Landry (with a good FA signing or draft pick) and adding another quality player. At the high end for a c/pf, possibly Chris Bosh (why would he want to come to Houston) . . . at the other end, someone respectable from the draft Patrick Patterson, Cole Aldrich, Larry Sanders, Craig Brackins to even 2nd round picks, like Dexter Pittman, Jerome Jordan, or even the very raw Renardo Sidney.

We could use someone like Tyson Chandler, if he's cheap. Though I doubt it.

Ginobili is good, but he might be pricey for his age, he can get more than MLE from the teams that will be shopping in the market.

 

What do you mean "create even more space for Yao?" Have you been watching the Rockets the past 5 years? Are you under the impression that Yao flashes through the lane or runs off the weakside for alley opps from Tmac? The typical play offensive play for Yao by Houston is Yao wrestling with a couple of dudes down on the low block... Brooks, Rafer or Tmac holding the ball and looking at him for a few moments trying to feed him the ball then tossing it in and praying Yao doesn't get hacked trying to catch the feed.

The truth is, for the past number of years Tmac and Yao's offensive sets have been independent, not synergistic like you are saying. Either they throw it down to Yao on one side or give it to Tmac to dribble on the other side. When he did dish, as often Yao, Tmac would find Scola down low or Battier outside for the jumper. As far as the pick and roll, that's not something unique to Yao and Tracy. If someone as unathletic as as Stockton can execute it, I'm pretty sure Martin will be just fine running it with Yao

Actually watching Martin it seems like half his points from free throws than from actually making it to the rim when he drives the lane. As for the contention that "his much better" on the open court... Watch more games. His strength is his first step on his long stride that gets him past his defender. I must have seen him do that 2 dozen times in the past couple weeks in the half court. Much more than I've seen him on a breakaway or running the open court.

Again not true. I can remember plenty of instances where some guard or small player would rotate over to slap the ball at Yao's hands as he catches it. In any case Martin's game is more amenable to exploiting that space. How many times in recent years have you seen Tmac exploding to the basket or cutting to the basket when the ball was NOT in his hands? Martin is going win us some games doing just that, write it down, just as Reggie Miller cherry picked at the basket to cut the heart out of the Knicks. Martin and Yao will work and it will work that much better in the 4th quarter when Tmac would have dribbled out the clock and jacked up a long jumper.

 

Of course with Yao...nobody in this league can beat the Rockets. Remember, defense win games and team MOST OF THE TIME can't do anything when Yao is playing and had to rely on outside jump shots...and if outside jump shots ain't falling...it's pretty much game over!

The fact that we now have 3 guys on the perimeter that can attack the basket (Brooks, Martin, Ariza) makes it that much easier to score unlike last year where Artest is kind of slow and Battier is render to open spot up shooter only.

Now you can say that we have 2 awesome defenders last year in Battier and Artest....but Ariza is a pretty good defender and can guard the other team's best player. And i think the starting up may changed up and in favor of Brooks, Ariza and Battier instead if Martin is getting killed on defense. We will see next year.