is this team really built around Yao? think about it

I do think it's a team Oriented around yao. hoewver i also think whilst it might be Yao Oriented, they are doing it with the Wrong pieces. People like Lue dont belong in a hal court System of game.

 

This is T-Mac's team.
Yao is T-Mac's Zydrunas.

 

Good point...even when the Lakers built there team around Shaq they knew to surround him with halfcourt bombers...guys that would rather lob treys all day than run an umtempo game. Think about it...who were the best role players the Lakers had?

Fischer, Fox, Horry - all these guys would salivate when Shaq was doubled and they were very capable of making people pay.

Who on the Rox fills the role of the aforementioned Lakers role players... who's main weapon is the trey before anything else? Sadly, I can't think of ONE.

This is the inherent problem with the ROX...they play a game that supposedly makes Yao the man...but do not have the personnel to execute that strategy. Yet they can't build entirely around Tmac and his running game because that would make Yao a role player. The only solution (other than trading Yao or Tmac) is to fundamentally change the the offense...and frankly, I believe such an offense would soar right over JVG's head. It's time to bring in someone who can mesh the talents of Yao and McGrady.

 

And you Suggestion is? We trade Yao?

 

Um.... that's kinda backwards... it's more like his shot is his first scoring option, and his drive is his second.

 

So why not just trade Yao??? He doesn't fit the "running" offense and so much has to be changed in order to accommodate Yao's style of play. It's JVG's job to figure out a way to make the offense go through Yao and Tmac. Right now, it is not working... so my plan would be to fire JVG's arse..

 

This team is built around Van Gundy. If it was built around either Yao or TMac then we would have seen Boki in the starting lineup tonight and Padgett would have gotten more minutes. Instead Van Gundy goes with the defensive hustler dude Bowen, and the defense clogged up on TMac and Yao.

By the way, Kareem was not built for the running game, but he did quite nicely in LA with Magic running the break. For a team to be a championship team, they have to be able to defend, run half court offense, and push the ball and run the break whenever it is there.

Yao is fine in the running game. He gets up and down the floor as good as most centers in this league. He definitely is not the slowest center coming up the floor. But he is a little slower this year because beloved Van Gundy is trying to mold him into the next Ewing instead of the next Kareem. He's dragging around a bunch of extra pounds to better be able to post up in the half court offense and play slow ball.

This team is not a running team because it is Van Gundy's team, not because they can't run. Yao can board, throw the outlet pass, and then come down the floor as the big trailer. We saw him do that a couple times last year with Steve, coming down late and throwing down the big stuff.

This team desparately needs Van Gundy to step away from the controls of the offense and let the players play to their strengths. He can teach defense, but offense is a whole different story.

 

BINGO!

 

Yao isn't forcing T-mac to take 3s. T-mac likes to put up threes. The 3-ball is a big part of his game. He's was top three in 3s attempted per game his past two years in Orlando.

You mean the Jason Kidd Nets, with one of the best guys at pushing the ball ever, and two guys that could run the floor as well as anybody in the league at their respective positions in K-Mart and Jefferson? Because I sure hope you don't mean the present day Nets who are flat-out the worst offensive team in the league. A team that that scores 6+ ppg less than the absolutely putrid offense that we have in Houston.

I don't understand your logic at all. How many "running" teams in the league feature centers that can run the break. I guess Phoenix, since Amare is technically playing center. But mostly it's forwards that are getting up and down the court. It's not just Yao but we have absolutely no forwards that can run the break. I guess Boki comes the closest, or obviously T-Mac if he's playing the 3, but we don't have any big men that run the floor at all. So I don't see how Yao is the odd man out.

I mean, if we did have other guys that could run the floor, then what's the scenario for Yao? Someone grabs the rebound and pushes it up the floor. If Yao can't keep up, then he only gets to half court while the rest of the guys finish the play on their own. Then Yao gets back on defense. Big Deal. Most fast breaks only require about 2 or 3 guys to even cross halfcourt before the shot goes up.

I think T-mac and Yao can coexist, I don't think it's an either/or situation in terms of building around them. Frankly, having 2 dead-eye shooters on the floor with them (at the pg and sf positions) would help them both enormously. T-mac gets guys a lot of open looks off of drive and kick plays. And Yao draws plenty of attention too. 3 pt shooting from the pgs have been erratic at best, and with JJ it's feast or famine. Either he lights it up or he ends up going 2-9 or 1-6 from downtown.

And I really don't even want to get into the whole Van Gundy's offense factor.

 

we have the dumbest coach and the GM. we should have picked VanExel. He could have helped our team so much but JVG didn't want him in the team. This is JVG team. They did not know how to put team together. They should learn from Miami and Lakers who broke the team and then went out made a better team.

 

We should've signed Jon Barry.

 

I wanna build Yao with current sonics players.
They might be overrated this season but Yao will flourish in either Kings or Sonics

 

I wonder if Phil Jackson is available to lead Yao/T-Mac to the promised land?

 

I agreed. Rockets have the dumbest GM and coach in the league. When they got TMAC, everything just stopped there. They stop pursuing good shooters. Instead they opted to pursue fundamental players....ones that fit into the JVG's system, rather than one that pay for doubling Yao. Now they're realizing they're paying for the price. JVG obviously thought that if he get good fundamental players that they would play solid defense and that is enough to win game...but nada...the players they acquired don't play defense at all...unlike last year where the defense give you no easy look at all.

So instead of pursuing good shooters like Fisher, Damon Jones...they went the other direction and get fundamental players instead. Bad idea!

 

I will give Charvo credit, last year he was mercilessly banging on Francis as the cause of all evils, this year he found a new scapegoat.

 

Well. . .for at least 4 years
I have been saying .. . WE NEED MORE SHOOTERS

whether we Drive and Dish [ISOH]
or
Dump it in [ISO]
or
Motion . .. WE NEED SHOOTERS

Rocket River