More Post ups please !

The thing is, teams have fronted Yao ever since he started to show that he was more than a 7'6 stiff. And I still haven't seen any improvement against the fronting defense. I know it has to do with the offensive setup but Yao has to shoulder some of the blame also.

But seriously, we are 4-5 years in on this Yao experiment and we still can't give Yao a decent lob pass?!? Whats up with that? I don't think I even saw them attempt one last night. A couple good lob passes over the top gives Yao an easy 2 points and then teams will start backing off the fronting defense. But then again, it also depends on Yao catching the ball, how fast the defense collapses and if the passer can actually make the pass.

 

Exactly. Why can't the coaching staff come up with a solution to fronting?

 

There are different ways to counter the fronting defense. Moving Yao to the high post is one, and the Rockets have done that.

Or, they can move the ball quickly from side to side. If executed properly, and the players space the court appropriately, Yao should be able to seal his man and be in good position close to the basket.

But the Rockets haven't been a good half-court execution team. When defenders front Duncan, the Spurs counter is very simple -- pass from the corner to the high post, and drop it down to Timmy wide open in the paint. To do something like that, you need a four man who is capable of hitting that 15 footer (not Chuck), and you need offensive players positioned in the right spots.

 

if yao played like a man this wouldnt be an issue.

you love rafer alston.
you want him to start.
he is our best point guard.

 

Agree with you 100%. I saw times where Finley was on Scola and that should have definetly been a post up, Scola was the hottest player on the floor. The same goes for Bonzi.

 

This is where T-Mac's injury could be a blessing in disguise. Forget about wins and losses right now, it's about the offense flowing better.

Clearly they had abandoned the motion offense in the early going and just settled on T-Mac/Yao trying to find a shot with everybody else standing stagnate around the 3pt line. That's Gundy ball, and while it can work at times you're depending too heavily on the perimeter.

Now with T-Mac out, the role players are being forced to run the offense and find their own shots and they're having a bigger role in the offense than just standing behind the arc.

Don't know how well they were moving last night cause I was at a hs playoff game, but at least now the team's "crutch" so to speak has been taken away. The whole idea from the beginning was for T-Mac to be able to move w/o the ball...so hopefully this situation might push the team further along in that direction.

 

Lob passes to Yao rarely work because he is slow and can't jump. This is why fronting him is so effective.

I suggest they quickly work the ball to the other side and feed Yao before his man has a chance to change sides. Yao must help by sealing his guy off for a second or two. Maybe the best way to combat fronting is with baseline screens on Yao's man. I don't understand why they don't do this more. Either Chuck, Scola or Shane can set these picks. Seems like this would fit right in with the concept of a motion offense.

 

You would think the lob pass is something they would practice with Yao. If Shaq can do it Yao can also. As to the high post, I was quite angry that they didn't use it more often last night with all the fronting, but it looks like RA isn't comfortable with his guys playing that offense yet.

 

From the looks of last game, many times he did seal his man off for a while, but the plays were unable to pass him the ball and he lost his position.

 

Good post DaDakota, I completely agree. Last night on a few occasions Yao caught the ball out to at least 18 feet and was able to make a couple dribbles to where he normally catches the ball anyway. This was on Tim Duncan keep in mind, a pretty stout defender. Obviously, no one is going to stop Yao from getting the ball at 18 feet. Obviously again, we would prefer Yao to have the ball at 14 feet with his dribble but having him at 14 feet without his dribble isn't so bad either. It's certainly better than him never having the ball. Anyone else notice this last night?

 

When your guards can not make a shot, there is no a way to solve the problem.

 

I agree with DD, but your post is also dead on. I just don't understand how nobody on our team can drop in lob to Yao on a consistant basis. On top of that, Yao really has to develope some kind of hand strength. Does he have small hands? He is forever getting the ball knocked out of his hands, and I wonder if mentally we aren't lobbing to him when he's fronted because when we do, he catches it deep and the weakside defender is right in his grill by the time he gets his second hand on it...hands go up and ball gets cleaned out.

 

...forgot to add that he why he ever brings the ball down below his shoulders I'll never know.

 

It's because he can't jump and is virtually immobile. In his heyday, Shaq was much more mobile than Yao is now, which is why lob passes worked with him and some teams gave up fronting. Plus, when Shaq got both hands on the ball, he held on to it.

Those of you who play basketball should be able to understand why it's difficult to lob the ball to Yao when he's fronted. Mobility and leaping ability are just as important as height. A similar concept applies to rebounding and is why Yao will never lead the NBA in rebounding.

 

Maybe we can say that the Rockets are still playing 2 on 5 on the offensive end like they were last season, you know, T-Mac and Yao do their thing with the ball while the other three players in the game (whoever they are) just stand around and watch, but spot up and shoot jumpers. It's just no wonder the team is currently 24th in scoring, averaging 93.9 points per game.

RA coached teams have been known to rank high in scoring. I know we're only 10 games into the season, but the kind of offense the team is playing right now is too easy to defend, and if they don't change that offensive style over the course of the season, the team won't go far in the playoffs once again.

Let's just say that I only find it interesting to see how RA handles T-Mac's absence and what kind of an offense the team plays with T-Mac out of the lineup. We already know that JVG couldn't handle the team very well with T-Mac out of the lineup.

 

And Tim Duncan is just going to stand there and watch that happen? Guys the reason the Spurs fronting worked so well was because they had a GREAT defensive 7 footer on the weakside looking for the lob. If you noticed, whenever Tim was matched up with Yao he played him straight up. Why? Because if he fronted, it would be much easier for us to lob against the weakside help D of someone like Oberto, Elson, or Bonner.

And before someone says it, no, we couldn't lob to ball to Yao, then have him swing to to the man the help D leaves open (likely Scola or Hayes). Hell, with Yao's level of coordination, it would be a small miracle if he even caught the ball, and another small miracle if he didn't blocked/stripped by Duncan.