If Yao is the constant and Brooks is the variable, then even though the constant causes the problem, its the variable that must be adjusted.
Awesome, and just like I said, an entry passer would be a SG, or SF, or PF...... You know, like when Robert Horry passed it into Hakeem.... The entry pass is generally NOT the PG's responsibility. Just in case you did not know. DD
I see what wekko is trying to say, Yao is 80% of the problem but lowry is better at masking his defficiency in catching the post pass because he is more of a pass first type of guy. I don't understand what the fuss is about. If coach believes Lowry starting with Yao is better, he will do it. If he believes it makes the team worse than he won't. It doesn't get any simpler than that.
I never realized that if this is true. But it all depends on the context of the situation at hand though. Rick is known to adapt his system to fit the team.
Thats because it is totally false. It is PRIMARILY the PGs job to find a way to feed the post. Doesn't mean that other players won't do it. Once again, how was this such a problem when Yao was averaging 25 ppg? Right, didn't think so.
Who fed the post then? Was it primarily Rafer....or was it Tmac (a SG) or Battier (a SF)? I rest my case. Seriously, you guys probably don't remember Robert Horry passing it into the post to Hakeem......or MadMax..... This is nothing new, it has been that way in the NBA since I started watching in 1972, probably before most of you were even born. DD
It was primarily our pg (Rafer) and our point-forward (McGrady). Battier would do it occasionally, but not nearly to the extent of the other two.
I see what you mean, Kobe is the one that normally feeds gasol and hedo/howard (last year) now that you mention it.
Oh, you mean Rafer who averaged 5.3 assists per game LOL - it was Tmac who passed it to Yao, primarily. So many people whining about the PG not getting the ball to Yao, it has become a consistent chorus of ignorance over the years. DD
again，this thread is about ab's shortcoming as a pg, which is the op's "beef". yet, i flip through the pages and have found your arguments are bacially - #1, ab is on his way of becoming a tony parker. (you guys just watch.) #2, ab's inability to feed the post is either yao's problem or that's not his job at all. (the op didn't bring up yao since yao is not playing this season. but while you're at it, what about ab's inability to feed landry the ball when landry was fronted? what about his "excellent bounce passes" to yao at his shin level?) #3, i am older than you are and have been watching a lot longer than you, so you're clueless. (sheesh.) seriously, how can you reasonably expect any respect of your opinion if your arguments are laid out like that?
How does making the entry pass translate into assists? It's not like Yao immediately shoots when he receives it (unless he has deep position). Usually, he'll take a few dribbles and then make his move. Those dribbles negate the potential assist. I remember it as both Rafer and McGrady. Regardless, both of them had point guard skills so your argument that McGrady is a SG is a moot point.
Because you guys are only making a singular point about Yao getting the ball, and not about the overall betterment of the team. And, at the end of the day, maybe you should learn to respect your elders, they probably know more than you. :grin: I am outta this thread.......you guys keep on whining about the next PG that can't pass it to Yao DD
This is funny. Kyle Lowry is nothing but a positive for the Rockets in the role that he plays. He changes the tempo and gets the Rockets' second unit running. He manufactures a lot of plays for the second team offensively and defensively, and has a large responsibility in team continuity from the starting unit to the reserves. Lowry could conceivably play well with Yao Ming, because although his outside shooting is inconsistent, he does a lot of other things while he's on the floor. Things that actually translate into scores. He's a much better "glue-guy" than Shane Battier ever was. Yao Ming, again, is the guy we have to remember is going to anchor this team. Ultimately, whenever Yao is on the floor, the team will not often play faster than him. I'm certain that Yao must rebound and defend the post much better than he has in order for the Rockets to keep a balanced offensive attack while he's on the floor—meaning, more transition and fast-break points. The walk-the-ball-across-the-timeline-and-post-Yao-up-every-possession approach has been done to death..... But Aaron Brooks will be the player most suited to playing with Yao for extended periods, in my opinion. First, if anyone's of the mindset that limiting Yao's minutes (below 30 a game) is the best option for the Rockets, then it makes no sense to bother incorporating him again at all. Yao makes a tremendous, positive difference on both ends of the court for the Rockets. If that difference only translates into role-player minutes for Yao, then he needs to be moved. If you're afraid to risk him getting injured when he means so much to winning and losing, then you're not giving your team a fair chance to win. Sooner or later, you need guys healthy in order to play. If Yao can't give you 30+ minutes a night, or you have to guard his minutes more than necessary, then you reduce him to no more than a gimmick.... ....and not a particularly effective gimmick at that. Yao plays or his sits. End of that discussion. An if Yao plays, then Brooks, for the time being, should play with him. Brooks is a better offensive player than Lowry, because he shoots better from the perimeter. You simply cannot have too many people on the floor who can shoot the basketball well around Yao. Look at why Orlando consistently gives every team not named the Lakers fits. Even though Dwight Howard is still a work-in-progress as a half-court low-post option, the more space you're able to give him, the better he is, and the better the guys on the floor are with him. We all watched the Rockets win their second title with just that kind of personnel. They struggled during the first two series that postseason, trying to play a conventional power forward around Hakeem, who wasn't consistent offensively or defensively, and kept the paint too crowded for Hakeem to work in. Moving Robert Horry over to the four-spot, and promoting Mario Elie to the small forward, caused nightmare matchups that the rest of the league couldn't handle. It's no accident that after Horry and Elie got the starting nods for good after that legendary Phoenix series that the Rockets went 8-2 during the rest of the postseason. You have to give a dominant big man room to operate. Whenever a defense crowds Yao (fronting or double-teaming), the guys on the floor have to make the defense pay for it. If there was no other option, then Lowry wouldn't be a bad player to have start, if he started along with Luis Scola, Kevin Martin and Trevor Ariza, all alongside Yao. He could make sure that everybody else was free to be opportunistic in looking for their own offense. As it is, either Lowry or Brooks would do well themselves starting with Yao. But balancing out the team is the goal. It's not about which of the two is better than the other. It's about what works best for the personnel on hand. ...Or, what WILL be on hand when Yao returns.... ..For once, isn't it nice to have a good problem around here for a change...?
translation - i don't have any valid argument to offer about whether or not ab is a good pg, even after i used yao to digress and evan after i stated i am older. SHEESH. :grin:
funny isn't it DD we don't have anyone good at passing to Yao anymore in the post. Especially since i don't think Kevin Martin has ever in his NBA career had a actual post player to pass to before. I expect feeding Yao next season to be a major source of concern because for all of T-macs problems getting Yao involved were not one of them
It's a good problem, towW.... ...because we haven't had very many people here in the recent past who anybody would consider WORTH trading. It's been said that the two most difficult positions in the NBA to draft and scout are the point guard and the center. Not surprisingly, those two positions are invariably the most important positions on the team. The point guard runs the offense (whatever the function of the offense happens to be), and the center defends the basket and rebounds the ball offensively and defensively. Everybody else can be mixed and matched, but you don't have much of a chance at creating solid and consistent offense without at least one or the other. Pro players are rarely so easily defined, because they have so many diverse skills and abilities. So when you happen across one of those players who can fill that simple requirement of his position, you hang your hat on that guy. Yao is very easy to define as a player. He's a center. He has size, and extraordinary offensive skill. He is a defensive presence. He makes your perimeter defense better, and he causes havoc for opponents on offense. When Yao is on the floor, you have to find the best fit for him for the times that opponents will overcompensate for his presence. In the postseason, most teams will play good defense. There won't be a lot of broken plays or transition baskets to fatten up on. You're going to have to score against a determined opponent, dug in to stop you, towW. And they're going to do everything they can to take away your best scoring option first, last and always. You have to be prepared to think and act three steps ahead of the competition. No one will play Yao Ming conventionally (man-to-man) in the half-court if they have half a brain. Everybody in the free world (and even those in Malaysia) knows that Yao is going to be double-teamed, triple-teamed, zoned, grabbed, punched, kicked, and everything else in order to keep him from decimating your team. I would do everything I could to keep Yao in a fair fight, myself, because my money's on the big fella one-on-one. And the best way to do that is to keep guys on the floor with him who will will give him the space he needs.... ...or punish people for ignoring them. And I'd say it's way past time we got around to doing that, don't you? It's not really about who's the better point guard between Brooks and Lowry, to me, towW. At this level of basketball, those types of comparisons are more or less semantics. Lowry has a role that suits him and this team. He accepts that role, relishes it, and excels in it. Brooks will flourish in his role, with better people in the starting lineup (Yao, Kevin Martin, and perhaps Trevor Ariza) who will help him with those post-entry duties and half-court plays that he currently struggles from time to time with..... I'm sure everybody points out where Aaron Brooks struggles, towW. I'm sure everybody knows that Lowry is a suspect perimeter player. Both of them will learn, and both of them will get better. And hopefully, both of them will help Yao win....
