Very interesting analysis. Im not really worried about who the closer is. You make a play for the guy with the hot hand or with the mismatch. Yao would have both of those going pretty much everytime and the rest shoots just too erratically. You mentioned how easy it is to stop a post guy for an opposing team. Yao's taken some big time outside shots and made them too. He doesn't have to be rooted under the basket all the time. Rather than concentrating on taking Yao out for being ineffective I would try and find ways to make him more effective under those circumstances. Our inability to find Yao on offense filters down to our uninspired defense. Coach sure has his work cut out. Players need to stop making some pretty obvious bad plays too.
interesting point... let me clear something up though... i don't think it is easy to stop yao in the post... what i do think happens though is sometimes, the fronting, the high pick and roll and the baseline double team to his inside shoulder, makes him look flustered... bottom line is, when they attack your main player, others need to step up and make them pay for their double team... that comes to yao making the smart pass and to his teammates to be in a good position...
I agreed with everything they said about Yao. But regarding the "closer" for this team, i believe we have the "closers" but we don't use it wisely. Like I believe Artest can be the closer if and ONLY IF he post up...NOT TAKING THOSE 3pts homerun shots. He obviously try to go for homerun in the Lakers game. The other closer we have is of course Yao, but sometimes they can't get the ball to him, which is understandable, but again that's why Artest need to be at the post. Scola can be a good closer now that he plays exceptionally well. We only go to him if we failed to get Yao or Artest the ball.
Yao is the closer of this team by his sheer presence. If the other team is double & triple teaming the Dominant Guy then it's the guy who is left open that needs to hit that shot. By drawing multiple guys towards him, Yao is basically doing an ASSIST. There should be a stat where it tracks how many times a certain player allows his teammates to be WIDE OPEN. Wide open meaning that the defender is at least 1 to 2 steps away. I even argue that the spacing Yao provides in the few minutes of the ball game is MORE VALUABLE than a "closer" per se. As in baseball, I would rather have a dominant starting pitcher (which Yao certainly is) than a "closer" which only needs to be used every 5 or 6th game. If the Rox shot around there season average for 3's, we would still be on a winning streak. And you know who makes that happen? MING THE MERCILESS.
