As far as explaining why Houston has a harder time winninng games without McGrady than without Yao.... well, 1) We've had more opportunities, unfortunately. More time to build chemisty and learning how to play without the big guy. 2) Because of Deke Houston doesn't loose any defense or rebounding. Its weird cause he only plays like 20mpg but the impact is felt 3) The difference between being a big man and being perimeter player. Fact is, you have to get Yao the ball first for us to take advantage of the defensive attention he recieves. Tracy can go get the ball and make plays. Another this is the fact that McGrady is such a low turnover player (3.00tpg is his career high)...since Houston plays close to the vest, having your primary scorer/playmaker also be a turnover guy is a big plus.
I think the Rockets would benefit from a little continuity. No drastically overhauling the roster. No one in the starting lineup is gonna be out the league in 1-2 years. They finally found something good in Scola so why try and mess up things? HOWEVER...lets not think cuz we keep hearing over and over the same demands of "3rd scorer", scoring ability and size at the wing positions & backup/starting point guard that its just fans being overly critical and unreasonable. Its plain as day that those are real team needs. The last playoffs versus the Jazz, how so obvious that the Rockets didnt have effective scoring to counter them? It wasnt cuz a guy should just "make his layups", it was just straight lack of scoring talent. Any columnist can watch one game and tell you the Rockets lack legit talented scorers. I disagree slightly. You dont want to give away All NBA 2nd team defense and hope the D stays the same. Plus how long can the "Van Gundy effect" remain? If you deal Battier for offense you almost have to make a 2nd deal for a cheap perimeter defender to maintain the defensive play.
shroopy, we still follow the "pack the paint" philosophy installed by JVG. adelman and his assistants have made some minor changes, but for the most part, we pack the paint and force teams to beat us from the perimeter. furthermore, battier DOES receive help. there's a reason guys settle for a lot of jumpers when battier guards them b/c we do provide him with help. however, battier does a great job of contesting those jump shots rather than just barely putting his hands up. however, losing a "little" defense for better individual offense, you have to take it.
that's done BEFORE the whistle is called. football has mini-breaks in between plays for ray lewis to do that. basketball doesn't. and yao has been doubled way too many times for him not to feel when a double is coming. it should be instinctive by now.
tmac's usage rating is higher on our team, meaning he makes more plays for himself and his teammates in general. that alone should tell you who has the highest impact on this team.
I thought the Rockets played great w/o TMac last year when Yao was beginning to show his leadership skills - he was directed plays inside out and calling for the ball on every play and making the team game happen when TMac out with that injury right before the streak started. TMac came back, and the streak started. Obviously we're better w/ both Tmac and Yao, but last year I thought was the first time that the team was better with Yao and no-Mac vs. with Mac and no-Yao. It's better to have the anchor in the paint to play the in/out game, especially in the playoffs. Thus, I think the Rockets can still be overall effective 1-5 without TMac, but not without Yao.
ibm- u know I respect ur thought and insight, but u kinda answer the impact yourself. The reason why tracy's impact is greater than yao is simple. How come the rox can replace "the best center in basketball" with a fossil like deke and a d-leaguer like hayes. Yet when tracy is out the defense sux and the team can't close out games in the 4th qt. Like it or now, there are 2 or 3 guys in the entire league that can do what tracy can do. That's just the truth. If yao's impact was so great, the team wouldn't play .670 ball without him. People step up their play when tracy is out, but when the game is on the line, no one can make the basketball play. That basketball play can be a pass or shot. He is the best decision maker on the team and in close games u need great decision makers late in the 4th. The team trust mcgrady with the ball late in games more than anyone. If late in the game and u know u want a high % basket, I might want Yao to catch and shoot, but if variables are introduced, which happens most times, Yao is too turnover prone to make the basketball play. That's why tracys impact is greater. If u want numbers, 41-20 without yao over the last 2 yrs. That's 2 out of every 3 games. That's like going 55-27 for a whole season. Deke isn't avg 20-10 when yao goes out and neither is hayes. What normally happens is tracy increases his production which increases everyone elses production. That doesn't mean the rox can win a ring without yao, it just means they're confortable playing without him.
Essentially, you're saying that teammates shouldn't communicate with each other and that Yao should be able to feel when a double team is coming from his blind spot? I really don't know what to tell you. Sometimes when I read your posts, I say to myself, "this is it...his responses can't get anymore r****ded than this." But this one has outdone them all. Congratulations.
dude, read what i was posting before answering. he mentioned ray lewis as an example of communicating with his teammates. i stated that is done DURING the mini-breaks where they can go over certain formations and BEFORE a play is set up. WATCH FOOTBALL then you know what i'm talking about. i then responded you cannot do that as efficiently in basketball because you don't get breaks unless a timeout is called. you cannot watch yao every time and call out, "hey yao a double team is coming, watch out!" LIKE YAO HAS NEVER BEEN DOUBLED IN HIS CAREER. he has been doubled/tripled more than a million times since probably 8 years old. and quick and fast double teams come a lot at yao. do you want guys to stop running the offense and going to their positions to scream out to yao that a double is coming? in front of a packed crowd? but again, a guy who doesn't know the concept of boxing out expect EVERYONE of his teammates to help a guy who's been doubled all of his life since 7/8 years old??? comedy.
So if your team is on defense, and an offensive player is coming from your teammate's blind spot to set a pick on him, you dont warn him? You think basketball is a sport where the offensive players dont need to be aware of the player w/ the ball? Its possible to run the offense and have at least one teammate keep an eye on the ball handler. I said that Yao shouldnt be boxing out at the 3 pt line. And you construe that as me not understanding the importance of boxing out. I'll be blunt. You're an idiot.
wekko, just pick up a basketball and go play. you're so ignorant that the boxing out comment is the one i was referring to IN THE PAINT, but the 3pt line comment shows you have no knowledge of what i was talking about in terms of BOXING OUT IS DONE BEFORE THE BALL IS MISSED. obviously by the 3pt line comment, you still don't understand that concept. it's fine that you think i'm an idiot, but your basketball knowledge is just horrible.
and i didn't say you don't know the "importance" of it, i just said you don't know what boxing out is (when it's done and how it's done). again, i'm sorry it's hard for you to grasp such a simple basketball concept and yet you think others are idiots.
As my basketball cpach said, you start boxing out just after the ball leaves shooter's hands...you gotta win the battle inside and you gotta be between the opponent and the basket...
Well, Morey is at least doing something which is more that I can say for the previous regime but let's face it: the guys he picked up in the last 2 drafts have all been guys who were available because they lacked something - most notably, size. Don't misunderstand me here: he's simply done an amazing job finding guys who can actually play in the lower rounds of the draft. What he hasn't been able to do is to find that Parker or Ginnobli type of guy who could vault this team into real contender status. In other words, hit the perverbial jackpot on a late round pick. That's why I've always stated that he'll need just as much luck as skill to make it happen for this team.
It was in regards to last year's game 7 when Boozer was able to get key rebounds at the end of the game. On one, the ball bounced behind Yao and ended up around 15 ft away. yao was backpeddling and tried to jump backwards to get it, but boozer went higher. On the other, the ball landed towards the sideline and boozer outran yao for it. And tmac1 has been saying that yao could've gotten those rebounds by boxing out.
once again, you still do not understand the concept. you don't try to get the rebound. he was supposed to box boozer BEFORE THE BALL WAS EVEN RIMMED OFF. the point that boozer was allowed to get there without anybody putting a body on him. that was yao's man. yao may not have gotten the rebound, but he could have prevented boozer from getting there by boxing out. how is such a simple concept so hard for you to grasp? i think this is the last time i'm going to say this: BOXING OUT IS DONE BEFORE THE BALL LEAVES THE SHOOTER'S HANDS. you keep saying when the ball is at the 3pt line and that's when the boxing out should be done. no it's not. nobody expects yao to run to the 3pt line to get it. but we all expect yao to box boozer out in the paint when the ball is being shot. boxing out is not rocket science.
I'm not sure what people think would constitute a major change, but IMO one thing is for damn sure, Luther head better not be logging 20 minutes again in the regular season and once again be the main backup SG off the bench in the playoffs. In fact, if he's even still on the team at all I will be mad at Morey. Luther head simply isn't NBA material. He can probably go to one of the smaller level Spanish league clubs or something. That's about where he should be.
Would Luther still be in the league today if not for all the injuries that plagued the Rockets in 2005-06? I doubt it. JVG played him a lot more than he originally planned to that season because he was forced to. We all know that playing rookies is something that he, like most other NBA head coaches, don't like to do. Due to his size and position, I doubt it very much if Morey could even give him away to another team in a trade.
