I don't take someones opinion on a message board about who the best player on the team seriously. I look at who has the ball in their hands in crucial situations and most of the time it is in Tmac's hands. The players decide who the best player is because they defer to him in the clutch.
The counter will be that Yao had a better backup (Mutombo) than Tracy (Head). But the interesting thing is that our offense really didn't get any worse with Yao gone. Surely, Mutombo isn't a good offensive player. So how is that possible? There's a thread somewhere here about adjusted +/- ratings on offense and defense for the Rockets. Yao showed up as a middling offensive player by that analysis, but a very good defensive player. It seems that doesn't pass the laugh test, but actually when you look at how our team has played last season and so far this season under Adelman, Yao puts up good individual numbers but the actual impact on the team's performance on offense isn't so clear.
Black hole? C'mon man, you can't be serious. TMac has his flaws and I agree he doesn't move well without the ball, but black hole implies "you see the ball go in, and never see it come out." I hardly think you can say the best play-maker and best passer on the team is a "black hole." Kevin Willis, now HE was a black hole! As for your earlier point about Yao and leaving him on the floor. I agree that Adelman should have pulled him as he was ineffective, but they were killing us on the glass when he was out, so it was a sort of catch-22 in my mind.
tmac scored 8 pts in that 3rd quarter v. dallas so i don't think he got benched b/c of offense. he got benched b/c he was terrible defensively. had artest or yao exploded in teh boston game, tmac might have sat down a lot in the 4th again b/c his defense on ray allen was again terrible. adelman understands that. anyone who sees the game sees that. his offense hasn't been the problem b/c even when he wasn't making his jumper, he went to the line. his defense is killin' u right now. he has to get healthy soon.
adelman has stated many times why he has to play yao alot so far early in the season: lack of size -> poor rebounding. the chron article released today confirms that. if adelman was more flexible and play landry or scola more or we sign deke, yao would probably play 31-32 minutes a game right now.
In a tight game against a good opponent, Adelman will usually favor a safe lineup that should be solid on both ends of the floor. I think he felt that between T-Mac, Artest, and Yao, we'd have enough offense. And Rafer, Artest, Yao would help stabilize the defense. I didn't care for the Rafer and Yao substitution, but we had our chance at the end.
There's no doubt that T-Mac's a gifted passer, way above average. And I'm not saying that he wrecks the team's offense. In the first quarter of the Boston game, before Yao went out, he looked very, very good at moving the ball around and getting assists. The problem is he's not consistent about it. His natural instinct is to jack up contested jump shots. He's been able to get away with it because he's tall for the position he plays and he's able to raise up above his defender, but as he's gotten older that shot has become less reliable. He needs to suppress his natural instinct to hold onto the ball and instead keep it moving. He does a good chunk of the time, but sometimes he falls back into old bad habits. The Rockets offense is a work in progress--some nights it looks pretty awful and some nights it looks like they could pound any team in the league. What's crazy is when you see both offenses in the same game. The big three still need to get the kinks worked out. Despite that the team's 3 and 1 and only lost to the Celtics by 4 points despite Yao and Artest going a combined 7 for 30. I'm not too worried.
See, the thing is that when Yao goes down to injury, T-Mac has been able to increase the scoring void. When Yao goes down, he can't substitute the ballhandling and playmaking of T-Mac. While in some games that is fine, but as we saw in the last 3 games in January when T-Mac missed games, it bit the team in the a$$ when the games were close. Where as Yao would get fronted and doubled and simply dissapear in the 4th quarter, T-Mac is able to come out on the perimeter, be the primary ballhandler, and have the oppertunity to score frm anywhere or make the correct pass if doubled. T-Mac's ability to be a huge impact player offensively, even with his scoring being shut down, is why he is still the Rockets' best player. Yao is an awesome talent, but if he is fronted or doubled, and can't recieve the ball, he is simply a decoy offensively that dissapears. Because the ball is always in T-Mac's hands, and because he can play both inside and outside, as a scorer and playmaker, is why he is still our best (and most important) player. The thing that always bothered me about this arguement is that people give Yao the benefit of the doubt because of the perception that championship teams are only built around big men, so they ignore the facts and what actually transpires in the game and they go off of the crutch. In the Rockets' case, this is not the case. As great as Yao is, and as great of stats he can put up, he is not Hakeem. He is not Shaq. He is not Duncan. Like KG, he is not a player who is going to carry the Rockets to a championship. Same can be said for Tracy, and Artest. Each player needs the other two to go anywhere.
Yeah, and when Yao goes down T-Mac can't fill in for the shot blocking in the paint, or the tip in's off missed shots/offensive rebounds, etc. The point is you're trying to compare a offensive lineman to a running back. You can't just swap out Yao and T-Mac into each other's positions. The question you could ask is which one is the focal point of the team's offense when they're playing. There's no question that when both Yao and T-Mac are in the game that Yao's the more important component. The fact that he's led the team in scoring the last two seasons just confirms that. If I'm not mistaken and he's led the team in blocks and rebounds as well that just speaks to his overall importance.
Agree with everything you say here. Things are definitely a work in progress. I do think that TMac has shown better shot selection this year as compared to year's past, but we'll see if that holds up when he feels like the knee is where it needs to be (whatever that really means). He is certainly driving more, and he is making FTs which is a nice change.
T-Mac looks a lot more confident in the high post and it's really feeding his aggressiveness. BTW, there's an easy trick to see how committed he is to playing the motion offense in any given game. If he ball fakes, the defender bites, and then instead of shooting it he passes it off to somebody (usually Scola) then you know he's got his mind set on sharing/moving the ball around.
Yao is the guy the Rockets look to in the post, but who is the first guy who touches the ball once Rafer brings the ball up the court? T-Mac. Who is the guy who does the bulk of the ballhandling? T-Mac. Who is the guy who most consistently makes the most plays for his teammates? T-Mac. Who has led the team in FGA each of the last 4 years? T-Mac. Who is usually the guy who takes over in clutch situations? T-Mac. Most importantly, who has led the Rockets to a 44-28 in games T-Mac played and Yao missed, and who has led the Rockets to a 15-36 record in games with Yao and without T-Mac the last 4 years? The proof is in the pudding. And T-Mac led the team in assists, FGA and usage rating (in fact, in 06-07 he led the LEAGUE in usage rating...probably the ultimate barameter of offensive "importance"), while also scoring anywhere from 22-25PPG.
I think you're right in that Yao is more often the focal point of our offense -- the guy we want to taking shots around the basket ideally. Of all our big guns, he's the most efficient scoring option. But is that the same as him being the "more important component"? I'm not sure. The ball is going to be in T-Mac's hands much more. He's making more decisions on offense. He's the one, more than anyone else, who dictates who gets the shots and where. Putting some numbers on it, 82games shows their stats when they shared the court last season. In every 40 minutes of actions with them both on the court, Yao scored 23.5 points on ~19.7 shot attempts, he had 2.4 assists, and 3.0 turnovers. T-Mac scored 22.5 points on ~22.7 shot attempts, he had 6.1 assists, and 2.6 turnovers.
I'm not sure that leading the team in FGA is such a great thing, especially when you don't lead the team in PPG or FG%. Similarly since usage rating is based on FGA I'm not sure it's useful for indicating anything other than somebody likes to dominate the ball and shoot a lot. Again, you're comparing apples to oranges. Yao's not going to play substitute point guard, just as Tracy isn't going to try and block shots in the paint by staying on his feet and sticking his arms straight up in the air. You're also comparing apples and oranges in the sense that Yao's only been the scoring leader over the last two season. It makes a lot more sense to talk about wins/losses where one guy has to play without the other over the same time frame.
I never said it was a good or bad thing. I used the stat to show that T-Mac is still looked at as our #1 scoring option, along with #1 ballhandling, playmaking and clutch option. All of it to dispell your logic that Yao is more important or is looked at as the undisputed #1 option. It's also based on points, how much of your assists contribute to the overall team's assists, rebounds, etc... Great players are supposed to carry a team when the other star is out. T-Mac's abilities are a lot more difficult for Yao to make up than vice versa. That is why T-Mac is still more valuable. You can make up for some blocks and rebounds by having a fairly common, servicable big man to back up Yao. Finding a player with the ability to be a primary ballhandler, be able to attract constant double teams, and be both dangerous as a scorer AND playmaker in the 4th quarter is a lot harder to fill. Yao was scoring over 25PPG the last month of the 2005-2006 season (when T-Mac was out), and that was his 2nd highest scoring season of his career. It was the only season where the team missed T-Mac more than 15 or so games, where as Yao missed nearly 30 games every season, so that sample size is necessary. And again, last year, the team went 8-7 in games T-Mac missed and Yao played. Vice versa, they were 19-7. Throw in the fact that the Rockets had a much more difficult schedule when Yao missed his big streak of games, and it is a plentiful sample size to draw a conclusion from.
That depends on how you define "scoring option". If you think FGA is a valid measure without taking into account actual points scored than anybody who just jacks up lots of shots, regardless of whether it's a good idea or not, could qualify. What should matter is the actual number of points scored and there it's pretty obvious that Yao scores more points, on fewer attempts. One more time: Yao scores more points than T-Mac. So how many games did the Rockets win and lose without T-Mac in 2005/2006 when was scoring 25 ppg? And here's the other problem with trying to compare records when one player's out: it completely ignored the rest of the team. T-Mac went out right after the collapse against Toronto, early in the season, when the team was in full meltdown mode. Remember Yao's "soft" comment? On the other hand T-Mac came back to a team that had gelled, developed real chemistry and was starting to kick ass. Again, apples and oranges.
