The bottom line, which is at least part of what I think A_3P0 is getting at, is that most every team in the league will find a way to take Yao out of the game, especially in crunch time. A lot of this is due to Yao's physical limitations. Yao will not be able to take over a series. He may have a big game or two but he can often be taken out by one player and light help defense in certain situations. He also gets winded easily no matter how you manage his minutes. This means other players will have to step up and that Adelman will have to adjust when Yao becomes ineffective for whatever reason. Because of the lack of a true secondary scorer, the onus will be even more on Adelman to coach well and respond during games and between games. He needs to help the rest of the team, particularly the inexperienced guys and Artest, succeed and make plays when Yao is not an option. Adelman is known as a hands off type of coach. This has its strengths and its weaknesses. How well he handles the kids and Artest during the playoffs will be an interesting situation.
it's really unfortunate knowing that our franchise player will be ineffective at times during games. Greg Popavich must have an easy job.
That was his 4th season with the Kings and the Jazz were in decline when the Kings finally beat them in the playoffs. more than details but whatever...
Good post. "Hands off" won't work in the playoffs. This is when a head coach must command enough respect from the players that they do what they are told. I'm very curious to see if Artest can control himself and stay with the plan when circumstances go south.
Yup, it's my fault though. It really wasn't a key point in this discussion. My bad. The fact of the matter is that while we may disagree about where Yao's limitations lie, there is no question that Adelman and the rest of the players will be tested big time in the postseason. On paper, we will likely be overmatched at multiple positions. It will take great coaching, teamwork, Artest playing smart basketball, a few of the young guns playing over their heads and a healthy dose of luck to get anywhere.
yes. and i don't think we were really disagreeing on anything. we were just arguing. as far as yao's limitations, i think physically his biggest weakness is his stamina. though he's improved that quite a bit, he's still easily getting fatigued. that's a big difference b/w him and shaq. what makes shaq an all time great, one foundation is that he could move his heavier-than-yao's body tirelessly all the time in his heydays. yao isn't able to do that. of course one can make a case for yao's mentality, too.
these 2 gentlemen right there, will be the most important 2 for our playoff success. and adelman often time appears to be laid back, but he's hardly "hands-off". http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/6342584.html
Hands off doesn't literally mean hands off in this case. It doesn't mean he does nothing because he doesn't care or because he's lazy. He just believes that an offense runs more effectively when it is less predictable and based on reaction. Adelman is the type of coach that lets players play through their mistakes and he prefers a more dynamic offense where players read and react to defenses. Instead of calling every play from the sideline (hands on or JVG style), he prefers to let the players make decisions (hands off). He believes it's more effective and it definitely can be with the right personnel. The players have to have great chemistry and high bball IQ for it to work. I think Adelman, like Jackson, can maximize the ability of a talented team. Not all coaches can do this. Some don't know when to let talent do it's thing and not overcoach. Adelman can lay out the framework for success on the offensive end but the players have to be able to execute a more dynamic brand of basketball. A guy like JVG, because of his rigid nature and hands on approach, can maximize the ability of an average or below average team. Some coaches can't do this either. They don't develop players as well and don't know what to do with players that are inexperienced or undertalented.
Yao had 25/10 that series, but it wasnt efficient. It was a volume shooting 25 he got cuz no one else besides McGrady could score. Shot 44%, good for a guard and most players but for Yao and the Rockets thats 10% less than what the Rockets need to advance. Itll have to be a total team effort to win in SPITE of Yao, at least you have to look at it that way. Looking at the roster, playoff version McGrady's better than Artest, Battier's still Battier. But Scola over Juwan Howard, Landry over Hayes, Brooks/Lowry over Rafer/Head. Then you got Wafer & Barry over anything the '07 team had. So there's more depth this time and you at least know more than 4 players will actually score in a game.
no argument there. one thing, though, is that in the playoffs (and this year in particular since we are playing a lot young players) adelman may want to tighten the leash a little bit; because you only play 4-7 games in a series (as opposed to an 82-game regular season). the margin of error is a lot smaller and there won't be a lot of opportunities to "play through" yout mistakes. that's why i always feel coaching is of extra importance in the playoffs. i fault our playoff failures in the dallas and utah series under jvg partly to his stubbornness and the unwillingness or inability to adjust.
agreed. (and never disagreed on this.) i was just saying if yao doesn't play well we'd probably lose, no matter what. it was the same going back to our championship years. yes we had many heroes, but if dream didn't play well, we'd probably have lost before we got there.
Absolutely. Yao must play well for us to be effective. The thing is I think it's equally important for other players to step up. In the Dream scenario, he COULD take over games, especially IN CRUNCH TIME. Yao is our stud but he can't take over games consistently like other superstars. So, in the case of the 08-09 Rockets, I think the rest of the team will be as much of a factor as Yao. We won't succeed without both the supporting cast and Yao excelling. Again, some superstars can lead a team to a series victory where several of the role players don't play well. We can't afford that. We don't have that luxury because we have zero players that you can count on GAME IN AND GAME OUT to step up in crunch time. More than was the case with Dream and other teams that have that big time superstar, we have to bring it collectively.
I thought this was supposed to be the Phoenix Suns appreciation thread? I want Suns to keep winning until they meet the Rockets. They have such old players (Grant Hill 36, Nash 35, Shaq 37) - for most of them this could be their last hurrah... if they somehow managed to get in the playoffs and knock Lakers off... it will be a fairytale. Go Suns!
Would you please tell me the history Sonics vs Rockets? I am too young and do not know many things about Sonics.
Yao's been in the playoffs 3 times. Each time against a different team, and, for the most part, he improved every time. You can definitely fault him for not being as effective against the Jazz two years ago, but that aside his scoring and rebounding were both up. Heck, he shot 66% against the Mavs in the playoffs and they also lost that series. And the final factor to consider, in the match-up against the Jazz, and the reason it is such a bad one for the Rockets, is not Yao on offense versus Okur as much as Yao (and the team) on defense. You can see it on his face. He is, and has to be, focused on defense twice as much as he is on offense against the Jazz. He can't guard Boozer effectively and shouldn't guard Okur (because if he does so effectively then the rest of the team defense suffers). Aside from occasional matchups with other teams, this is not a problem Yao will have to this degree for any of the other playoff teams. Fortunately, this will also be Utah's downfall. Their post players prefer to play outside than inside, and when not faced with the singular Houston Yao advantage, in the playoffs, that will be much less effective.
Getting back to the original purpose of this thread, the Suns have are making it interesting. They bombed their 7 Games of Doom stretch, but they're 2-0 on their 9 Games of Mostly Doom. If they take off, they could really challenge for a Playoff spot. I don't think they'll catch Dallas. They play in Dallas one more time, but the Mavs are up 2-1 already. Dallas has won 9 straight at home and they play 7 of their last 11 in Dallas. The Jazz and the Blazers are intriguing. The Suns have a 2-1 advantage on both of those teams. They play in Portland tonight and in Utah on Saturday. If they win of those games, they clinch tie breaks over both teams and are no more than 3 games back on each team. I could see Utah falling flat on the road, and if the Suns stay red-hot they could surpass them. The Hornets also bear watching. They seem like a team about to implode.
