Just sitting here in a daze, waiting for the baseball morons to strike, so we can pay complete attention to football, until it's time for the basketball season to start.. And I remember some of the pure games I used to watch, back in the mid-80's, with the Celtics and the Lakers, and some of the other teams.. I was going to school in Dallas at that time, and I had watched the Mavericks pretty much from their inception. It didn't take them long to get pretty good, because they had a good coach (Dick Motta) and slowly but surely were gathering good talent onto the team. I liked it back then before the days of the 'pure athlete' (cough cough no talent cough just leaping ability cough) which we seem to be stuck in now.. Back then, guys had very specific roles on their team. The point was the main passer, played defense well, scored very little. The 2 was the big scorer along with the 3. The 4 and 5 guys were there for defense and rebounds.. and some scoring.. One of the things I liked most was watching Rolando Blackman zipping around the court without the ball, past about 4 solid picks, and receiving a pass and lofting a perfect shot into the basket all in one motion.. it's something we almost never see today, because it requires basketball skill and IQ and a team actually playing as a team. And watching Stockton and Malone running that pick and roll so well for what seems like 20 years now.. And I realized that now, with Ming, we have a guy who is capapble of filling half of that plan.. with the base the guy has, and how apparently fluid he is, can you imagine how well he could run the pick and roll, with the right teammates to run it with? And imagine Ming being the last pick in a series of screens to free up a shooter for an easy and demoralizing 12-footer? You know Rudy has got to have already been thinking this same thing.. but who on this team is capable of thriving in that kind of set? Steve or Cat? Nachbar maybe? Maybe none of them? It would just be so sweet to see some more of that semi-old-school play again. All it does is make everyone around him (Ming) play better.. but it's just not very flashy.. and I wonder if Rudy would be able to get the guys we have now to buy into that kind of a style.. Whaddya think? ciao
Yeah, I remember Ro Blackman, running from behind the screens, catching the pass, jumping, turning, and shooting in one motion, nothing but the bottom of the net! Sweet! Seldom see this kind of shooting these days. I wonder if it's because they can't find a shooter who can do that or can't find teammates who can set the picks and make the pass any more. I know Reggie Miller can do that. The Pacers used to run that kind of plays for him. Ming is good enough a shooter to run the pick and roll. But I think he is also good enough a passer to give Rudy even more options in the post. Remember the Spurs used to use Robinson as a point center? Now that we have another slasher in Boki, I bet Rudy isn't sleeping much these days with all the possible new shemes running in his head.
Heypartner has suggested before the rockets may employ the UCLA cut - an effective, high-post pick and roll variation, employed with famous success by Coach Wooden and talents Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton. You might check the search function - there in the top right menu bar. This makes perfect sense, would result in easy baskets, uses our team talents.
I have seen some pnr with ming and the chinese national team and he can run it...he is so smooth with his footwork that the UCLA cut is something that would work perfectly....
I'd love to see it Nero. Some good old-fashioned fundamental basketball. The pick&roll is a great option for our team becseu we have super-quick guards and pretty fluid big men who can also shoot (EG andd Ming). Even Cato can be effective on a pick&roll if he's interested. As you may guess, I'm not a big fan of the iso offense, so this would be a welcome change. Other fundamental suggestions include learning how to execute a fast break, abiding by a self-imposed 5-second rule, and backdoor guard cuts . Ming sounds like a good passer from the post while Steve and Cat (and Boki?) can finish with the best of them.
I haven't even thought about the pick and roll, but Ming is perfect for it as far as we know. The man can shoot and pass, not only that but shoot the midrange quite well. I don't believe that the pick and roll is out of date. I hope we add it to our offense. Brilliant idea for Yao Ming!
Have you guys seen the video shot by 3184? Everybody was raving about the last spin move. But that play was started as a high pick and roll near the sideline. Ming sreened off the guard defender and handed the ball to his guard. The defenders got confused and double on the guard leaving Ming unguarded. BTW, when Ming caught the pass, he could have pop the wide open 17-foot jumper. Instead, he put the ball on the floor and made that spin move and got to the hoop in two strides. If I still hear people say Yao Ming "prefers to score from the perimeter" I know he/she has not seen him play.
