Pistons Possibly Trying To Land T-MAC for Billups and T-Prince

a lot of people agree yao shoots fallaways too much ala tmac taking tough contested jumpshots instead of going inside for layups/dunks (also ala tmac).

both of our superstars are conceived as "soft." yao "settles" just as much as tmac buddy.

 

It looks to me like the only way you can defend T-Mac is to trash his teammates. "T-Mac sucks, but everybody else sucks too!". Was Yao even in the discussion? Why don't you bring up Kobe or James now?

Seriously, grow up.

 

kobe and james are better. tmac is not on their level so why? they're not rockets.

i simply said that b/c all the points you made about tmac and criticize him about it are mostly relevant to yao. basically, that's also a thing about our team outside of scola and landry

scola and landry are the only players that would give up a jumper to go to the basket (though scola can improve his finishing touch).

um, why are you so angry when we even bring yao into anything? this IS a discussion about tracy and yao to see who's more capable of being the better option. yao's name been brought up by you in every post dude. chill out.

 

Yeah - that Hakeem guy shot a lot of fadeaways too. He was soft!

Do you watch the Rockets? Do you not realize that Yao's turnaround is his go-to shot? That and the jump hook are his best moves. The only reason he was labeled as "soft" was because when he came into the league, he was 7'6" 140 pounds. His rookie year, he probably would've fallen down if AB leaned on him. But if you've payed attention to him at all these past two years, you'd understand that's not the case anymore. Yao is far from soft. Unfortunately once you're labeled with a stereotype, you won't ever quite get rid of it.

 

Why don't you bring up Penny Hardaway and Dale Ellis and talk about their shortcomings as well? Any time T-Mac's criticized not only do you automatically leap to his defense but the manner in which you do it is especially obnoxious. "Yao's just as bad, yadda yadda yadda". Well, at least Yao converts at better than 50%.

Here's some free advice: next time someone says "T-Mac doesn't take it to the basket enough" just say "Yup" and nod your head. It's not like that's an especially controversial statement unless you're such a T-Mac worshipper that you just can't let any criticism of the guy go unchallenged, no matter how true it is.

 

Damn, I should have thought of that. Hakeem's fadeaway was the most unblockable shot in basketball after Kareem's sky hook.

 

no, i watch the jazz series last yr and he was soft. after okur blocked him, he still shot fallaways and fallaways. after okur pushed him around, he refused to back down closer and try to dunk on him.

and did you watch hakeem? yes hakeem took his share of perimeter shots, but that was the case b/c most centers who guarded him respected his quickness and didn't guard him extremely close. those who did he outquicked and went to the rim. furthermore, hakeem was 250 lbs at his prime. he wasn't 300+ lbs like shaq or yao where they are physically overpowering or imposing on their opponents. yao is bigger than everybody he plays against. he's stronger than everybody he plays against.

if he's within 8 ft of the basket, i expect him to do some kind of power move instead of a fallaway.

 

The point is that Hakeem's trademark shot when he got older was a fallaway jump shot. There's nothing inherently wrong with that shot, for Hakeem or Yao. There is no requirement that Yao dunk exclusively, although he was a lot more aggressive around the basket this year. And what makes Yao the complete offensive package is his ability to hit from range.

 

That would make sense if you were talking about Shaq. Unfortunately, it's Yao. His game his jumpers and hook shots. I agree he got pushed around by Okur - he should've went to the jump hook more. But did you watch him this season? He was having a great year until going down. Yao is just starting to enter his prime.

He'll never be the backdown from 8 ft and dunk on someone type. In fact, in today's NBA, those types don't exist anymore. Now you see smaller, quicker centers who flop anytime anyone backs into them (Okur did this as well). It's impossible to play how Shaq used to play in today's NBA.

 

again, i simply point out to mentality in the similarity b/t tmac and yao. that's not a diss b/c both of our superstars have it in them.

yao CAN back down from 8 ft (8 ft is basically 1 dribble from the rim) and dunk on people. i've seen him do it. it's just his mentality (like tmac's mentality to take the easy jumper rather than drive and dunk).

howard is playing like shaq used to play. he looks to dunk every freakin' time and is breaking records doing it. so no, they do exist.

yao playing 40-50 games a year is not entering his prime. this past yr was his best overall year in terms of trying to make himself a complete player (his rebounding and stamina really impressed me). but offensively, his best was ending 05-06 and starting 06-07. he was putting up 27-28 and 11-12 consistently/

 

Dude common sense...you know what i meant, thats the problem with you.

 

i said when he's within 8 ft. rarely hakeem backs down anyone to 8ft b/c he is not physically imposing for him to do that. his set of talent is different from yao in that he's the first and better version of kevin garnett (or similar).

yao is bigger, stronger, and all his defender said he's the strongest player they face along with dwight. two totally different situations.

if yao could hit from range, the experiment with him at the high post would work to a T. it failed beyond misery.

 

When Yao puts the ball on the floor and backs down his defender that's a recipe for disaster if help defense is coming. Even with a double he's fine if he's got the ball over his head. It's when he brings it down to his waist or dribbles that he gets stripped.

Bottom line, as long as Yao convert at over 50% I don't think anybody really cares what mix of shots he's using to score.

 

1. Don't confuse number of dunks with playing like Shaq. Shaq would knock people on their butts backing down, then dunk on them. Howard uses his athleticism to go by people and dunk. Much like Amare does. Yes they both dunk a lot - but neither play like Shaq used to. Yao is too big to ever play like that.

2. Number of games played has nothing to do with a player entering his prime. We had more offensive weapons this year, so a dip in offensive numbers doesn't point to him not being in his prime. You said yourself he had his best overall year - hence the argument, he's heading into his prime.

 

Yao can hit from range--he's a legitimate threat from 12 to 15 feet out. He's just a much larger threat in the low post.

And the whole team is still learning Adelman's offense, not just Yao. I don't think the high post experiment is done yet.

 

the high post experiment WITH YAO is done. it is now done with tmac and scola.

 

Did you get Adelman to sign off on that?

 

amare rarely attacks his man straight up to dunk (he does it mostly on pick and rolls). i've seen howard back up and straight up dunk on his man without the need of the pick and roll. again, in the first post regarding this topic on top, i said just get to the basket. doesn't have to dunk, could be layup, finger roll, something that is right near the basket instead of a fallaway or jump hook all the time. yao's fg% is not 55% like a few years ago. you wonder why. it was for one time around 48-49% this past yr until he finally got into a rhythm and brought it to 51%.

tmac had his best overall season last yr in terms of playmaking along with scoring. i don't think he was "heading into his prime."

trust me, if you saw the yao that ended the 05-06 season and for most of 06-07, you know what i'm talking about. since he came back from the injury in 06-07, his offensive game has never been the same to me.

 

no that's what he said. and that's also what i saw on the court. watch games from the first month of season to the rest. yao was in the high post A LOT in the first month. rarely since (esp. after that miami game that we lost on national TV).

tmac at the high post, you saw a lot of that to end the season, and in the last 2 games in the playoffs. i don't know, maybe a sign of things to come?

 

When exactly did Adelman say that? What I've heard him say is that the whole team is adapting to the offense and that they're still experimenting. Even at the end of the season Yao was still splitting his time between the high and low post--his percentage of time at the low post had substantially increased though compared to the beginning of the season.

As for T-Mac in the high post who knows? It's a big improvement over him camping out at the three point line and firing shots from the parking lot. Then again when Adelman first arrived in Houston his stated intention for McGrady was to get him more shots rather than forcing him to create.