Rick Adelman On How to Deploy Yao Ming & Tracy McGrady

all im saying is that yao is one of the best low post players in the game and i want him closer to the basket more often than not. Yao has everyshot in the book on the low block. Great FT shooter. And people are going to foul him...by yao working down low and being aggressive he can single handedly get the opposing teams front line in foul trouble.

 

Yeah, I see how that could work. I'm just not sure Yao can handle all that banging down low for season after season.

 

maybe, but his injuries have come from freak accidents, rather than banging, right? toe nail, stepping on a dudes foot (can happen anywhere on the court) and coming down on from rebound.

 

dont forget working down in the block wears down your stamina fast, especially with all the fouling that doesnt get called

 

Wow, this thread has been....interesting. Pyuren - you are the best - thanks for your unique insight. yao_fan_2007 - please...I am a huge Yao fan (I grabbed this moniker as soon as we drafted him - are you jealous?), but Yao would be the first to tell you that he is most interested in the success of the team. If he wins multiple championships (which I think he will), his contributions will be recognized by those who vote on the Hall of Fame, even if his statistics aren't as spectacular as you think they HAVE to be. If you don't believe me, go read about this other ***HALL OF FAME*** center named Bill Russell - good but not great stats, but ***ELEVEN*** championships. If you don't think Yao would be thrilled with a career like that, you are truly delusional.

 

This seems like much ado about nothing to me. All I'm seeing from Adelman is that he wants to expand Yao's game, not get rid of his low post scoring altogether. It's about giving Yao more weapons to use against teams instead of letting him remain the predictable and easily defended scorer he was in the playoffs last season.

 

wow, yao fan 2007 is cuckoo

 

Great job again, Pryuen! Terrific read. A shame that goofus, yao_fan_2007, had to give me a headache while I was attempting to read the discussion generated by your thread. Fascinating stuff from Adelman. I'm as excited as I've been in a very long time about an up-coming season. This off-season just keeps getting better and better, the more I find out about Adelman and the more moves the team makes. Hard to believe we have to wait so long for the season to start. I hope we make another move or two, but if we go to war with what we've got, this is going to be a hell of a ride.

Keep getting us the info! Much appreciated.

 

maybe he should wear a dress then. Im a little tired of hearing about his stamina and such. Yes, i understand its not that good but when you start gameplanning and take away someone's strength because of a weakness, then you are getting into trouble. Yao should be able to go 32-35 minutes, whether banging inside or not.

like i said, yao at the high post a little, fine. BUt ultimately his butt needs to be on that block with his back to the basket for a majority of the time and especially in crunch time.

 

I believe Adelman is saying Yao will be Miller AND Divac, not Miller or Divac.

 

Yao's stats for season 2007/2008: 27 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers.

My prediction

 

you forgot 2007-2008 MVP.

 

It seems to me that Adelman's strat would make it a lot more likely Yao becomes MVP than just sitting him under the basket.

It seems like Yao is going to be somehow involved in most every offense possession by either setting it up or scoring making it apparent to anyone watching just has valuable he is to the team. His assist numbers should soar. and I doubt his scoring will drop much if at all.

 

Can I add that I dislike the emphasizing of words with color? It's annoying.

Doesn't really matter to any of yall that bothers me, but I just had to share

 

I'm sorry.

 

actually that wasn't as bad because it was darker with the rainbow! LOL

Man now I have really derailed a good thread. Sorry!!

 

And you forgot NBA Finals MVP too

 

oh, indeed.

 

If Yao hits a few jump shots from the ft line, I guarantee you the center will come out and guard him. If his shot doesn't fall on a particular night, I guarantee you he will go back to the low post.

This fallacy has so many people (including JVG) harping on: Yao is efficient in the low post. So he should take all the shots there.

The same logic would tell Chuck Hayes to shoot the most shots because he has the highest fg%, or tell every player not to shoot anything other than layups or dunks because those are the highest percentage shots.

What they neglect to see is that there are other factors in "efficiency" than just percentage. These factors include how easily you can get the high percentage shots. Sure I want every shot to be a layup. But how easily can you get a layup? I am pretty sure that the invention of the jump shot was due to the fact that all defenses had figured that they should most heavily guard the area under the basket so that the opposing offense wouldn't get easy layups.

That's exactly how Yao has been defended. They crowd him. They double/triple team him down low. They push him. They send small guys to strip him the ball. Yes, Yao is the most efficient scoring down low IF he gets the ball and doesn't get all the above mentioned treatment by the defense.

Listen to what Adelman says. He is going to try to make Yao and McGrady's life easier, meaning, give them easier shots. The way to do it is the have a lot of movement, including Yao's movement. Having Yao moving between low post and high post is one of the ways to give him easier (more efficient) shots.

The reason he can do that is because Yao CAN shoot and pass. Shaq couldn't operate from the high post even if Adelman was his coach because Shaq CAN'T shoot outside of 5ft from the basket. Count it a blessing that our center is a beast down low AND can shoot a midrange shot if the defense give it to him.

This situation is similar to a penetrating perimeter player. Sure it is good to attack the hoop rather than just settle for jump shots. But you can't get to the basket all the time. If you do, the defense will just wait underneath for you to come. You have to mix it up to keep the defense honest. If you can hit a consistent jumper, that makes it a lot easier for you to drive to the basket. Some players can't drive. Some players can't shoot. What separate great perimeter players from one-dimensional players is the ability to do BOTH.

Aren't you glad that Yao Ming is NOT a one-dimensional player and we have a coach who wants to exploit that?