Contrary to popular belief, I am sure Rudy has realised that Yao Ming should and will be the No. 1 offensive option on this team. And I actually think we have the right talent to complement him. Steve Francis is fine. Cat Mobley is fine. But... Problem 1: Yao's not a strong post-up player yet. We couldn't reuse the Hakeem playbook on him. >Solution: Yao's a great motion player. We should build a "motion offense" around him to take advantage of his strengths. But... Problem 2: We couldn't install a brand new offense in the middle of a season. This thing could only be done in the training camp. (Note: our previous "motion offense" didn't include Yao as the intergal part.) >Solution: Just run the offense through Yao, let him get everyone else involved through his passing, and if other players aren't open for a shot, let him take the shot. But... Problem 3: Yao's simply too tired/too inconsistent/not strong/not aggressive enough to take up this role every game. And we don't want to burn the kid out. This is a fact. So that leaves Rudy in a difficult situation. What could he tell his players about the game plan? Should he tell Steve go to Yao every time or tell him to do it himself? Our coach is confused. Our players are even more confused. I think our inconsistency simply stems from it. And I truely believe that come next season, our offense will get all right because Rudy will surely work on his center-oriented "motion offense" or Yao will get stronger and become a post-up player we need. F*** the other so-called problems (selfishness, passing, TOs, defense etc etc). Once your offense gets it right, your players would be happy to buy your system/philosophy on other areas. See the difference of Kings (from 00 to 01) and Mavs (from last year to this year). When your offensive system gets going, everything else would fall into places. Finally, my conclusion is that we are going to be inconsistent this season, we are going to have ups and downs this season. Our best hope is to sneak into the playoffs. Just don't call for Rudy's head or trade any players yet. Give them time.
interesting point. problem, is it worth to sacrifice this season to develop a "motion" offense through yao?
That's a interesting angle, and I think you might've got it right. If seen from carayip's angle, this season really isn't being sacrificed... at least not on purpose.
Excellent post Carayip... consistency is the key and right now we don't have that offensively (and last game our defense looked pretty piss poor as well), but I too believe that a full season, with some playoff experience to boot, will do wonders for this team. Not to mention a full training camp with all of our key players there.
the problem is that most of the rockets main scoring options are NOT great off the ball players, this doesn't mean that they DO NOT have the POTENTIAL to be, but SF and CM have never had the need to learn great off the ball skills because throughout their career they've dominated the ball on the dribble. So it's going to be a challenge to get a good motion offense up and running. However if SF and CM can learn these skills quickly rockets could be contending next year, if not, then who knows? A great trade would be to bring in Matt Harpring who is a GREAT off the ball player.
I disagree with this. In the game against the Cavs, Yao came out strong not in the first half, but in the 3rd quarter and the last 5 minutes of the game when he was supposed to be tired. He was the most important reason why we got back to the game that night. But in the first half we barely fed him the ball. Why? I firmly believe that the reason we started passing to Yao in the second half was due to pressure from the coach. Otherwise it would've been iso iso iso all the way. Now, Yao tired is NOT the reason. It's our team's lack of ability to excecute game plan.
You made some good points, carayip. Rudy doesn't have an easy job trying to blend Yao into the mix. No one expected Yao to have such a major impact so soon. But at the same time, Rudy has not done well making adjustment to correct some obvious problems that impeded this Rox team's progress. Sure Rudy's got a tough job, but that does not mean we have to accept mediocre performance. IMHO, changes must be made. Letting Rudy go is a good start.
Well, it doesnt appear that whatever we are currently doing is working. Lakers look to surpass us for the final playoff spot in a week or two. So I ask, why not give it a shot? Our iso hasnt worked for 3 years now.
