Is anybody else sick and tired of seeing the Rockets spend 12 seconds running a play to get a man on the wing open to try and force an entry pass to a fronted Yao? Heck knows, I am....so what's the problem? It's pretty simple, imo. When the play you run to get your post player in the post 90% of the time involves him moving towards the lane to pick the wingman, in effect forcing the defender on his back side as he turns to make the pick, it will be kind of difficult to turn around and post up without said defender fronting you. Stop Fronting Yao! Stop running that damned play! Alternatives to getting Yao the ball in decent post position. (1) The simplest and easiest would be to run the exact same play but just forget about the pick. If the Rocket player can't shake his man, run him off Yao's backside anyway, but without acutally having the pick (which is generally useless anyway) made...or do a quick backcut if you are still being overplayed. (2) The across the lane pick for Yao. This has been run somewhat more than last season, and I think it has been at least moderately effective...why not run it more? (3) The pick for Yao in the high post. Put Yao in the high post. Put two players on the block...say Mobley and Taylor. Have Taylor set the pick that allows Mobley to pop out to the wing to get the open pass. Have Taylor continu up the lane to pick Yao's man at the high post...Yao slides down into the block with good post position, or, if doubled, Taylor has a wide open shot at the free throw line - SIMPLE! (4) Take advatage of the fronting defense more often. Run some one to the high post immediately to drop the pass down to Yao for an easy layup/dunk....I think I saw this done once all year, with Scott Padgett as the passer back when he was seeing some PT. Or, if Yao is fronted and can't reposition to get around his defender, aboandon the post plan and go set a pick...by default at least one defender should be out of position. These are just some suggestions. I'm sure there are other ways - one of them has to be more effective at getting Yao good post position. I'm tired of seeing him expend his energy just trying to post up.
It's about the lob pass. That's one of the toughest passes to make in the game. The passer and receiver have to be in sync. What's the likelihood of that happening with this group of players?
It's hard to lab pass over a 7 footer, what I like to see is SF bounce a pass off the back board, I saw Horry doing this with Shaq, and it's hell lot more efficient than those plays.
I agree, the lob may be hard to get over a 7 footer but if you are throwing to a 7'5" player, you got some space there. Off the backboard is a good idea as well. If the Rockets got more lob passes into Yao then teams do more double teams and less fronting.
there was a nice strategy the Rockets used against the Spurs that I didnt remember seeign before. SF would set to give Yao the entry pass, Rasho was fronting him so he couldnt get the pass....so Mo cam over to set a pick for SF, SF then used the pick to fake driving to the middle....Rasho bit on it just enough so that he was beside Yao instead of in front of him...SF then went back to reset for the entry pass....by then Yao had sealed Rasho off behind him. SF got him the pass, Yao faked Rasho off his feet...and leaped in for the slam. It was one of the few plays they ran to prefection that night...but if you go back and look at it(for those of you with gametape, it was at 1:20 inthe 2nd)...you can see how it would be a very effective way to get Yao clear for the pass when being fronted. The defense has to respect and anticipate SF's driving abilities...therefore the opposing center would have to layoff Yao to help stop the drive. They could do the same, but instead of coming back across the pick to reset for the entry pass...Sf could pass back to another player who rotated over to where he had started at.
ugh...sorry...I got mixed up....it was Wilis that was playing against Yao on that play...so just subout his name instead of Rasho... dang, my left arm for edit...
Bounce a pass off the backboard? I was watching a Laker game and the commentator saw this during game. Someone passed to Shaq like that. It looked like an errant shot at first, but it was really a pass. Shaq got fouled on that play. However, the commentator said that is really tough to execute consistently. He said it would work in practice but not during the actual game.
I remember one play against the Spurs the Rockets ran. Steve was basically right in the middle of a drive to the basket. Yao came over to set a pick, and it freed up Steve for basically an uncontested drive to the basket. He got fouled. I think this sets the onus on Yao to set the pick at the right time or else an offensive foul gets called. I'd like to this kind of creativity more often.
I would think that a good way to handle the fronting would be to spread out their defense and begin an attack from the direction from which the defender is fronting Yao. For example... Yao gets fronted on the right. If he has space, Yao could move under the hoop to the left. Now, the defender is faced with a decision to either follow Yao and leave the right side open, or zone the right side and leave Yao open. Our offense should then attack in the appropriate weakness created by Yao's defender. -- droxford
yao is way too slow for any creative pass into the post. lob passes sail over his head that cato easily dunks. we saw in the second spurs game jj make him a post entry pass that was maybe 6 inches outside of his reach that any regular could react to and step towards to get but yao's size and speed only allowed him to reach for it and it sailed out of bounds. i don't think the lob is going to work consistently.
It is not that tough. Yao never fails to catch an inbounding lob pass. Well, the inbounder is JJ or Piat. Anyway, Yao seems capable to catch lob passes. We will never know until we try.
off the backboard? i don't think it'll work consistently. there's no way the passer can control the bounce of the ball. you'd be lucky if you can get the ball comfortably half of the time off the bounce.
I really do not think they practice passing to Yao that much. I don't see any improvement at all on the floor. Yao is not catching well, and some of the passes are just way off to his side. Guards don't even try to do the lob.
I don't see defenders fronting Cato. It's different when a defender is in front of you trying to prevent you from getting the ball. I look at the good quarterbacks in the NFL. The good ones practice with their receivers in the offseason. Is Steve practicing with Yao? Yao has the committment in China. Steve has his offcourt ventures. Will this tandem ever look like Peyton Manning to Marvin Harrison? I doubt it.
Maybe the guard should just jack a shot up. Guards should be giving a signal to Yao to inform him they will shoot, so he can immediately get in place for a rebound. Yao getting fronted will mean the defender will be in an awkward place in terms of grabbing a rebound. They will have to foul Yao over the back.
Watch the Sacramento Kings when they are in this situation. Webber is a master at being fronted. When fronted, the low post man seals off the defender and trurns to the inside of the lane. The other post man runs to the elbow and the wingman feeds the high post who then dumps it down to the low post for an easy dunk. Not once have I seen the Rockets even attempt to do this and I'm frustrated too.
King's offense is predicated on having five guys that can shoot and pass on the floor at all times. Reversing the ball only works if you have consistent enough outside threats that require the defenders come out and guard them. The way the Rockets are shooting, the defense will just slump off back into the lane and deny the reverse pivot pass while alowing themselves to somewhat come out and challenge the shot. There's a big difference between having Peja, Bibby, BJax on the weakside than JJ, SF, Mobley. All of the King's players are natural jump shooters. And while they will put the ball on the floor, they are most comfortable catching and shooting. The Rockets players are more comfortable putting the ball on the floor and will shoot if left open.
If Yao had some decent jumps and if he could get in sync with his passers, couldn't they simply execute alley oops when he's being fronted? With his defender fronting him, couldn't Yao take off unimpeded for the basket as the pass is thrown to the near side of the rim and he could launch, catch, and dunk?
