In years past, it has been no secret that the biggest obstacle for the Rockets was the "small-ball" strategy, in which after opponents rendered Yao Ming ineffective, our entire offense crumbled. We could always compete with the bigger teams, but when Phoenix ran, when Dallas put Howard at center, and most notably when we played Golden State, we really had no chance to win. 1. teams simply ran Yao Ming off the court. He couldn't keep up, and went to the bench. 2. Golden State fronted Yao with Al Harrington at center and doubled him off of Chuck Hayes, while killing him on the other end. He went to the bench. 3. Dallas in '05 played Josh Howard in stints against Yao and he murdered him. They've also used other guys very effectively in this manner. 4. After Yao did go to the bench, we simply didn't have the firepower to compete. This tactic is no longer a viable threat for numerous reasons: 1. the trading of Shawn Marion has turned PHX into a conventional team which can no longer exploit Yao's immobility. 2. the departure of Baron Davis to LA takes Golden State out of the picture. They will still try and run, but won't be successful without a point guard and leader like Baron Davis. 3. 1&2 essentially means that with these personnel changes, there isn't anyone of any relevance that will even try "smallball" anymore. Essentially, "smallball" is now a thing of the past in the Western Conference. However, in the unlikely even it's not... 4. Most importantly, the emergence of Luis Scola. It wasn't the pace that took Yao out of the game, but rather the gimmicky strategies of doubling him off of the ball. Chuck Hayes, Ryan Bowen, and Juwon Howard weren't worth guarding. We saw last year in the blowout win against Golden State minus McGrady, that both Scola and Yao will now make you pay if you try this. Teams can no longer double Yao off of the ball because we actually have a presence at the '4.' This is compounded if Landry returns and is healthy. 5. After all of this, if some team does manage to force Yao out of the game, we actually have the talent now to compete. Artest and Scola, in addition to McGrady, can carry the offense. The broader implications here are that there is no "style" of team that can give the Rockets matchup problems. They can grind it out against the bigger teams. The smallball teams are gone, but if not, they can combat that strategy too. They will still get killed by certain point guards, but that's just one single matchup, not an entire strategy. Teams will have to adjust to the Rockets, rather than the other way around.
Let them play small ball and have Yao Scola Battier Artest and Mcgrady on the floor. See who gets the rebounds.
excellent post! what the rockets have is a deep, talented, versatile team. this goes for offense and defense.
whoever's fronting Yao, put Artest and Tmac on the floor with Brent Barry at the corner. Fronting requires another guy at the back to recover when a pass is made, that case corner three would be open. Or just let Artest post up!
Funny you should mention that GS game. I believe that is the first game Luis Scola officially began to start at the four. And the Rockets never looked back. As soon as the players recognized that defense, that was starting to become popular by all teams to do to us, they swung the ball to the open Landry or Scola and made them pay. The presence of Yao and McGrady gave them open shots. Ron Artest will open a whole lot more can of worms for opponents. Great job by Morey since he's been handed the reigns.
Great post Cabbage, more of these are needed in the GARM..... This is so true on so many levels, more than anything in the last 2 years Morey has transitioned the Roster from one of plodding dump it in to Yao and shoot the 3 ball into one that can compete with so many different styles of play. Just look at the additions in the last 2 years and what they have meant... Scola - The guy may not be fast but he can hustle his butt off and plays physical no holds barred style of ball, but more importantly team's have to honor his elbow jumper. Artest - What more can you say, this guy can do it all, and while Battier is good, getting offense AND defense is a Major plus. Barry - I really believe he will be a major contributor and provide a large lift to the team this year, having a smart bench player who can shoot, drive and pass will help the 2nd unit get easier shots and lord knows we need that. Brooks - Unclear whether he will develop into a natural PG, probably not, but he can certainly be a one man press breaker with his speed, and as a change of pace, he could be the get up and go if the team wants to run... Landry - A smallish PF with freakish hops, his thunderous dunks are demorilizing to the other team.....before you could leave Hayes and double...with Scola and Landry that is not an option. Others that may help out and are more versatile... Mike Harris, Steve Francis, Maarty Luenan....... This roster has undergone a major makeover with basically nothing but a wizadry wand....well done Morey and well done Les (for being willing to take a gamble).....my hat is off to you both. DD
the 3 point shooting center is a good point, yao deff. has trouble getting out on players like dirk. and okur so what you do is throw artest on them, if they wanna shoot the three he's gonna contest it, and a big guy like that is gonna have a heck of a time beating artest to the basket, scola isnt as strong of a defender as artest, but i believe in his ability to play this perimeter defense against a bigger guy, and i hope to see this ability in the very long athletic joey dorsey..
Great post. I think the team that might still give us the most trouble will actually be New Orleans now (and the Lakers).
there aren't a lot of those out there. illgauskas, sheed, al harrington (when they go small), miller, bargnani, okur. all of those teams have something in common. they all have a 4 who plays the post. yao can always guard the 4 like he did against utah in the last 2 playoff series.
i'd like to see what happens if the rockets put artest on paul. remember when phil put pippin on stockton in the finals?
Yao will never be able to guard the perimeter... so we've got help Yao get the better of those matchups. That means effectively spreading the floor and getting him the ball early in the shot clock. Sounds easy enough, and I think Barry will make his biggest impact in this area, but the team still doesn't have it down to an art.
The problem with the Rockets in the years past-- particularly in 2004-2006-- was that the Rockets didn't had the kind of team that could either match-up with small-ball squads (not enough big and quick wings and combo forwards to keep up with these guys if Yao sits) or punish them (presumably by crashing the hell out of the boards). That started to change with first the repalcement of 6'1'' Wesely with 6'9'' Battier, then the addition of the offensive rebouding duo of Scola and Landry (and Chuck isn't bad there, either). I still remember the 05 series with Mavs, when Avery Johnson went small with Dirk in the Middle (Dirk guarded Yao, but Yao guarded Josh Howard or M. Daniels-- the least consistent jump shooters on that team) and the Rockets tried to adjust by playing with only one big (either just Yao or just Juwan Howard) and 4 wings, Mavs were simply too big and too fast with Josh Howard, Michael Finely, Marquis Daniels, Stackhouse, etc killing Mike James, Jon Barry, David Wesley (and an injured Sura). McGrady and Ryan Bowen (yikes!) were the only perimeter guys who could match up with these Dallas players physically, but both of them were pulling Dirk Nowitzki duty when they were on the court. Now not only can the Rockets match up with these kind of guys by trotting out McGrady, Battier, and Artest at the 2-3-4 (and either keeping Yao In or pulling him for Scola or Landry), they can also just stay with the tradition lineup and punish the opposing team by sending Yao, Scola/Landry/Chuck after the offensive boards.
I agree,Yao can only be a decent/good low post defender.He has to be a goalkeeper. I'm not implying that he is better than Deke in this role.
Sorry, I was just being pedantic... This thread makes me ponder how the Rockets are suddenly a really versatile team that can play small ball against other teams. They played the Jazz pretty well going small and using their quickness. They just didn't have enough offense to maintain an attack, but now they do. With a lineup of say Dorsey at the 5, Landry at the 4, Artest at the 3, McGrady at the 2 and Brooks at point they could really hound teams on defense and get out and run teams out of the gym. It will be interesting to see what Adelman does with all of this.
I don't even want to think about what happens if Landry returns and is at full health. That's just unfair.
