This isn't a "pass the ball to Ming!" diatribe, but a post about which players feed Ming the most and get him involved in the offense. Seems like it's a virtual guarantee that Ming will get the rock in the post when Rice has the ball on the perimeter. Probably in large part because Rice has no first step, but perhaps also a sign of his veteran savvy. I've also noticed that Posey immediately passes it to Ming whenever he sees him flash through. It's a promising sign, given that Posey will likely get more and more playing time as he gets more comfortable with his teammates. This isn't a knock on Stevie or Cat, considering they can create their own shot at will and are the team's top scorers. But it's just something I noticed watching the rout of the Bucks. I wonder if there's a stat out there to see who has earned the most assists passing to Ming thus far this season. Side note - Have buddies Boki and Ming been on the court at the same time yet? It'd be fun to watch them play together. And on another note, I wish Stevie and Ming would practice that alley-oop play that Steve's perfected with Cato. Seems like Cato gets two or three guaranteed buckets with that play every single game. Perhaps as Ming gains more confidence ...
I thought about that alley-oop play with Yao too but I think it works with Cato because he often falls under the radar on offense. I think maybe Yao demands too much attention and, as great as he is, he can't really explode the same way.
I am not positive, but I don't believe that steve and ming could run that play effectively. I think the only reason that it works is that cato's defender doesn't honor his offense and looks to double team. This allows Cato to flash to the basket for the oop. Ming's defenders don't want to be on sportscenter so they usually stick pretty close to him thus negating the oop
Actually, what I would like to see is Ming up top with the ball, and then have Francis and Cat cut to the basket for alley oop tosses from MING. This way, the opposing team's biggest player is out of the paint, and the ball is in the hands of the team's best passer. I bet we could get some easy buckets like that.
A main reason that we see Rice and Posey passing the ball into Ming is that is how the offense is run. Most of the time when the Rockets are running a Ming post up play it calls for the guards to pass it to the SF then the SF passes it to Ming in the post. The only time we really see the guards pass to Ming is at the top of the key where Ming becomes a passer. I think he finally took a shot there against the Bucks last night.
Anybody else notice the Rockets setting up Cuttino in the low block to set a pick for Yao to help Yao establish position quicker without being pushed outside? It seemed to work to get Yao closer to the basket to accept the inlet pass. Just another example of Cuttino changing his game to help Yao.
I don't remember offhand, but I DO remember seeing Steve do the same thing. It looked pretty good. DonKnutts- Yeah, Boki and Yao have played together not to long ago. Against the Knicks, they played near the end. In one play, Boki was trying to get the ball to Yao and Sprewell, I think, backed WAY off to try and double Yao. Boki then shot a 3, I think, and swished it. I can't remember if they played together last night, but they may have. (good chance.)
They did not play together last night. Yao went to the bench at 8:30 in the 4th quarter. Boki did not get in until the last 7 minutes.
That's what I thought. I thought they might have, but didn't remember seeing them together. That was a lot more time than usual for Boki, but I was wanting him in there at the start of the quarter.
Boki and Yao seem like good friends. I guess they're both rookies from another country. Yao does well with Moochie, Cuttino, and Steve. That's what I have seen. In the Lakers game, I noticed Maurice Taylor did good with Yao. Rice and Posey just pass to Yao.
I was watching those 2 during warmups against the Hornets. I laughed a lot as they would "attack" each other. I remember seeing Yao do some horses and on his way back, he hit Boki as he was shooting. I have also seen him has his hand around Boki neck, from the back. Almost looked like he was choking him. I also enjoyed seeing Calvin Murphy mess with Yao and try to shoot in his face.
That's a good point that I failed to mention ... it goes from top of key to SF to Ming usually. And yeah, Ming hit that shot last night. He was great in the whole third quarter, scoring on an array of different shots. Those Bucks announcers were kinda weird though. Sounded like two random fans thrown together in the booth.
heh...Yao just took that shot. And he made it. Of course he made it! They don't even contest it. Yesterday's defense against Yao was much nicer. They weren't as mean and aggressive. They let Yao get so close to the basket. No stategy I guess. I like it. But not good for the other team. Anyways, Yao can shoot!!! I was watching Cato and he was like wide open cuz no one cares. He had the ball. I wish he tried to shoot a 3 for fun. He's SO WIDE OPEN. Yao should shoot a 3 too. Tim Duncan made one.
After that "sportscenter over the head" pass/assist, first to Moochie, then Cat last night, I am guessing that there are at least two players who are starting to get playing with Yao.
Of all the guards, I think Moochie does the best job of getting Yao involved. This could be either becasue he's a more pass-oriented point guard than Steve or Cat or becasue he doesn't possess the offensive skills take it himself. As far as plays go, i particaularly like it when they swing the ball from the SF back to the top and rifle it in to Yao as he flashes across the paint. He gets the ball in much better position than when he has to post up in a normal half-court set. Teams are starting to focus in on Yao defensively, and we'll have to do some more creative play-calling like moving him in and out of spots to get him the ball.
Compatibility Report: 1) As Mobley's Cat3.0 software is not stable and resource (shoot) consuming, therefore, he is upgrading to Cat3.1 so that he can be more compatible with Yao1.0 2) After we start using Yao1.0, Cato4.1 is used as a backup software. 3) Boki1.0 is still undergoing "user acceptance test", that probably takes a year. 4) Moochie2.0 and Rice9.1 are highly compatible with Yao1.0, but usually don't work in standalone mode. 5) Yao2.0 will release in Q4 2003, a more stable and feature rich edition that will work great with SF4.0. Sorry for ruining the thread KH
