Hey with Deke proving he can still play, how about when Yao comes back we use Deke, Yao, Hayes and Howard in various combinations, but once in a while, depending on the matchups, play Yao at the PF spot for 5-10 minutes and Deke at Center? It gives us extra height, shot blocking and rebounding. And drives the opponent a little crazy for a while trying to drive the lane. And on offense could this possibly give JVG some incentive to use Yao a little more creatively - sometimes - maybe 5-10 mpg. Our offense becomes a little less predictable, Yao moves more, and we might have fewer turnovers - something we have seen with Yao and the low post pound offense out for a while? Personally I think the whole team is gonna be better anyway with the increased offensive experience with Yao out. And I don't want to lose that experience.
I had the exact same thought last night. I'm not sure how well it would work but it'd be interesting to see.
I've been thinking this for the last 3 or 4 games. I'm not sure if it's realistic because we don't have another alternative at center other than resorting to smallball, but hey, we've been doing that anyway with Yao out right? It's definitely an interesting idea.
This has been done before but very briefly. It was so long ago too I don't remember what affect it had, plus the both of them seem to be playing at the top of their game right now.
not fast enough combination. They would get killed on lateral movement. I still think you have to start hayes next to yao because of his foot speed. Juwan is a nice player and all, but the gain he gives you on offense would be negated with the lack of speed between him/yao. Ideally you could give juwan hayes speed or hayes juwan's jumper but that's just not happening .
Yes, it has been done before and it was a disaster. Yao and Deke are both VERY immobile guys. Plus Deke doesn't have any offense so that guy can just double Yao at PF. Having those two on the court at the same time would easily allow teams to readjust their lineup to take advantage of two huge slow stiffs in the middle. The original twin towers, Dream and Sampson, were just the opposite. Both were very mobile and both could score. The Spurs twin towers followed the same mold. Both were mobile and both could score. This proposed twin towers. Neither are mobile and only one can score. It won't work.
Twin Towers only works if it's Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon. if you can't figure out why that is, stop watching basketball.
Defensively, it would be interesting at the very least as the Rox could run a 2-3 zone with Deke and Yao on either side of the lane and the 1-3 spots guarding the perimeter. People would think 2-5 times about going into the lane with those guys standing at the basket. Offensively, we would give up a bunch though. Yao would get doubled by Deke's man constantly and unless Yao could make them pay with passes to Deke on the weak side, it wouldn't work. Plus, who would play backup center? Deke and Yao would both have to rest at some point and I like that when Yao sits, there is not much drop-off defensively with Deke in the game. An intersting idea, but one that is unlikely to gain much traction with JVG.
I disagree with some of you saying that it would hurt us offensively. We've been using Hayes at the 4 a lot when Yao was playing, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't give us any more points than Deke would (over 2, less than 10). On offense it would probably result in more offensive rebounds, and less points from the 4 position compared to Howard though, and I think he's also proving that he deserves plenty of play time even when Yao comes back. The problem with the Twin Towers idea for this team is that even though we'd be the best defensive rebounding team in the league, we'd be the slowest defense in the league (picture every defensive play being a 5-3 "fastbreak" against us). Plus, who would become our back-up center? I like the idea, but I think there are too many holes in it. What we should be loving about the way Deke and Howard are playing is that a) Deke should be able to spell Yao a bit more often when Yao returns, resulting in a more rested Yao in the 4th quarters of games. b) When Yao returns, Howard deserves plenty of play time, either as a starter or as one of the first guys off the bench.
I am not sure if JVG is creative enough but I have been secretly hoping that it migh be used to trick our opponents in the playoffs.
Nope. Neither are mobile enough to defend out on the perimeter. If we ever try it, it would be for defensive purposes on end of the quarter in bounds plays, or maybe (in rare instances) to match up against San Antonio when they're playing Duncan and Oberto.
For those who said it's been tried in limited minutes and didn't work out: based on that logic, VSpan and Novak will never work out. For those who said that they aren't mobile enough side by side, how is it so very different than starting Kelvin Cato next to Yao?
