Anyone else wonder if this might help out the offense? 1. He's obviously struggling in the "power center" role JVG/Ewing are pushing on him to play. Physical centers and double teams seem to take him out of his game often. 2. His ability to shoot 20 ft jumpers seems to be forgotten, but would discourage zones (Dallas, TWolves). 3. Pulling opposing centers/PFs from the post would open things for Steve/Cat/other slashers. 4. They could run more high screen and rolls, which have been fairly effective. 5. Cato could set up on the weak side for offensive rebounding or alley oops (only shot he's capable of making). 6. Makes the offense a little less predictable. 7. May allow Yao to get some confidence back if he can get into the flow with some outside jumpers first. 8. Yao would be more effective passing to cutters without being draped by double teams. I'm not saying that should be done all game, but that throwing it in every 3 or 4 sets may help the offense out. His game seems to better fit Divac or Sabonis (passing, jumper, etc) What do you guys think? Evan
1. would you have said this after the detroit game? 2. while I agree that his long jumper is a great ability, i still wouldnt want my 7'6 310lb center with soft hands to play outside the paint. Doesn't matter if he doesnt have the mentality, with his body and his abilities, he's going to play in the paint, whether he likes it or not and it may take more than 20 games to take him to do this. 3. definetly like a lot of screens and rolls, but the team hasnt perfected this yet. 4. im still not confident in our guards slashing abilities if they can't even run a fast break effectively 5. he has the ability to be like a sabonis or divac, but i think with his physical size, shouldnt we at least try a year to force him to be more of a shaq-type center?
I'm saying throw this in every 4 plays or so - not switch to it exclusively. And yeah, I would have said it - been thinking it all year. Evan
I have to go with emjohn on this one: 1. Yao needs to play more high post. He is getting killed down low and is physically exhausted at the end of most games. He is simply not a power center and forcing him to be is causing him to be much less effective on both sides of the court. 2. Steve and Cat can use Yao as screens around 15-18 feet from the basket and set up Yao with open looks from there if they double Steve or Cat off the pick. They can run similar sets for MoT because he has a good mid-range jumper. 3. Gives Cato room downlow for offensive rebounds and putbacks (which should be the extent of his offense other than alley-oop dunks)
Nice thread, heyp-- uh, I mean "Evan." Mixing in more wrinkles would be good period. I agree with your arguments for the high post categorically. I do worry, however, that if we went to that habitually, his offensive boards would fall off too dramatically. Yao is a position rebounder.
Where is heyp, one of favorite Rocket Posters? Has he changed his name or been banned or gotten sick or what?
Strictly strategically more hp sets would be a welcome relief, but I'm assuming that what JVG is trying to address is a mindset in Yao; trying to instill the power player game, and probably feels that Yao needs to get that down before switiching him up, which could r****d the process and confuse him. Or maybe I'm just hoping there's a long term view in place here...
HELL NO!!! MAKE him learn how to work the low post. He's got Hakeem-ISH ability and Shawn Bradley height with a decent and improving physique, so he NEEDS TO ESTABLISH his low post skills. You do not make a player better by allowing him to ignore his inadequacies, unless they cannot be overcome and you decide that it's best to focus on the player's strengths. But Yao is better than that now, and that's saying nothing about his potential. JVG and Pat are teaching him. Yao's rebounding more and scoring more, so be patient with the young man and JUST HOPE HE GETS THE DAMN BALL MORE AND IN A BETTER LOW-POST POSITION TO DO SOMETHING WITH IT. P1st, S2nd
If you want Ming to become the next Rik Smits then go ahead and put him on high-post; if you want him to be dominant someday, he's gotta learn how to play down-low, anyway.
I don't think people are saying that he should abandon the low post game but just mix in some offensive plays with him in the high post. The offense is just WAY too predictable right now and needs some diversity to confuse the defense a bit.
JVG has said that he wants Yao to learn the low post before moving him to the high post. Centers that are dominant in the NBA must dominate inside before moving their games to the perimeter. The fact is, Yao's style of play is probably built for the high post, BUT, if the Rockets were to put him there now, it would very likely effect how great he becomes in the long run. Putting him in the high post might be effective in the short term but it would never really allow Yao to develop a true center's game that will allow him to become one of the greats at that position. IMO, JVG is doing exactly the right thing. Force Yao to suffer through the growing pains of learning the low post game, THEN put him at the top of the key and give him the option to shoot or hit cutters by looking over the defense.
I'm really waffling on this one. On one hand, Yao in the hpost opens up the driving lanes and takes advantage of his passing skills. On the other hand, Yao's lpost game is a work in progress. The bottomline for me may be this... If we're talking adding some hpost late this season...a delay is fine. If we're talking about hpost sets next season, that may be too long to wait. Like everyone else, the last loss to SA bugs me too. But I really honestly think the adjustments Yao needs in his game are totally mental ones. Maybe allowing him to have a narrow, short-term focus would be a good thing. Remember the "Little Penny" character/puppet/doll used in the commercials a few years ago? We need a "Little Walton" sitting on Yao's shouder saying "Throw it down, Big Man". And after that works, a "Little JVG" doll on Francis's shoulder screaming "Push it"!
The idea of forcing Yao to learn to play down low first is ridiculous. It is almost like telling a right-handed boxer to get into the ring to fight with his left hand only, until he is better with it. I bet any boxers will be braindead long before he or she is able to achieve it.
Guys like Yao LOVE playing in the low post. It is where they become great. There isn't a great big man in the history of the NBA that was predominantly a perimeter or high post player. The game for big men begins and ends on the low block in the NBA. If Yao is ever going to become one of the greats at his position, he MUST learn to dominate inside. Not only does it dramatically open up the floor for other players, but it forces defenders to play honest defense and make decisions they don't want to make. To make a more accurate comparison to your boxer analogy, it is like telling a heavyweight with great footwork to increase the power behind his punches. He might be able to evade opponents with his quickness and agility, but, eventually, if he wants to be a great boxer, he's got to be able to knock guys out. Before Yao can fully use his finesse, he has to learn a knockout punch.
While I agree, I don't think he should be using the low post so exclusively. It's one thing to make sure you improve at what you're weak at - quite another to nearly abandon what you're best at in the process. Playing to your weakness may make sense in the pre-season and off-season, or in blowouts... but not so much during the most meaningful playing time.
One, I think Yao should be in the high post more. Rember, even Dream took a couple of spot up 20 fters later on in his career. However... Two, while we can let Yao play the hp, that doesn't excuse him from not playing post, he needs to learn the post period. A predominantly high post center is just as bad or even worse to a teams flow of the game than a shoot first pg.
I agree. There are uninformed people who think height equals strength. Ben Wallace is many inches shorter than Yao, but Ben Wallace can probably lift Yao up right over his head. Yao's upperbody development is zero now. If the referees call touch fouls on Yao's defender, he will be alright. However, the Spurs game demonstrated what happens when the referees allow YMCA basketball with no fouls being called in the paint. He doesn't need to get Karl Malone type muscles, but he definitely needs to get in the weight training room during the offseason. Take a 6 ft Asian male with no muscle development and tell him to go post up a 5 ft 6 inch black muscular male in the local basketball park. He'll get pushed out of the paint every single time. Van Gundy should have recognized that Yao was getting killed in the paint by manhandling Spurs. Get him out of the paint and utilize his outside shot which allows him to conserve energy down the stretch. Getting pushed around in the paint is one of the most exhausting activities when playing basketball. If the refs were calling touch fouls, it's alright for Yao to stay in the post, but it was obvious the refs weren't calling squat right from the beginning of the game. Phil Jackson would have gotten him out of the paint. Van Gundy should have recognized this early in the game.
The problems of Yao Ming in the Power Center Position, which we all see in every Game, would be reduced quickly is we had a player that had the confidence and desire to pass quickly and accurately into Yao Ming when he is setting up. We are slow and cautious about passing into him when he is in a scoring position. The delays in execution allow the defence to react and Yao Ming to become still, while he thinks about things,he looses the ball, gets it slapped away or gets blocked about half of the time, its not playing to his strengths. When the timing is on and accurate Yao Ming doesn't get blocked and shoots a high percentage.My solution for this is playing Nachbar and JJ in the Small Forward Spot.Let them pass to Yao Ming and open up Steves Game.
