As another poster noted we run a hybrid Adelman offense and as long as we have a strong post presence we will never run a pure Adelman / Princeton offense. I like Wafer and have been impressed with his play but I will take healthy and more importantly MOTIVATED T-Mac in any offense over Wafer.
The bench does a good job simulating the style that Adelman wants, and as you mentioned the starters are playing a hybrid style of Adelmans offense. I think that this is a problem. Obviously, Yao is physically limited to what he can do, this means that only 80% of the starters are running the preferred RA style. Now add Tracy, who does not move without the ball, and you are running at 60% of the preferred style. Plus you take into consideration that all of our starters are slow and their offensive moves are predictable, and this is why you have a stagnated offense when Tracy is in the game. Even though Wafer is not as good as Tracy, everyone has easier shots when he is in the game compared to Tracy. Wafer also gives you more fast breaks.
Yes, That is absolutely right....... I do feel that we would be better off with a Michael Redd type player that would run off screens and play through the offense a bit more, even though Tracy is probably more talented...
Why do people keep saying Tracy doesn't EVER come off screens and such..? Watch the last game he played in, and previous season games and you will see that he does do that at times. If people want him to do it more, make that argument by all means, but stop with bs.
Key words are “at times”. The motion offense requires the players to be constantly cutting and trying to get open every second of the game. Not just standing in the same area for 95% of the time. It also requires its players to constantly move without the ball, which allows other players to get easier shots. Tracy rarely moves without the ball. This allows the defense to concentrate specifically on the person that has the ball. This is why Wafer can be more of an asset in this type of offense than a more talented player like Tracy.
Tracy is amazing, but doesn't work that well with Yao as the focus of the offense. Yao is amazing, but doesn't work that well with Tracy as the focus of the offense. >>>> Yao or Tracy should come off the bench. We'd have the best 6th man in the league and that can pay huge dividends.
Sometimes lessor players just fit better making the entire team better. Right now the way Wafer is playing off the ball is far superior to TMac....if Tmac were to play with the same passion and energy he would be better. But, Wafer is simply hungrier and the team needs that. DD
Well, yeah, Wafer is a much better fit right now. I think the great thing about having great players is that they can help the team win regardless of how they play. You plug them in and figure it all out later. Yao doesn't fit as well with an "Adleman offense" as the other bigs on our team do but that doesn't mean they're better for our team. Whenever Tracy Mcgrady gets back to playing great (if that ever happens) he'll be better for this team than Wafer. If he comes back limping around and is ineffective then of course Wafer works better with Yao and the rest of the team.
These threads are starting to get annoying. History speaks for itself when Yao and Tmac are both playing together healthy they have one of the best records in the last 5-6 years. I am glad Wafer is stepping up, it gives the Rockets another threat when/if the Rockets get healthy.
Agreed, but who is to say that with Yao and Wafer playing the Rockets would not be equal to or better? History can sometimes be an indication of the future, but when age, fitness, mental distractions are added in, it is not necessarily an indicator of future success. DD
The only way T-Mac/Yao/Artest will work is if they're all healthy and playing their games. T-Mac isn't going to magically turn into Rip Hamilton. His game is iso'ing and attacking. The first game of the season agianst the Mavs is how I envisioned our big 3 working. All of them could get to the basket at will. However, now that we have a conventional SG, we're seeing more team play and movement.
Tmac needs the ball to be effective, so does Yao. Wafer can run, shoot three, which makes the game easy for Yao, but Wafer is just a role player, Tmac need play better for this team to win.
Wafer is a player I've been talking about for years. While a lot of posters talked about spacing and all this other bs, I've wanted slashers. When I said a atheletic slasher, most said they wated smart spot up guys like you can't be both. That's why I wanted matt barnes,ricky davis,mo evans,azibukke and guys like that because they won't settle for just 3's when they're not hitting. People think a guy like shane is a benefit to tracy and yao when he's really not. He's actual a problem because his man sinks on yao and they close out "fast" because shane isn't a threat to put the ball on the floor. A guy like wafer and other slashers, the defense plays "slow" because there is caution of a blow by which kills your defense. When tracy has it and kicks it to yao and the defense reacts, they are on eggshells on the close out. Shane's guy, just like we saw against utah is they close hard because shane,luther,wafer, and even barry are only going to shoot if they're butt naked. So the defense know come hard and they will give it up. Well, the shot clock is going down fast and after the post kickout from yao, the others scared to attack or shoot, tracy now has the ball with the clock going down. I think wafer's play is more of a knock on shane and the other 1 dimensional guys we have than tracy. When the defense has to play yao and tracy with 3 men, that leaves a 3 on 2 somewhere, right?
That's exactly what I've been saying. Bullard said last year that if you could sum up the Adelman offense in one sentence it would be unguarded layups under the basket. What was the first play Bobby Jackson ran when he was traded to Houston last year? Hard back cut and a pass from Landry to get an easy layup. The rest of the team has got to make the opponent pay when they double Yao or T-Mac. I wrote over and over that the Rockets' players' eyes should light up every time they see a double because that means that they can start raping the other team. Von Wafer understands that. He and Brooks are so lethal because they can shoot the jumper and they can slash to the basket on their own when the jumper isn't falling. Also, that shot in the paint is going to be a much higher percentage one than the three.
Badgerfan- I do remember you also talking about this, but there was a whole legion of posters that thought that interferes or compacts the paint. The are valleys of lane to penetrate to the goal, but the rockets never had guys that could take advantage. A over aggressive team like utah void of shotblockers are primed for a guy thatcan slash. That's one reason why La always dogs them. No one cares about a guy taking a charge, but they look for shotblockers. Utah's best shotblocker is ak-47 and most times and he's guarding a perimeter player. Shane with his super duper high bbiq will just stay out at the 3 and do nothing to make his man guard him. Head tries to attack, but he's small.
How about we see what the Rockets' record is without T-mac and with Wafer instead? We almost lost to the Heat because Wafer couldn't throw it in the ocean in the second half. How many airballs have we seen McGrady throw up in his Rockets' career? Wafer might have surpassed him in one game. McGrady isn't 40. And, many players have played well for a few weeks only to be exposed later.
