Looking at swifts fingers around the rim. It really amazes me how many of these guys that throw it down with such force do not dislocate or break a finger now and then....
Jermaine Oneal sank several face up jumpers from ten feet out. I think at least 3 of them. That's some points for him and his team. Oneal has been on an offensive tear lately (averaging 33 points a game recently) This is just another example how valuable a face up jumper is for big men nowadays, following the lead of Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitski, and Kevin Garnett. All premier big man in the league. I guess if Oneal 6 inches taller like Yao he would be called another Rik Smits. Yao can average 23 pts easy with a face up game and the team will be a lot better for it. Yet if a 7'6" guy shoots some jumpers he must be another Rik Smits, right?
This is a good point, but if we move Yao too far from the basket I fear our rebounding numbers will really suffer. He is not a great rebounder, but he is decent.
Stevel, Yao can still get defensive rebounds. I would rather utilize all of Yao's talents, rather than shoe horn him into an offensive system that is lacking 3 of the 5 necessary pieces. DD
I would be willing to bet you would see more of Yao around the FT line if we had a better rebounding 4. I hear what you are saying though. I just posted some thoughts on Yao in Doc Rockets thread if you are interested in my thoughts on how to get him improve.
One good thing about the face up game is it saves Yao much energy from doing useless position acquisition. Too many times Yao battles his defender from one side to another and still doesn't get the ball. With the saved energy Yao can play more minutes and be more active on getting boards. Another merit of the face up game is fostering Yao's aggression and selfishness. The low post play always has the burden for Yao to involve his teammates. If Yao is free to have the ball 12 feet from the basket, stare at his opponent, then sink the jumper right in the defender's face, without thinking about involving his teammates, he will feel like he's the man, given the green light and freedom. Sort of like T-Mac, jacking up whatever shots in his reportoire whenever he feels like it. The low post play is not the ideal approach for fostering Yao's sense of leadership at this junction, Yao might feel like he's a burden on offense when position acquisition right now is quite often a waste of time, and feel his effort wasted when our brickers miss open three point shots. When Yao is feeling good and we can get the ball inside, force feed him the ball is the way to go. Otherwise IMHO he should rely on his face up game to participate in the game. It doesn't have to be solely outside or inside. Yao should react to defense and choose to post up, face the basket, or hang around the basket. Sometimes mixing them up in one possession, trying out the options upon the failure of the previous one, does hurt either. Great players know how to choose between options and has the various skills to accomplish it. If Yao's face up game is ignored, his options will be limited and skills regressed, he won't be able to fully react to defense. He won't be as great a player as he can be with his game limited. Plus, when the Rockets struggle to score, which they have done quite often lately, and struggle to get the ball inside to Yao, which they have done at equal frequency, they need to utilize every gunner on the court to fill the hoop. Ignoring Yao's face up game is what the opponents want, it eliminates a 7'6" gunner and passer on the court for them. Not to mention, at this point Yao is a good, but not great inside presence to begin with. The face up game and back to the basket game should be, and can be, developed at the same time. Getting offensive rebounds is something Mutombo can do better, maybe we should make Yao as Mutombo's backup if all we want Yao to do is grabbing boards. We should get a rebounding 4 instead of limiting Yao's game, the same reason that T-Mac isn't made the poing guard because we lack one. Sorry for the long post, just want to get it off my chest.
Panda All that is good and dandy but you like others make the same mistake - we do not have the complimentary PFs to afford Yao to take those kind of shots (i.e. mix things up a little). Without the right players in place, there are certain things a team cannot do or do well. Yao at this stage of his career needs a true PF in order to excel on many phases of his game. There are other demerits to that theory but I will attempt to provide them later - my brain is in deep freeze.
clumsey not quick trouble holding on to the ball when slapped or rebounding other than that he is fine must take the good with the bad
Dear Fegwu, unfortunately you seem to have overestimated Yao's offensive rebounding if that''s the deficiency of the pfs you are referring to. Year 1 2.4 offensive rebounds per game Year 2 2.4 offensive rebounds per game Year 3 2.6 offensive rebounds per game Yao has played about the same minutes, and he spent more time mixing it up in year 1. This year he gets 0.2 offensive rebounds by playing the way you want him to at this stage. Does it worth to reduce Yao to Kevin Cato for 0.2 offensive rebound? That's your call to make.
