From what I remember about the playoffs the Rockets dropped the first two games at home. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. In a motion offense the role of the PG is actually de-emphasized compared to a more traditional basketball offense. You don't really need anybody to direct the offense because the team as a whole should be doing the read-and-react thing. T-Mac looked his best last year when he was playing the system. When he's bucking it all of his ugly flaws come to light--he's a black hole, he's got terrible shot selection and he refuses to catch and go.
yes, we don't have a clear-cut #1 option right now. we both agree to that. but to me that is a problem rather than an advantage. that's why we don't have an identity. and aaron... i like him a lot. he can penetrate with his speed and his handle is almost as good as rafer's. he can also dish if not score by himself. but his weakness imo IS his play-making ability. he's an quite inexperienced score-first pg (not that there's anything wrong with that with a 2nd year backup). to say he's the best in offense, even in spurts, does not make a lot sense. keep in mind most of the time when he plays, it's the 2nd unit against the other team's 2nd unit.
rafer was out for those 2 games, so we were missing 2 starters. you take 2 starters out of any team, what do you expect to happen? any knowledgeable basketball fan would not expect a better play. it was a testament that we were in BOTH games till mid-way through the 4th. i've said it to you many times. tracy cannot run the catch and shoot right now b/c he's hampered by the knee. we haven't seen that play run for him consistently b/c he can't get separation from his man when he runs through screens. when he gets healthier, he'll be better. you can't doubt tracy's ability to play when our offensive efficiency was great last yr when yao went down. that just proves that tracy can still lead this team. give the guy a chance to strengthen up his leg and we'll see what type of game he has left. it is only 5 months removed when he put up 27, 8, 7 in the playoffs.
Yao should play 30 minutes a night, But should also get up 20 shots a night when he is in...... It is not even worth having him out there if we are going to get him like 8 shots...........We might as well have Biedrins or something
Oh I do doubt Tracy's ability to play regardless of the win streak. That win streak was all about team play, which should be pretty obvious given that Kobe has got some kind of anti-McGrady ray gun and the Rockets still beat the Lakers to keep the streak going. One thing was responsible for the first 12 games of the streak and the last 10 games of the streak: chemistry and team play. It wasn't T-Mac.
Don't really care who the first option is, tracy, ron or scola. But Yao > Mcgrady. So before Mcgrady demand more touches, Yao should get more touches.
Yao should get as many shots as make sense. For example, if he is doubled before the catch, someone else needs to make the defense pay.
I don't think people understand that. Being #1 is being he playmaker. Even if you watch a old shaq, he can get the ball, read the defense and make the correct play. Yao is more of a play finisher. His stamina and inability to read defenses quickly and make the correct plays don't allow the team to give him the ball every possession. I mean 6 yrs later, people are still talking about who can and can't make entry passes to yao. How come we never hear about guys making entry passes to great pivots? Yao is a good player as I've stated before, but if you give the ball 40 times a game, he's going to lead the league in to's and the offense will suck. There is a reason why the team has had success without him in the lineup. If everyone on the rox are 80% healthy, tracy is the best playmaker on the squad. We can run the motion offense and all that is cool, but when the game is close, you want mcgrady with the ball. If not, you will have rafer making a pass to chuck hayes under the goal.
No way, With Gundy, If you move the ball along the perimeter the right way, Yao will be open........ The key is deep position so he can just go straight up.....
We were successful with Gundy, and like my earlier post, Yao had atleast 40 touches a game. And like you said, He needs to be a finisher........ Deep position and good entry passes will make us unbeatable........
we beat all expectations and played fairly well last year after yao went down. and mcgrady played a big role in that by buying into adelman's offense. but to say it's all due to his individual ability would be entirely false. and, you say he can't do catch-and-shoot well right now because of his knee. if that's true (which i think so, too), then what makes you think he can do well when he shoots behind a screen all the time and behind or near the 3pt line?
I would agree if Yao could: 1. Hold his ground better 2. Be a quicker passer 3. Be more decisive 4. Force more fouls. 5. Have better balance. 6. Make himself a better target for the entry pass Yao is a star player, but he has too many deficiencies to run everything through him, sometimes it is difficult for our players to get an entry pass to him because he doesn't present a good solid target. DD
I agree with the first 5 points, however for no.6, I think our guards is at fault too. I have seen many times this season where Yao established good position down low and the guards were not able to pass the ball. Then Yao had to get out of the painted area because of the 3 seconds violation. Also, it seems to me that Aaron Brooks always pass the ball to Yao below waist and this lead many turnovers. You gotta give the ball to Yao above the waist so he can move quickly.
yao has a lot of room to be better. i think it's more likely for him to revert back to his 2006 pre-injury status than for mcgrady to go back to his pre-2005 condition. no one is perfect. but a team, any nba team needs a clear-cut #1 option on offense. given our current situation, i think no doubt it should be yao - no matter how imperfect he is. you use the best you have. if yao can improve from where he is, which is certainly possible, it will just be a plus.
When you're as low to the ground as Aaron, the bounce pass may be a better passing angle for him then a lob pass. I think Tracy is probably our best post-entry passer, because he's tall enough to pass over the top, and he knows how to deliver a pass on target.
When Tracy went out last year, even before if I recall correctly (except for the first 15 games or so), a lot of our offense went through Yao and it went great. Yao's numbers were great and he was an MVP candidate and I'm not saying if they give him more touches he will all of a sudden be as good as last year, but it's a start, a change for the better. It already went well last year so hopefully RA will start to focus on Yao again and not wait for T-mac to be injured again. However, one of the reasons it worked great last year because Yao was a 100%, opponents didn't know Landry yet, Head and Novak (later Bobby & Rafer) knocked down the three really well and T-mac was willing to sacrifice his touches when he saw how well the offense worked without him. So for this to work the following things have to happen: - T-mac and also Artest have to be willing to get less touches and let everything run through Yao - Landry, Scola and Hayes need to work well off the ball inside the arc - Wafer, Barry and Rafer need to knock down the open three + Yao needs to be 100% healthy again
