Yao has become the 3rd or maybe 4th option on this team.

That was the point.

 

i don't understand what all the anger is over...

Adelman is trying to install a read and react offense. Yao has limited effectiveness outside of 10 feet and isn't exactly the easiest target to pass to despite being 7'6.

Force feeding the ball will only result in more turnovers.

People have to realize that at this point in time, Yao is alot closer to Rik Smits than any of the other centres that are normally mentioned in comparisons.

And before you bash me for making this comparison...do realize that Rik Smits game is actually very similar to Yaos.... great shooter, decent rebounder, slow as balls...

Smits when not injured (sound familiar) was actually a hell of a player and has accomplished more in this league than Yao.

 

did u ever watch a rockets game?
watch some b4 u talk here.

 

His hands didnt seem to be nearly as much of a problem when JVG was the coach and he was getting it all the time deep in the post. Now, Adelman has him catching half his touches by the free throw line which makes no sense.

Yao is not built to be in Adelman's offense. Adelman needs a center who can shoot the outside shot and at least drive to the basket and pick up assists a la Divac or Miller. Yao is a dominant post man, but has not shown the ability to hit from the outside. Even worse, he can not drive by his man so whoever he guards does not come out on him. It makes no sense to me why Adelman has Yao running all over the place and getting the ball where he can do nothing with it.

I will not argue with the people who say Yao is slow and clumsy. But he is also devastatingly effective when he touches the ball down low and equally non effective when he gets it up high. I have no problem with them not posting up Yao when the offense is going and they are scoring a lot of points. However, it made no sense tonight letting Brooks jack up shot after shot and having Artest launch bad shots as well, while Yao took maybe one or two shots in the third quarter.

Simply put, I see Houston wasting some prime years of Yao's career with Adelman as coach. Again, I dont have a problem with that if the team wins, but so far I think most people are dissapointed with this year. And yes, I know people will point out that last year Yao was playing great until his injury under Adelman, but it was more of a JVG hybrid offense that had Yao averaging 22 and 10.

 

Insightful answer. The name T-Brick is actually quite popular.

 

I agree with the majority of your post but getting Yao the ball at a place he wants it has always been a problem. With a target as big as Yao, the post entry pass should be super easy and it shouldn't take a perfect pass to him everytime for him to get clean possession of the ball. Everytime he catches an entry pass and fumbles it, throws him off his rhythm and makes his offensive move out of sync.

Yao really isn't suited to Adelmans style that I agree with you. IF you had Amare Stoudamire at the high post of this offense, we would be completely devastating. Granted our defense would be atrocious but thats another story.

 

That's not how I saw it. I saw it as... Brooks was the only one trying to step up and actually play basketball.

I could care less about Yao's offense because right now our whole team pretty much has no chemistry going on in offense.

Yao's defense is just not there. He still doesn't know how to block little guards going in for a layup. That is a huge problem! You see a freaking rookie point guard go all up to Yao, bump into him, and still score. Roger Mason also would get a pick and roll and Yao didn't protect the paint.

 

I just don't think it's that easy to get the ball to Yao, think of football. If you're in the redzone, it actually becomes harder for the offense because the field has shrunken and there's less 'space' and options that a defense has to cover. The same is true when running the offense through Yao in the post.

 

Agreed.... Poppovich is brilliant for exposing Yao on the pick n roll. Granted Shaq doesn't come out to challenge the shooters either but he would never let anyone get into the paint and finish cleanly without some intimidation. You can't give up both the open shot and a layup... Might as well not even be there.

 

I realize Yao is a big guy and since we're using football analogies... i think the the problem is Yao cannot "stretch out" for the ball. You have to agree with me that Shaq is (was) as big as anyone and he never had problems recieving an entry pass. The difference is Yaos limited mobility and the fact that there are major limitations to what he can and cannot catch. That you can't deny.

 

Where is the 22 streak team? During that streak Houston never had problem with ball movement. Guys were also effective at giving Yao the ball.

 

Thats why the Adelman hiring was confusing. You typically have to bring in a coach that suits your better players talents. With Adelman they did the exact opposite. Unless yao starts hitting outside jumpers, I dont see what value he has to this offense. Granted Adelman did great last year with the 55 wins and the 22 game streak, but year two is not off to a very good start. Even worse, as a fan, Im just totally confused for most of the game. You knew what to expect with JVG, here you expect one thing and get something totally different.

 

As I remember, Yao got tons of touches down low under JVG. RA's system just uses Yao as a decoy in high post way too much.

 

That team is not selfish. This team is.

 

Come on, it's not like there aren't Yao doesn't get enough shots/touches threads under JVG. There are games where fronting or the defense has kept the offense out of Yao's hand. However, there was one play that actually did give Yao a lot of opportuties that I see less of now was the PnR with him and Tracy. Yao still sets picks, but I just don't see him rolling as much. That's one play I wish Adelman would run a little more.

 

We didn't have big problem on defense while the spurs only scored 77 pts in the game. Obviously we had big problem on offense. AB shooted too much and he can not run the offense of the team. He isn't a good playmaker and he can not be our stater.

 

Compare Yao's attempts and minutes under JVG and attempts/minutes under RA before you say that.

 

I don't think we are actually disagreeing ...

 

Compare Yao's attempt vs Tracy in the games that they actually play together for the past 4 seasons and let me know if Yao's decrease (and really it's just the difference to the 2006-07 season) in attempts is the fact that he's "no longer" the #1 option, or just that there is a more team oriented approach taken by Rockets.