Yao Ming: I can adapt & make changes required by Adelman

hahaha, track "meat"

 

I think the idea is to have some variety. Adelman mentioned about playing to your strengths and making the game easier for the superstars to score. What is unique about Yao is he can dominate a game from the outside. In that early game of the season when we blew out Dallas by 30 points , Yao scored a lot of his points from the outside, including a three point play at the buzzer on a jumpshot. What makes Yao different from Duncan is that he has a very consistent outside shot while Duncan's outside shot is very streaky.
In Defense the cardinal rule is " anticipation", you try to read what the offensive player or system is trying to do. Conversely, the best offensive system would promote " deception" or leave the defense confused as to what the offense is going to do. What makes Yao unique is he is a type of player that can dominate from both the inside and the outside. Also, the idea of putting the center in the high post is that it opens penetration for the guards or for cutters.

 

All you people worrying about Yao's scoring efficiency in the high post must not have paid attention to Chris Webber putting up mad numbers under Adelman, including the 2000-01 season where he was scoring 27.1 a game, along with 11 rebounds.

I don't think we have to worry about Yao's scoring.

 

I am concerned that Yao feels significantly different then he did @ 26. I hope he doesn't break down rapidly over the next couple years, but small signs here seem to point that they maybe..Dang, this shoulder thing has me worried somewhat.

 

SmitingPurpleEM:

Watch the series against Utah, Yao was stopped in the low post in the playoffs. It didn't work to chain him in the low post. Learn from Tim Duncan, he's a sound low post player but he picks his spots.

 

i would love to see Yao becoming a tim duncan type of player that can dominate low block while banking in jumpers at will not even mentioning is his defence, rebounding, and passing

 

Thanks~

Given the current roster we have, I agree Yao's points may go down and it will be a good thing for the team, because it means we spread our offense and go further to the bench. However I would really really hate to see his rebound number drop.

 

I found Yao's quote about Sikma interesting and troubling:

"Even though he did not know many back-to-basket skills/moves, I found some of his stuff extremely new and refreshing."

Thank god for Thibodeaux's previous work with Yao.

 

Yao's number will be significantly down if he plays the way Webber did. At his prime, Webber was quick enough to go by his defender with his dribble, which got him enough space from the defender to make those little 17fts.

It's a different situation for Yao, who will have less options up above FT line since he won't be able to drive by people from that far out, he will be more of a catch & shoot kind of guy there, which will reduce his scoring & rebounding average. But that probably is a good news for the team, because with Yao's height, he can see over people, and make easy passes to cutters over the head. Additionally, the defender has to honor his shooting, hence more space inside for people like TMac/Francis/James to slash through.

This doesn't mean Yao will be completely out of low post in the offense, even Divac post people up from time to time in RA's system, so we will see plenty of low post plays from Yao, but just not as predictable as it was with JVC.

For those who keep saying Yao was dominating on the low post, you must didn't watch the Utah game. In this league, a team can easily shut down any of your play or player on a given day. To be effective, you have to be able to play more than one way, and be smart with them.

 

I agree with the premise of this post (having Yao play a few possessions at the high post is fine), but not the reasoning. It is easy to crowd a standstill shooter and harass him into missing, and that's what Yao would be at the high post, since his handles are not good. In fact he wouldn't even draw a double team out there, all the guy guarding him has to do is stand in his face.

Posting up Scola/Bonzi at Yao's expense is a horrible idea. Yao is FAR AND AWAY superior to them as post players. It is fine that McGrady will get a number of post touches to punish smaller defenders, but Scola/Bonzi? They aren't in Yao's league as post players.

 

Yao will not draw a double team standing in the high post, and so if cutters go into the lane, there will almost always be a defender there to bump him off his route or to cut him off. There is no possible way that this play results in a 90-100 FG%. The reason that Yao can find wide open players right under the basket when he's posting up is because he's drawing the double and the open man slipped to the open spot right under the basket. There would be no such openings if Yao weren't doubled.

It's not just how many touches a player gets. It's how efficient he is. McGrady gets lots of touches, but in his time here he has not been especially efficient. If Yao is forced to the high post, he will become less efficient, this cannot be denied. Because he is no longer drawing the double team, he is not necessarily making his teammates more efficient, because rarely do cutters go free, they are always bumped or cut off (or they're supposed to be if the opposing coach is doing his job). It may end up that he is simply standing there and not creating anything. This makes the team as a whole less efficient. Yao needs to stay in the low post. A few possessions up high is fine, but planting him there to create offense is not.

 

Okur contained him, I agree. But, he was not playing at full strength, and I don't think the solution is to change the way he plays. He should take Hakeem's advice: he should polish and perfect his post moves, maybe add some new ones, and simply dominate games. Adelman seems to want to go in the other direction.

Duncan is significantly quicker than Yao and his handles are better, so he poses the threat of driving to the basket. Yao doesn't. This significantly hinders his ability to play on the perimeter, essentially reducing him to a standstill shooter.

 

I disagree. Again if you watched one of the early games against Dallas, Yao can dominate from the outside because he is that good of a shooter. Lets just say if you put a hand on his face that will not be enough to stop him from outside. Also, he has a deceptively quick release on his shot and shoots around 85% from the free throw line. Assuming the highpost position will be around that area , Yao should be able to shoot at that clip from the outside although there will be a variation because it is a contested shot. Yao managed to score against one of the better shotblockers in the league in Desagana Diop through his quick release from the outside. And again his designation in the highpost at times doesn't signify exclusivity in the high post, it simply means more variety to keep the defenses quessing. It is more tiring for a low post defender to go outside of his comfort zone on defense, than to just wait for the low post player and use his armbar. Conversely, it is less tiring for an offensive player to receive the ball in different spots than to exclusively bang against low post defenders.

Assuming the defender tries to crowd him out, that leaves the basket open for cutters and penetrators. Basically when Yao receives the pass at the high post , he will not dribble right away. When a player receives the ball without having dribbled, he is in what is known as the " triple threat " position.. he can shoot, pass, or dribble past his defender. and in the triple threat position there are more opportunities to deceive the defender. You can fake a pass, fake a shot, jab step or fake a drive. the offensive player will become more unpredictable.

 

Didn't Adelman say in some interviews that he wasn't going to take Yao away from being a lowpost player....only that he would open up the game for him and include other areas of the floor. So, why are we assuming that he will make Yao mostly a Divac high post like player. That would be crazy. Yao is tough to stop in the low post and commands a ton of attention down there....I doubt that Adelman doesn't see that. Maybe Adelman just wants to mix up the initiating of the offense to where people just can't predict where he's going to go so easily. One of the most effective plays last year was a pick and roll between Tmac and Yao where instead of posting up, Tmac comands attention and then passes to a cutting Yao for the dunk. Yao is a 90% free throw shooter....so from any point from there going in, he's an accurate shooter. If Adelman can have him scoring from all angles, Yao will definitely give defenses fits.

 

Except that RA has said from the beginning that he molds his offenses around the players that he has. Yao may not be the same player that Webber was, but they are similar in the level offensive firepower they have. RA won't turn a 25-30 ppg scoring threat into Vlade Divac, it just won't happen.

 

Agreed. in addition, I think there will be less wear and tear and less fatigue if yao in the course of the game is allowed to play at the high post compared to when he is exclusively a low post player.

 

That's really what this is all about. Adelman's mission statement from day 1 is to make life easier on his stars. That's what impressed Les to give him this job. Making life easier does not mean run the same plays that have been hampering Mac and Yao. It calls for variety.

Something else nobody mentioned yet is that if Yao is in the high post with that kind of renowned shooting touch (89%), who do you think will be right up next to him??? The opposing team's Center! So you just drew away a big defensive impediment to our slashers to go up with less resistence. I have NO worries that slashers of the Mike, Stevie, Tracy degree will have no problem scoring through traffic without a center in the lane to alter shots.

 

MY $0.02:
The most significant upgrade this offseason of Rockets is Coach A IMO. I have no doubt the new coach will make this team much stronger than JVG. Yao especially will be a beneficiary of the new system, not only he'll still be the lowpost monster, but also he will be an all around player just like his idol Sabonis.He maybe score less(for example, from 25ppg to 21-22ppg), but he will IMPACT the game much more like a dominating center that all of us want him to be.

 

I agree. Even this early in the offseason, the coach is already helping with the recruitment , evaluation, and recommendation of which players have the talent to fit into his system. with all due respect to the JVG fans, I don't think our former coach considered this ( being involved with the GM's recruitment process) a part of his job description. You always had a sense before that the left hand did not know what the right hand was doing.