Chronic: Adelman considers player combos for Rockets

H-TownBBall · Oct 13, 2007

Didn't see this posted yet, although it definitely solidifies the 8 man rotation poll.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5211028.html

Oct. 13, 2007, 10:36AM
Make that a combo, please
Rockets' Adelman already looking at how his players fit on court together

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Eventually, Rick Adelman will have to put players together in regular-season combinations. Starters, their backups, a rotation. Early in the preseason, those things don't matter, and they can even get in the way with 19 players running around to evaluate.

Rockets players figure by the last week of the preseason, Adelman will concentrate on putting players together as they will be Oct. 30 when the regular season opens.

Adelman, however, is ready to start putting things together now.

Rather than split the team into a pair of nine-player teams, on Friday he started looking at eight- and nine-man rotations, beginning the process of letting players get accustomed to one another and seeing how it looks.

"I'm trying to do it right now," Adelman said. "I'm trying to put people together. It's important you get them out there. We need to get (Tracy McGrady) and Yao (Ming) on the floor. I'm going to try to do that. I'm going to try to put eight or nine guys together. That's why we're going to have those scrimmages, to see how they play together and how they progress.

"As a coaching staff, we're pretty sure about who we've seen so far of the players who have played well. You have to give them a chance to play together and see who else can break through."

No surprises here
Asked who those players he's "pretty sure" about are, he played along enough to start a list, but without going beyond the automatics.

"Yao and Tracy, and put Shane (Battier) in there," Adelman said.

But with six days between Thursday's 37-point rout of Panathinaikos and next Thursday's game against the Dallas Mavericks, he will hope to fill out that list with scrimmages to evaluate how players play together more than simply how all 19 play.

"What's really important is the guys that can get us organized at the start of the game, but then who can come off the bench, the people they play with," Adelman said. "You have to have a combination there where you want people who come into the game play well together, too, so you have no dropoff.

"That's what we're trying to determine. What's the best unit to start? And what's the best unit to come off the bench? It's point guard? It's power forward with Luis (Scola) and Chuck (Hayes)? What's the best combination to have?"

In an offense heavily based on players moving and interacting with one another, understanding what others see and think is vital. In an offense in which players remain on the perimeter to provide spacing for the one with the ball, teams might more easily slide one player in and another out.

With all the reads in Adelman's offense, players must read things the same way and know what the other is thinking. That takes time, leading Adelman to start that process.

"It's very important," guard Mike James said. "You have to get a feel for what guys are going to do on the court. You have to start playing with them.

"Also in the preseason, you understand you're learning a new system, so coach is trying to get a feel for what he has. It's both."

Rockets players said the process moves more quickly with Adelman's emphasis on scrimmaging in practices, enough that they suspect Adelman has a pretty good guess how things will look.

"We practice so much, we kind of know what guys can and can't do," Bonzi Wells said. "We scrimmage a lot. We go up and down so much, more than three-quarters of our practices are scrimmages, and we go five-on-five drills. I think coach has a good idea."

Developing chemistry
Part of the information that will go into those decisions will be gleaned from how players run plays, now that Adelman has begun putting them in. But players' ability to play well with one another is key to those evaluations.

"We scrimmaged, got up and down, got a feel for the sets more, how they're supposed to be run, second and third options, getting familiar with each other," Rafer Alston said. "The rotations, coach probably has that in his mind, the way he wants to go.

"I think you do need (to develop chemistry) because going into a game, you want to be in position to deliver the ball. You don't want to miss a guy, especially when he makes a good, hard basket cut. That is the big part of everything. We're building it. We're coming around.

"We never had a problem here with the guys or guys understanding the roles or what we're trying to accomplish, and that's win the title."
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uchlha · Oct 13, 2007

good read and lol @ your sig

Barkley · Oct 13, 2007

uchlha said:

good read and lol @ your sig
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LOL I've just noticed his singanute...Man, yao_fan_2007 is special

Pringles · Oct 13, 2007

Barkley said:

LOL I've just noticed his singanute...Man, yao_fan_2007 is special
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as well has tracyyao, or watever his name... if may sodifie the 8, but i'm sure at least, it'll be a 9 man rotation. and with players getting better and better, adelmen, is not stubborn, so don't be suprized with a 10-11 man rotation

A_3PO · Oct 13, 2007

Already posted in the Shane Role thread.

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=135768&page=4

JeopardE · Oct 13, 2007

Wow @ that sig. I remember calling the guy out as a bonafide YOF the very first time I read one of his posts, but man ... if that doesn't define YOF I don't know what does.

deshen · Oct 13, 2007

uchlha said:

good read and lol @ your sig
Click to expand...

Those are not YOF, they are 13-year-old star-loving boys old who knows nothing about BB game.

SLrocket · Oct 13, 2007

deshen said:

Those are not YOF, they are 13-year-old star-loving boys old who knows nothing about BB game.
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of course theyre not. theyre 13 year old star loving YOFs

yao_fan_2007 · Oct 13, 2007

HHTownBall's taken my quote out of context.

What I meant was, I don't want Yao's utilization to change drastically from last year. Does anyone here really want to see Yao's role change from a 25ppg guy to a 13ppg, even if a team is winning?

In both cases, the team will win, but the stronger team that will go further in the playoffs, and ultimately win it all is a team that utilizes Yao Ming correctly.

Having Yao score 13ppg is not the way.

I wish HHTownBall would include the entire statement, and not just one single sentence.

There have been similiar statements too about T-Mac that sound just as ridiculous and TOFs.

ico4498 · Oct 13, 2007

yao_fan_2007 said:

What I meant was
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get a new user name and try again ... you've lost all credibility.

Barkley · Oct 13, 2007

yao_fan_2007 said:

HHTownBall's taken my quote out of context.

What I meant was, I don't want Yao's utilization to change drastically from last year. Does anyone here really want to see Yao's role change from a 25ppg guy to a 13ppg, even if a team is winning?

In both cases, the team will win, but the stronger team that will go further in the playoffs, and ultimately win it all is a team that utilizes Yao Ming correctly.

Having Yao score 13ppg is not the way.

I wish HHTownBall would include the entire statement, and not just one single sentence.

There have been similiar statements too about T-Mac that sound just as ridiculous and TOFs.
Click to expand...

Yes I do.

Man that would be funny in the context too I think. You're just famous

vlaurelio · Oct 13, 2007

yao_fan_2007 said:

In both cases, the team will win, but the stronger team that will go further in the playoffs, and ultimately win it all is a team that utilizes Yao Ming correctly.
Click to expand...

how many points was yao averaging getting into last years playoffs?

BrieflySpeaking · Oct 13, 2007

what is YOF?

Hayesfan · Oct 13, 2007

BrieflySpeaking said:

what is YOF?
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Yao only fan

zong · Oct 13, 2007

Yi only fan, do not care the Rockets

BrieflySpeaking said:

what is YOF?
Click to expand...

Seven · Oct 13, 2007

Go_Korea said:

as well has tracyyao, or watever his name... if may sodifie the 8, but i'm sure at least, it'll be a 9 man rotation. and with players getting better and better, adelmen, is not stubborn, so don't be suprized with a 10-11 man rotation
Click to expand...

You know i was wanna gonna make that post in your sig my sig, but then I saw yours

A_3PO · Oct 13, 2007

yao_fan_2007 said:

HHTownBall's taken my quote out of context.

What I meant was, I don't want Yao's utilization to change drastically from last year. Does anyone here really want to see Yao's role change from a 25ppg guy to a 13ppg, even if a team is winning?

In both cases, the team will win, but the stronger team that will go further in the playoffs, and ultimately win it all is a team that utilizes Yao Ming correctly.

Having Yao score 13ppg is not the way.

I wish HHTownBall would include the entire statement, and not just one single sentence.

There have been similiar statements too about T-Mac that sound just as ridiculous and TOFs.
Click to expand...

If Yao scoring 13 ppg meant the Rockets win the championship this season, I'm all for it. I've followed the Rockets since the 80s and will follow them long after Yao is gone. I couldn't give a flip if someone is a YOF except when they post about caring more for Yao's stats than the Rockets winning or they flame people for criticizing Yao.

poprocks · Oct 13, 2007

As long as Francis finds a way to get significant playing time I"ll be happy

BimaThug · Oct 14, 2007

I don't care HOW successful the Rockets are this year, if they aren't playing Justin Reed at LEAST 30 mpg and letting him score 15-18 ppg, then I'm gonna want my money back for the 14-game package I paid for!!!

AstroRocket · Oct 14, 2007

ico4498 said:

get a new user name and try again ... you've lost all credibility.
Click to expand...

amen.

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