Hopefully this doesn't sound like a yao hate thread because this isnt what this is about. I had a chance to watch all the recorded spurs games from this year and even the 30 or so I had saved from last year. What I see is what I talkeabout incorporating Yao back into the lineup as a player. Many on this board chalked it up to Yao hate when I said he should be off the blocks,at the free throw line, and primarily a play finisher. Now the big argument against this by those posters is the mythical yao domination on the blocks. I can say he's very good when the conditions are perfect as far as position, ball delivery,and defense, but to me, thats too many factors to overcome and still be called dominant. I think he still is very effective, but should use the energy as a rebounder,interior defender/shot blocker,passer,screener,occasional post up. After watching the spurs, I'm even more convinced this is the route that should be taken going forward. Has anyone noticed besides me how parker and manu have become better/deadlier in the last few years? After watching the spurs, its very easy to see why. The spurs, without declaration have moved away from a duncan dominated offense. Although he is still a very good player, he clearly doesn't have the juice to meet the demands of living on the blocks. The results have been an open court, huge creases to which manu and parker have taken advantage of. Now, they still get duncan the ball and he looks like he's in the best shape I've seen him in years, but he has alot of minutes on that body. The pecking order in which I think yao should be used is exactly the way the spurs are using duncan. He's setting screens,shooting his midrange jimmy's,rebounding,defending, and is still a huge part of the team. Teams don't double him nearly as much as they used to, but somehow they are scoring way more than what they used to. They used to hover around the 97ppg mark and now they're somewhere around 106 ish ppg mark if my memory serves me right. I'm still not sure if they can win a title this year, but they have transitioned from the duncan centric offense and the results have been pretty good. Parker,manu,and even jefferson have played well. In conclusion, I think yao can still be part of a really good team if he's healthy. Of course, he's been struggling with the last part for the last few years. I still think the rockets need to address personell issues if they're going to continue with this experiment. Gater,myself, and others talked about the "greyhound theory" in regards to building a team yao in it and the last few years they have gotten better athletically. Their problem still stems from having too many 1-way players. They need to upgrade some of their starters athletically if they want to at least attempt what the spurs are doing or compete in the future. When Yao and brooks come back to play, the roles and defintion of how to play with yao should be very clear. In fact, all the rockets have to do is look at their I-10 counterparts to get a blueprint.
i honestly am more worried about the kind of money yao will get, more than anything.....im worried the team is going to overpay him, without knowing if he can recover, simply to make money off of of him. I rather explore trade options and go for a NO-OKC frontcourt player, like ibaka or okafor. Problem is, not many of those around...but i think best case scenario is getting that guy and adding another 2 way athlete at the 1 or 3...assuming scola is staying...there's just so many ways to go now and it sucks being unable to determine which one is best due to injuries.
Zone defense is the reason why Parker and Manu is dominating the ball. The league has decided to go guard centric. Since the 2 started dominating the ball, the spurs has won exactly 0 championships. Want guards to dominate rockets ball? We'll get exactly what we got last year, a lottery team. Yao is the answer to a playoff run, if not, it's time to rebuild. Houston fans tolerate mediocrity way too much for way too long.
This is where you're so wrong its not even funny and its not about gaurds dominating the ball either. Let me ask you a simple question, if the rockets had any semblance of a center, someone like gortat, how many games do you think they would have won last year? Rv6, I made the thread with yao going forwrd in mind actually. I think the the use and the structure to make it benefical to the entire team is part of, if not the biggest problem. I don't think there is anyway possible to be a contender of any kind with yao and scola defensively and I've been consistent about that since day 1. Teams can always get a great shot by putting yao or scola in pick and roll iso's. When teams can attack you're 4/5 like that, its almost impossible to win anything.
An allstar center is probably the most sought after position in the entire league. Yao, if not resigned, will be the biggest free agent for year 2011. Don't delude yourself, Yao will get max, if not here, then it will be with another team. The lost of Yao will put Houston back into obscurity.
I thought the 2005 version Yao should have been THE Yao version to work off of for the rest of his career. Its still one of his better all around seasons. 30 minutes per game thats it, spry legs for Yao standrds played 80 games, deadly efficiency, the team's low post presence but he was on the finishing end of plays cuz the Rockets guards were able to create shots with the inside-out game then give him assists for better looks. There wasnt any such thing as "fronting defense" being a problem. Definitely the Robin to McGrady's Batman. Since McGrady faltered, it was on Yao to be relied upon more. But forcing Yao into a premiere franchise go-to guy that you could ride was too much load that took its toll. I'da much rather he Rik Smits/Big Z'd it for his career (minutes wise at least)
Let me go ahead and give you the yof title because thats what you sound like. Yao is not getting the max and he will not be the biggest free agent. Don't delude yourself. I guess the rockets never existed until 02 I'm assumming? You know what? I'm not going there with you, i'm staying on topic.Here is the web address for posters like you, it might help www.yaomingmania.com .
You keep thinking that. No team whose owner and GM is in their right minds would pay anywhere near max for an injury prone player like Yao. Yao is no longer anywhere remotely close to real star status. As far as your last sentence, that is hilarious. As if Houston isn't obscure right now? Yeah, Yao is just so amazing that great players, real stars, are jumping for joy to join the Rockets... oh wait... they aren't. Yao is done and the sooner our FO is willing to accept that (assuming that they DO care about winning of course) the sooner we can move on from this nightmare.
I agree, Yao should not be the number #1 option instead just another option. He can still be deadly but in other ways and not as the primary target.
Problem is Yao is neither an All-Star center anymore or healthy enough to deserve that type of money. I'm sure someone will give him pretty big cash, in that case just shake their hand and wish them better luck then we had. Houston is headed to the lotto AGAIN, I think we are going through obscurity as we speak.
What are you talking about? Yao is by far our best defender. He lead a top defensive for both JVG and Adelman. Contrary to popular belief our defense didn't start to suck when JVG left it started to suck when Yao left. When he dropped out so did the great wall around the goal. Mutombo allowed us to maintain some semblance of defense when he was here but without both of them we suck now. People undersestimate the importance of a shotblocker. Battier is our best shotblocker and he has a 10 inch vertical. Yao is injured. When he comes back he will be recovering from an injury. Yao by his own admission says he is slow to get back in game shape. And his defense is even slower to come back than his offense. But Even this year we are better defensively when he is on the court. Nothing substitutes for real game play. Yao needs time on the court more than anything. Before Yao's injury he had 100 minutes of real game play. That's the equivalent of about 3 games. In that time Yao was already looking back to form offensively and showing small signs of improvement defensively. Yao won't be back till early January. It will take him at least 300 minutes of real game play to get back to his old pre injury self, (Barring another injury which would be the end of another season and probably his career), that could be March. Call me back in March with this post. If he is still sucking up the court and showing the play you suggest than write him off. I will give you it is so frustrating as a fan to have your star player never play because he is always injured. But as Morey said, like it or not at this time Yao is the train we are riding. So while your thread may have some validity it is premature with no real sample. And since he is the train we are riding and if you are a Rockets fan you can complain and curse but like it or not this is your team. Ain't no superstar walking in that door to replace Yao. I would even go so far as to say without the defensive presence of of a healthy Yao it won't matter if we get Anthony or Iguodala.
I never said Houston wanted to be a guard centric team, what I'm saying is that if they go guard centric like last year, the season is already doomed. You are comparing Yao to gortat? Seriously? Since yao's debut, houston's defense had always been near top two to five in team defense. Houstonian's has a strange logic of overvaluing scrubs like the d-league Patterson and undervaluing stars like Yao. Like saying Brooks is a superstar because he won the most improved award, most improved from scrub to a passable point guard. If Houston don't lock in their superstar and enjoys watching role players, then I assure you, your dream will come true for MANY years to come. Star players recently simply does not want to come to Houston.
Rockets are done this year. No chance of playoffs. Simple. Why are we wasting our time talking about Yao or his use? We all should be hoping for full recovery and a turn around for this team as in changes. That is the only way a solid free agent is going to consider playing here. A healthy Yao and hope. Right now we can provide neither
And i forgot to mention...I agree with this Yao situation NEXT year. This year he just needs to get healthy.
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i definitely thought that too, but for some reason i got away from it...i wanted someone like Okafor or maybe even Tyrus T (before he re-signed)alongside Yao or scola...i guess i gave up on it when i realized yao and scola were here to stay, landry would improve defensively, and figured we'd pick up a shot blocker in the draft...but now yao is injured again, landry is gone, and PP isn't that shot blocker/defender
