Man is it just me or ar we back to the old stand around and watch tmac drill again i mean we are not playing adelman's offence, 1 thing a hate the most is that tmac is just holding the ball for 15 seconds and then doing one p&r and going for a bad shot i mean look at today he did that then got doubled with 3 seconds left and siren shot clock violation or bad shot. Where is our offence from the win streak, and it saddens for me to sa but if this keeps going on we are going nowhere but the first round exit and have a board full of hate and crappy trade threads. P.S plz tmac no more heat checkers no1 else does it
Pick and rolls are of course the worst part of T-Mac's game without Yao because it is easy to double him (you don't have to guard Deke, or Hayes rolling to the basket). But for example when team is defending those pns like Suns did (especially Shaq) and big man doesn't double man, it gives McGrady easy 1on1 game with opponents' center. But we pretty much plaed Adelman offense, when things went bad and other teams made runs we started playing those pcn with Mac and Tracy started to hold the ball for so many seconds.
In order for a PnR to work, you have to use 2 effective offensive players......having Deke set a screen is pointless as no one is going to honor Deke on the roll. The only time that works is against Phoenix because Shaq won't come out to guard it...and it gets Tmac an open 18 footer...other teams don't give that up.. Tmac needs to play off the ball more for this team to make any real noise in the playoffs. DD
Our offense is stagnant and predictable. Our playoff opponent will exploit this continuously. Tracy and Adelman's offense are like oil and water. Unless our defense is spectacular, it's another 1st round exit for the Rockets.
A-3PO, I agree.......if we lose in the first round (highly likely IMO) would the Rockets entertain trading Tmac in the offseason to get some players that are more willing to move and play within a team game? I know most teams trading the Superstar lose out in the end, but that depends on whom you get back. DD
Several times I saw Landry or Hayes position to set a screen off the ball for TMAC. He just waved them off and slowly walked to get the ball. I hope TMAC is saving his energy for this weekend.
I agree. Tracy needs to play off the ball because with pcn in playoffs we ain't going nowhere We should set screens for him off the ball which can give him open jumpers or open drive to the basket. Again, I'd love to see Tracy operating on the high post again and again. It's a great spot for him. He doesn't have to dribble a lot, he can pull up for the J, he can drive and dish or score inside.
This is obviously our biggest drawback,I alluded to it yesterday.Even without Yao during the streak we did move the ball around better and Rafer made things easier by penetrating and finishing around the rim which in turn opened up outside shots. Right now this is virtually non-existent and puts extra pressure on defense and we can't handle it. Other teams have made adjustments and we have been unsuccessful in countering them.
You are not asking me, but that would be my plan. If TMac shoots 30% during the playoffs, I think it is time for a change. TMac and Yao are too much alike temperament wise, and they don't play that well together. The Rockets need some "Sura" like leadership. Scola has "it" but he is too new. Too many inconsistent streaky shooters, we need a "rock," that is predictable night in night out.
I'm not sure if it's Adelman's game plan or Tmac's relunctance to spend energy, run through picks (like Rip Hamilton), and get open shots. Whenever McGrady doens't have the ball, he doesn't set picks for others and he doesn't cut to the basket; he camps at the 3 point line and wait to get the ball back. I'd love to draw more plays for Tmac in the post. His game is too perimeter oriented as it is (for a 29% 3PT shooter), so anything to get him closer to the basket is a plus in my book. As it stands right now, I'd highly entertain the thought of a Tmac/BDiddy trade... Just to be fair though, our defense is also nowhere near of what we were during the streak, but that's another story for another time.
I think none of both are woth building a franchise around, Yao was proven "not so important" with our record without him and has shown how his offense is balanced with his TO and defensive lapses, while T-Mac is a player that simply lacks the guts to play this game and to realize his limitations, you cannot have, a guy that will shoot the team out of the game just to check if HE has turned on, the right choice will be to go to those that you know can score and are not streaky, but T-Mac always prefer the "live by me, die by me" news to him, he was never that good, and he always died by him. I am starting to think that T-Mac is a team player to an extent where he is still the center of all shots and assist, limiting "how good" his teammates can be, that´s how almost all the teams he were on seem "awful teams" and why he constantly found himself alone when he needed help. Trusting your teammates means you are also trusting them to win or loose games, but he only trust them to give him the chance to be the hero. Not franchise building material i think. Anyway, Yao won´t be traded unless he really sucks, i think his minutes must be limited next year to keep him at his best, increase Scola´s role (i think Yao and Scola combine perfectly) and if T-Mac continues performing like lately let´s get the best PG we can for him or expirings. End of Story
I think it's silly to believe that Yao is "not so important" just because of the winning streak, and I'm not a Yao homer by any stretch of imagination. Keep in mind that during latter part of the streak, we kept winning because the other team's big men all missed action (Dirk, West, Gasol). We started losing once we started facing teams with size, aka the Suns, the Celtics, the Hornets. And when Rafer isn't making 8 3's in a game and your outside shots aren't falling, you need a post presence that can either score or get to the line. We were just good (or lucky) enough during the streak that *someone* always did step up to knock down his outside shots to keep the streak going for as long as it did.
Let me remind You that against the The Suns we won without Yao and against the Celtics we lost both with and without Yao. I don´t think he makes a huge difference unless certain match ups. I would agree that Yao is necessary against the likes of San Antonio for example. But anyway i don´t think Yao will ever be traded so i see no point on arguing this. Let´s hope that him being here next year boost our record to a 60 wins team and that´s it.
Vs. Celtics with Yao no Tmac we lost by 2 in Boston with Tmac no Yao we lost by 20 at home Phoenix is a bad match up for any team with a traditional starting center. I've been all for not starting Yao vs Phoenix since the Van Gundy days. Now in their Shaq era I wouldn't mind matching Yao's minute with Shaq's. ...and I'm hoping for more than just a spectacular regular season next year
I don't know if it's just me looking through rosey glasses, but the way I view the offense is that Adelman is running an offense to utilize what talent he does or does not have. Our best cutters are typically BJack and Head. They run PnR with Hayes, Scola, Landry and such. Those guys aren't great passers. So the cut usually doesn't get rewarded. Our offense is predicated on our one consistent creator that is tall enough to make passes without turnovers (for the most part). That is #1. I truly believe TMac is only running the offense that has been custom created for their team's abilities. Here's our plays. TMac or shooter (usually TMac) coming off a double or triple screen to take a shot from the wing. We see this a lot. TMac post up. He fits for position to get the ball nearer the baseline. TMac iso, same position, but further out. TMac PnR, he receives the ball outside the 3pt line and has to wait for a pick to use. Notice a trend here? You guys tell me who else you'd rather have handling the ball and making plays? Don't say BJack, he's pretty dang clutch, but we all know his shots are forced, and are just like Mac's. They can go in or go out just as easily. Head's bounce passes are inaccurate. Brooks sometimes dribbles and gets lost/caught in the paint. Our PFs can't create for themselves consistently enough. They really depend on their guards and offensive boards to make things happen. Battier can only have so many plays run for him. I think he's probably using all of his energy for the defensive end. Stagnant? I don't see it. I see a slow running offensive sometimes b/c you have to wait for the play to develop. OR the initial passes are being cut off and denied, so the play is broken and you have to just create on the fly. Anyway, I know many won't agree, but it's how I see things. It's really easy to see if you just watch without any preconceived notions. They run a handful of plays, they all take a while to develop, and when those plays are cut off, they have to wing it (which usually is a bad thing).
Haha, you seem to flip flop on the topic of McGrady constantly... For such a long time follower, you sure do have a lot of knee jerk reactions. The offense will be fine, IMO. We are allowed to have offnights, especially on such a ridiculously tough back-to-back. The Nuggets and the Jazz have two of the three or four toughest arenas in the west, and we played in both on consecutive nights. ... Plus maybe Adelman just didn't want to show his hand yet. Seriously, you can say McGrady takes some bad shots, or he's not playing enough defense, or he's not attacking the basket enough, or he needs to work on his free throws... But just about the weakest, most unsubstantiated insult there is for McGrady is that he doesn't know how to play a "team game". Even Bill Walton knows that's not true, and he hates the Rockets. McGrady is one of the few star swingmen who can fit into ANY sytem. He is one of the most versatile wings in the league.
