Yao Ming is perhaps the most overrated player in the league. People talk about him in the same breath as players like KG, but what has he done to merit that recognition? Really?
The problem with Yao is that he's not good for all types of bigs. If Houston get matched up with a traditional center then he's a very dominant player on both ends of the court. If Houston gets matched up with Memo Okur and Carlos Boozer then he's in trouble. Yao's lack of quickness makes him vulnerable defensively away from the hoop and that can be exploited like Boozer did on drives or like Memo can with his perimeter shooting. Utah were the worst possible matchup for Houston a year ago and still are today. That's part of how unlucky they've been. You put Yao against Duncan and the Spurs and they probably do better despite San Antonio being far superior than Utah. Very unlucky.
Houston also have the worst third scorer of any 50 win team which makes their offense quite predictable. Especially under Van Gundy who broke T-Mac's back the way he used him, thank goodness for Adelman. Hopefully Scola can become that third scorer next season. Once you get beyond that third scorer they've a lot of nice pieces which are great fourth/fifth/sixth/seventh options. Their offense has lost some shooting over the past season which hurts them a lot too .... it's one thing to have only two scorers, it's another when you can't space the floor properly for them.
Battier has to take a lot of blame. He's let his scoring fall by the wayside and it gets worse each season. He's stopped looking for his shot, very passive offensively. He was 15ppg scorer as a rookie and he's still capable of that. He's not giving the team enough on that end of the court.
They have quite a few expiring contracts this summer which will give them some flexibility to add an extra scorer. Be interesting to see how Morey uses that. I've been very impressed with Morey so far.
If Boston ever had to play Houston in the Finals just slide KG to center and Boston will be guaranteed of success as a long as KG attacks him. Or Pierce runs the pick and roll over and over and gets KG easy jump shots.