Yao Ming: My goal is to become a scoring machine [Archive]

pirc1

10-23-2006, 12:48 PM

link (http://sports.sina.com.cn/k/2006-10-23/14592524541.shtml)

In this article Yao Ming talked about how he is closer to reaching his optimal playing level but is not there yet.

There is one quote that is interesting in the article "In practices JVG tells me to score, keep scoring and score some more. If I could score five straight baskets, I still do not have to think about my teammates but continue to score, I believe I have to accomplish this."

"范甘迪在训练中就希望我不停的得分，得分，得分。如果我能够连续五次投篮命中的话，我接下去依然不用考虑给队友传球，只是继续得分，我想我需要做到这点。”

Does that mean 20 shots a game and 28 ppg season is coming? :eek:

TeamUSA

10-23-2006, 01:11 PM

20 points are enough as long as he makes it every game consistently. He doesn't have to produce that much since one of his role is to attract double-team to make the others open. An average of 5 assists per game is a good improvement for him, PLUS, he needs to make at least 3 offensive rebounds converted into points. That is what to be expected from him because of the height mistmatch he creates.

wnes

10-23-2006, 01:12 PM

Wow, I'm sure YOFs wouldn't mind that. Not sure how well TMac would adjust himself to playing 2nd fiddle though.

SlamIt

10-23-2006, 01:14 PM

I think he has to show dominance in offense before we see more effectiveness from our perimeter shooters.

pirc1

10-23-2006, 01:21 PM

Wow, I'm sure YOFs wouldn't mind that. Not sure how well TMac would adjust himself to playing 2nd fiddle though.

BTW, if case someone may put the portion of your post in his sig, it's "continue to score" without an "s" at the end of "continue."

picky now aren't we. :p And it is in case!

wnes

10-23-2006, 01:22 PM

.....

The_Yoyo

10-23-2006, 01:39 PM

for me 20 attempts is a good mark for yao. if yao FGA and FTAs combined add up to 20 or more i think its a good sign of the team trying to get him a lot of touches.

Amel

10-23-2006, 01:45 PM

I truly believe he is going to be 25 ppg 11 rpg this season

he still looks rusty, its understandable, but he has time to adjust his shot

and when he gets it, its going to be hard to stop him

I think this year he will make it work and become the best center in the league, taking oneals spot

see yesterdays game, he had, what 22-24 points, but he missed shots, he was benched, still made it

prv1981

10-23-2006, 01:49 PM

There is nothing wrong with what is mentioned above. There are many new players on this team. In order for this team to establish an identity and a plan of attack Yao has to score to help other players around him transition into the Rockets offensive system.

Rockets Red Glare

10-23-2006, 01:58 PM

.....

Nice comeback there! ;)

Pest_Ctrl

10-23-2006, 02:06 PM

We are doomed. Yao is going to be the biggest blackhole in the history of the NBA. :eek: ;)

Fuse

10-23-2006, 02:08 PM

I think the only way we can win a championship, is if Yao becomes the dominant offensive force. He needs to continue to press the issue of scoring and stay aggressive. Speaking of aggressive, Yao seems like he's maintaining his aggression in his play, even though he still looks sluggish.

mogrod

10-23-2006, 02:15 PM

boby

10-23-2006, 02:17 PM

With the improved shooting skills of our new blood, it is reasonabe to predict that Yao's assit number will jump up this season. I think 4~5 is a decent request from Yao.

Jeff

10-23-2006, 02:41 PM

JVG eluded to this last night during the press conference after the game. He said if he has scored 3, 4, 5 times in a row, they have to dump it down to him again and, if he has a favorable matchup, he has to score again and again.

I saw that as well and, frankly, DUH! If you have a mismatch and you are killing the opposing team with that mismatch, you just keep going to it until they stop you. That's how every sport works.

If Yao can kill a guy 10 times in a row with the same play, it might be boring, but who cares if it works? This is especially true because when the defense is forced to adjust - and they always do - it will open up other options.

generalthade_03

10-23-2006, 02:48 PM

I saw that as well and, frankly, DUH! If you have a mismatch and you are killing the opposing team with that mismatch, you just keep going to it until they stop you. That's how every sport works.

If Yao can kill a guy 10 times in a row with the same play, it might be boring, but who cares if it works? This is especially true because when the defense is forced to adjust - and they always do - it will open up other options.

That wasn't always true during the Franchise,Cat and Moochie dynasty....painful, but it was recorded history! :)

Jeff

10-23-2006, 02:52 PM

With the improved shooting skills of our new blood, it is reasonabe to predict that Yao's assit number will jump up this season. I think 4~5 is a decent request from Yao.

I think this is HIGHLY unrealistic. Hakeem in his best season ever didn't average 4 per game. Bill Walton, arguably the best passing big man in the HISTORY of the game, averaged 4 assists per year only 3 times in 12-year career. Jabbar did it 4 or 5 times. David Robinson did it once.

Last year, only 3 big men - Kevin Garnett, Pau Gasol and Brad Miller - averaged more than 4 assists per game. In fact, Miller was the only center with more than 3 per game and one of only a handful of big men with 3+ per game.

I'd say that if Yao put up 3+ assists per game, that would be a very good year both for him and for our shooters.

dfwrox

10-23-2006, 02:58 PM

With the improved shooting skills of our new blood, it is reasonabe to predict that Yao's assit number will jump up this season. I think 4~5 is a decent request from Yao.

I am not sure if assist number alone can accurately describe Yao's passing ability... it may be the pass after Yao passing out of double team that leads to score, like yesterday's Yao -- Tmac -- Padgett trey

Kindger

10-23-2006, 03:03 PM

If Yao can kill a guy 10 times in a row with the same play, it might be boring, but who cares if it works?

Very true :D
I wouldn't even call it boring, I call it consistent :)

Luffy1

10-23-2006, 03:09 PM

I like that mentality. Yao sees basket. Yao scores. Yao happy. Yao beats chest.

ndnguy85

10-23-2006, 03:18 PM

i want less promises from yao and more dunking on everyone and their mama. :D

LESS TALKING MORE DUNKIN!

Jerry36

10-23-2006, 03:23 PM

I am not sure if assist number alone can accurately describe Yao's passing ability... it may be the pass after Yao passing out of double team that leads to score, like yesterday's Yao -- Tmac -- Padgett trey

Yao has good passing ability, but I still say shaq is better. I say this because Yao still lacks that command and awareness of when to pass out of a double team.

shawn786

10-23-2006, 03:26 PM

Nice to see Yao getting more and more agressive as each season pass's!

YallMean

10-23-2006, 03:38 PM

good strategy, but can Yao's stamina allow him to be the focus each and every trip?

wnes

10-23-2006, 04:19 PM

Yao has good passing ability, but I still say shaq is better. I say this because Yao still lacks that command and awareness of when to pass out of a double team.

I am not sure Shaq is necessarily better than Yao in that regard.

In case anyone missed last night night's game, there are two supreme examples of how great a passer Yao is.

In the first one, which was Yao's 2nd assist, Yao made a move in the low post, two defenders were coming at him, forcing him to shoot a fadeaway jumper. At the split of the last second, he saw a cutting Battier from left, while still in the mid air aiming to shooting the ball, Yao all of a sudden changed the direction and trajectory of his shot and delivered amid the extending arms of his defenders a perfectly timed pass to Battier, who duly made the easy deuce. Normally you have superstar guards such as Jordan or TMac make this type of pass, and people would be like ooh and ah all over it, how often do you see other 7'+ big men make such play?

In the second example and his 3rd assist, on right side of post after being doubled Yao would throw a semi nolook pass to a cutting Novak, who scored the easy layup after making 1 out 6 of his previous 3-pointer shot attemps. We know this is Yao's 5th season, viewers are so used to this type of pass from Yao, but we are talking about the confidence booster for a slumping Novak all game long. If you happened to be reading the game thread last night, you could sense the pressure building up on the rookie and feel the disappointment among the fans prior to that basket by Novak. Sure enough, he would soon make back-to-back 3 pointers before the game was all over. There is no question in my mind, when Novak thinks about his own performance in this game, he will remember this pass from Yao as the turning point of his offensive output. And when people look at the boxscore, most here will likely overlook what really happened behind Novak's "4-9 FGM-A, 3-7 3PM-A, 11 PTS" scoreline, only to allow themselves to resume Novak's fancy nickname extravaganza. :)

kjames44

10-23-2006, 04:37 PM

It generally takes big men about four or five years to really play to their advantages. Yao has improved every year as he's gotten stronger so you can't throw him around anymore; his foot work on the offensive end is much better with his shanghai shake; his positioning and calling for the ball is better (he used to setup to high or too far away of the low block)...if you notice, he's catching the ball in Shaq's territory where he doesn't have to bring the ball down but just catch and shoot...thus he's definitely shoot 53% plus and 80% from the charity stripe. His stamina is better now with more familiarity to the NBA game...he can play 35 effective minutes now compared to a few years ago.

Big men from Europe (early in their NBA careers) generally have better offensive games especially on the perimeter whereas big men from the states (early in their careers) are better defensively ala Dream, D. Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Zo, Shaq, Artis Gilmore, Jabar, etc....and then they develop the other aspect of their games (European have to develop more D and US players more Offensive). When Dream came into the league...he was incredible on D but had a lousy offensive game...it took plenty of work for him to become poetry in motion. Yao will never be as gifted as dream but he's a different kind of player. He has the offensive skill but has a long way to go on the Defensive end especially weak side D where you get most of your block shots. He doesn't have the timing to disrupt more shots and people often shoot over him...

I just hope that he can finally work with Dream one summer as Dream had a big man camp a few months ago but Yao was traveling for the summer games...Dream wants to work with him too.

tiger0330

10-23-2006, 04:47 PM

JVG eluded to this last night during the press conference after the game. He said if he has scored 3, 4, 5 times in a row, they have to dump it down to him again and, if he has a favorable matchup, he has to score again and again.
JVG knows the deal, the closer you are to the basket the more times your shots are going to go in. Yao is huge, he dwarfed Jackie Butler and bulled his way into the paint, if Yao can get that kind of position in all his matchups. JVG is right, keep feeding him the ball until opposing teams start sending double and triple teams at him.

boby

10-23-2006, 05:14 PM

In the second example and his 3rd assist, on right side of post after being doubled Yao would throw a semi nolook pass to a cutting Novak, who scored the easy layup after making 1 out 6 of his previous 3-pointer shot attemps. We know this is Yao's 5th season, viewers are so used to this type of pass from Yao, but we are talking about the confidence booster for a slumping Novak all game long. If you happened to be reading the game thread last night, you could sense the pressure building up on the rookie and feel the disappointment among the fans prior to that basket by Novak. Sure enough, he would soon make back-to-back 3 pointers before the game was all over. There is no question in my mind, when Novak thinks about his own performance in this game, he will remember this pass from Yao as the turning point of his offensive output. And when people look at the boxscore, most here will likely overlook what really happened behind Novak's "4-9 FGM-A, 3-7 3PM-A, 11 PTS" scoreline, only to allow themselves to resume Novak's fancy nickname extravaganza. :)

I am glad someone pointed this out. On the top of my mind, please correct me if I am wrong, most of these Novac's 1-5 shoots were made when Yao was off the court.

A_3PO

10-23-2006, 05:22 PM

Whether it's Yao or Tracy or Shane or Novak or (name your player), looks like the philosophy on offense this year is to attack attack attack. When a player gets the ball in scoring position, JVG is demanding they take the shot. This forces defenses to stay alert 100% of the time and makes them expend more energy. This should wear down inferior teams and hopefully manufacture more blowout wins (think Phoenix Suns). I'm not sure how well this will work starting the season, but when our offense starts clicking, it should be interesting. I'll say this again: To start the year, our defense must carry us because the offense still seems out of sync IMO.

The real test will be if we can continue the attack mode against decent defensive teams.

vizier

10-23-2006, 08:00 PM

actuall JVG's orginal quote is once yao scores 3 baskets in a row he should keep shooting instead of looking for kick out.

Van Gundier

10-23-2006, 08:06 PM

actuall JVG's orginal quote is once yao scores 3 baskets in a row he should keep shooting instead of looking for kick out.

He also added "Yao should keep shooting because you are On Fire once you hit 3 shots in a row. Anyone who doesn't know that is either retarded or never played NBA JAM."

daywalker02

10-23-2006, 08:14 PM

nuff said. yao is gonna dominate!!! !!that's what he does

akuma

10-23-2006, 09:55 PM

He also added "Yao should keep shooting because you are On Fire once you hit 3 shots in a row. Anyone who doesn't know that is either retarded or never played NBA JAM."

but you also have to stop at least 2 shots in a row unless you goaltend.

aznboi

10-23-2006, 10:31 PM

28 PPG sounds fantastic

canoner2002

10-23-2006, 10:43 PM

If Yao can keep shoot 50%+ while not committing many TO's, he really should look for more shots. YOF or not, you got to support that until you find a more efficient way to score (if our bombers shoot 40% from 3-pt land, then yeah, but I am not counting on that).

chris_Rocket

10-23-2006, 10:50 PM

anyway, this is a good news! Yao shows his willing to be more aggresive.
Let's wait and see what happen!!

TMACFORMVP

10-23-2006, 11:26 PM

28 PPG sounds fantastic

Remeber that one year where Shaq averaged 28 and Kobe averaged 30, that would be hella sick if that happened here!!

aussie rocket

10-24-2006, 02:43 AM

Atta boy Yao.

thats what we wanna hear. Now you take that and bury that in your mind so deep that it can never escape, so that it comes out in waves by playoff time. So that no amount of defense, no amount of pressure, and no amount of injuries can hold you back from scoring that ball.

Get in the low box , call for the friggin' ball, and when you get it big fella....

go 2 work.

TracywtFacy

10-24-2006, 02:50 AM

I just wonder: how do yao and tmac get along? I've never seen any bad blood between them - is it going to stay that way? Usually the pattern is when you have two All-star type players there's a problem sharing the ball, i.e. Shaq and Kobe, KG and Starbury, and even TMac and Carter...

Also, I like everyone else on the team, as they are good team players without inflated egos, except I'm worried about Bonzi. For him he needs to pad his stats this season - is he the kind of guy to grumble about PT/lack of touches etc? Is he a ball hog? I'm just worried because so of his and his manager's quotes when he signed with the Rox seemed strongly that he would figure prominently, esp. in the offense...

daywalker02

10-24-2006, 02:59 AM

easy dude, only time will tell ;)

max14

10-24-2006, 04:30 AM

Yao needs to score because he can't really pass.

Van Gundier

10-24-2006, 06:33 AM

Yao needs to score because he can't really pass. Explain.

qrui

10-24-2006, 07:38 AM

A_3PO

10-24-2006, 07:47 AM

i'd like to see yao scoring more in the 4th q, when teams usually up their defence a few notches. that's a real sign of dominace. with his experience in nba, body buildup, and stamina impromvement, i don't see why he can't do it. on top of that, he's great at the charity line and it makes him more dangerous and deadly to the opponents.
Yao definitely can be stopped when other teams decide to take him out of the game. All they have to do deny him the ball or collapse on him hard after he gets the ball, which is what happens to him late in close games. They won't give him time to put the ball on the floor and make a move. Even when Shaq was the "MDE" it was Kobe who provided late game heroics. It's up to the rest of the Rockets to punish teams when they decide to double and triple Yao.

nowandthen

10-24-2006, 10:50 AM

Yao needs to score because he can't really pass.

well, i think Yao's pass is quite OK.

We will see a career high assist of Yao this season. :D

Fuse

10-24-2006, 11:05 AM

Yao needs to score because he can't really pass.

Did you watch the passes he pulled off last game? What are you basing your evaluations on?

smoothie

10-24-2006, 11:14 AM

we'll see 25ppg+ from yao this season.

Kindger

10-24-2006, 11:21 AM

Yao needs to score because he can't really pass.

I don't agree. "His only job is to rebound and block shots. He is at best the 4th scoring option on this team behind TMAC, JHo and Sura" ;)

declan32001

10-24-2006, 11:22 AM

Yao definitely can be stopped when other teams decide to take him out of the game. All they have to do deny him the ball or collapse on him hard after he gets the ball, which is what happens to him late in close games. They won't give him time to put the ball on the floor and make a move. Even when Shaq was the "MDE" it was Kobe who provided late game heroics. It's up to the rest of the Rockets to punish teams when they decide to double and triple Yao.

You also have to remember that even when Shaq was "MDE" it was too risky to get him the ball if you needed two points late because he'd be immediatey hacked and you had to pray he would make free throws.

Tigerknee

10-24-2006, 12:15 PM

Yao needs to score because he can't really pass.

Shirley, you can't be serious :rolleyes:

kjayp

10-24-2006, 02:54 PM

I like what i saw in the Spurs preseason game, granted it was against scrubs, but it appears yao is goin to rim with more authority.
in the words of Bill Walton..."THROW IT DOWN, BIG MAN!"

Shroopy2

10-24-2006, 11:09 PM

skywater

10-25-2006, 12:14 AM

Hey,guys, don't believe Sina any more... :o

Just check that news by Titan Sports. That's credible media in china basketball media.
http://titan.sports.tom.com/2006-10-25/0424/85397352.html

Mack

10-25-2006, 12:33 AM

Yao Ming: Ling Ming Scoring Maching.

wnes

10-25-2006, 12:41 AM

Hey,guys, don't believe Sina any more... :o

Just check that news by Titan Sports. That's credible media in china basketball media.
http://titan.sports.tom.com/2006-10-25/0424/85397352.html

Dude, at least make an effort to summarize the article in English, if you can't do a full pryuen at this time.

What do you expect the majority of viewers on this board to do, babelfish it? :rolleyes:

Hmm

10-25-2006, 01:52 AM

Yao definitely can be stopped when other teams decide to take him out of the game. All they have to do deny him the ball or collapse on him hard after he gets the ball, which is what happens to him late in close games.

Another thing that happens to him late in close games.... fouls in HIS favor.

Shaq can't shoot free throws, Yao is a good free throw shooter.

Rookie34

10-25-2006, 05:26 AM

Another thing that happens to him late in close games.... fouls in HIS favor.

Shaq can't shoot free throws, Yao is a good free throw shooter.

That 's a fact! Yao is a good free throw shooter indeed! :D

qrui

10-25-2006, 07:07 AM

Yao definitely can be stopped when other teams decide to take him out of the game. All they have to do deny him the ball or collapse on him hard after he gets the ball, which is what happens to him late in close games. They won't give him time to put the ball on the floor and make a move. Even when Shaq was the "MDE" it was Kobe who provided late game heroics. It's up to the rest of the Rockets to punish teams when they decide to double and triple Yao.
that's when we need our perimeter shooters the most, to prevent the defenders from cheating and collapsing on yao.

Fuse

10-25-2006, 08:01 AM

2.5-3 assts for Yao would be good. He's never averaged more than 1.7 (rookie year) and he averaged only .8 two years ago and that was with the good shooters like Wesley, Barry and James on the team. He's shown ability to be a better passer than he's demonstrated. Has to pick up his awareness and kick that ball out faster. Opponents still bear down on him and telegraph a few his moves sometimes cuz, not his fault, his gigantic frame's just not gonna move around as swiftly. Plus Rafer might take those assists for himself :o I'll take Yao the scoring machine, dont' want to overwhelm him, but it'd be nice if he can look out for those shooters.

I think the stats are slightly misleading. The open shots for the shooters usually come after Yao starts the process by kicking out, and that individual making the extra pass, for someone completely open. A big man's assist usually comes from cutters, as you can see, we really didn't have too many of those last year.