didn't see it posted yet... lock it up if its somewhere I missed! http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4896412.html The part in bold is what I think is most interesting. Between Hakeem making Yao "dominate" and Dawson making him a 90% free throw shooter.. is anyone going to be able to stop Yao?? Good commentary article from Justice (imho)
You beat me to it. Highlights for me! Next, Dawson positions Yao in the low post, and for the next 20 minutes, they work on footwork, positioning and an unstoppable sky hook. Yao goes to the middle of the lane and drops one in. Then to the baseline. Then back to the middle. Adelman didn't hesitate in saying yes when Dawson approached him. This isn't the norm in a league in which coaches sometimes protect their turf fiercely. After Dawson leaves, I ask Yao what drives someone who had played so well to work so hard. "You think it was a great season?" he said. "I don't. I'm not happy about it. I feel frustrated. We should still be playing. Tracy (McGrady) and I have to take responsibility." During one of the afternoon's drills, Yao goes down hard and rolls over holding an ankle. He gets up quickly and attempts to walk through the pain. "Take a breath, take a breath," Dawson tells him. "No," Yao tells him, "let's keep going."
It's amazing to me that this is the first time Dawson's been involved in teaching Yao. Considering Dawson's credentials, he should have had some input into Yao's development. I have to blame JVG for this one. Hakeem along with Dawson helping Yao much earlier in his career learn some fundamentals should've been a no-brainer.
Man, big props to Adelman for allowing CD to do his thing. That proves to me that RA does't have any kind of agenda and/or ego other than wanting what is best for the team to be successful. CD did wonders in evolving Dream's game and I know he will help Yao in the finer points of the post. Yao wasn't far off this season, ESPECIALLY before the injury. And, with all these examples that continuosly come out about Yao and everything he does to get better and to help his team, it's a wonder people around here question his heart. That's what makes the elite special players as great as they are - that, no matter what season they put together, they are never satisfied and work thier a** off to do even better the next season.
It seems as if one of the big sticking points with Van Gundy and the management was that the management wanted Hakeem/Dawson to coach Yao, while Van Gundy wanted Ewing/Thibodeau to coach Yao. If nothing else comes from the switch from Van Gundy to Adelman than just this change in coaching style for Yao and a true sky hook comes out of the switch to Dawson, then it will have been a good move changing coaches IMO. And I just said this in another thread in which some posters were suggesting the Rockets should have taken Amare instead of Yao, how can people still not realize what the Rockets have in Yao? Carroll Dawson is basically saying Yao is as hard a worker and puts in as much or more than Hakeem did, and we all know how tireless Hakeem worked and how much better he got every year even into his 30's. And guess what? Yao is another player that strangely makes huge strides every year. We have something extremely special in Yao and we need to realize it. He hasn't even scratched the surface on what he can do. If Dawson can develop that sky hook look out. I have always thought that Yao is the closest to Kareem during the 1980-1985 era and that he should be used in that manner. The constant debate about should he be Shaq or Ewing or Smits or whomever never made sense to me. He's always needed to be used like Kareem and now it sounds like he is due to a coaching change that coming to fruition.
Very exciting to read. CD did a great job with the dream back in the day, hopefully he will have the same impact on Yao Go Rockets!
I see CD delivering what's lacking all this years. Yao will be even better player next season. Good job CD!
Very nice find in an article. I think Yao will make great strides with Dawson and Olajuwan mentoring him. Much larger strides than before. Thibodeaux and Ewing taught him something. I can't see how they would not have taught him how to keep the ball high and footwork in the post. I always wondered why Yao brought the ball down to chest level allowing the shorter player guarding him to strip the ball. Isn't that supposed to be Big Man 101??? Therefore, having Dawson and Olajuwan teaching him, it will help to learn some new moves and perhaps unlearn a few bad habits.
Good to see CD goes back to coaching job. He should do that much earlier. And Yao should use his hook shot at least 30% of all his releases. Too much fadeaways for a 7'6" center who hardly jump.
Hey, I was a JVG fan while he was still the coach. But honestly? With each passing day, I am beginning to see that JVG needed to be fired, and replaced. I am very excited to see what Adelman has in plan for Yao and the Rockets next season. JVG: Good coach. Great guy. but he fell a little short of what we wanted in how to use Yao Ming. We need a better offense than just pass it to Yao inside.
Poor Yao, he still doesnt know he will only be on SportsCenter when he gets dunked on. TIA --- This Is America.
So... Yao didn't improve at all during his career? Thibodeau did a good job. Yao is not perfect, but to say he didn't improve a great deal is just blind. It simply takes a lot of time to develop big guys.
Yea, I am not saying Amare is a bad player, but people don't realize if Amare played for the Rockets, he won't even be close to what he is in Phx. Without a pg like nash, amare wouldn't look as good as he does now. Can you imagine Amare going 1v1 every possesion like Yao does? One of the differences between Yao and Amare is that Yao can CREATE his own shot, while amare needs someone like nash to create for him.
