Bill Worrell's mentioned on numerous occasions that Tom Thibodeau has been working with Yao during Yao's injury. It was also mentioned in the Chron that Yao and Tom review a lot of game tapes, be it on flights, or what have you. Also, during games I see Thibodeau giving Yao a lot of one-on-one advice that's not directed to the rest of the team. (the whole time, Ewing's ogling the power dancers or the opposing team's wives) and the guy's in the gym helping out, when Yao's in the gym - hours before and after every game. Basically, Coach Thibodeau's been helping a good deal with Yao's progression (not to take away from Yao's supreme dedication to the Rockets) but I don't think he gets nearly as enough recognition for it. So here's his appreciation thread.
Thanks for creating a monster TT!!! P.S. Why do we have Ewing again besides the reasons stated above?
Thanks Coach Thibodeau!!!!! The personal attention you give to Yao Ming cannot possibly be overstated. Unlike Patrick Ewing, who I swear is as worthless to our team as......ah, nevermind.
Actually, we should just call this the stupidity appreciation thread - but that would be too generous.
I've finally figured it out - it's not that people randomly hate on Ewing with no cause whatsoever, no facts to back it up, and generally making no coherent points while doing so. It's not Ewing, it has nothing to do with Ewing. All this time, this puzzling phenomenon was being motivated by something else. The only thing to explain it? Brokeback Thibodeau
I did not remember whether I have shared the following with you guys some months ago. An interesting interview of Tom Thibodeau during his China visit in the summer to help Yao Ming during his recuperation from his ankle surgery. He talked about his expectations of Yao Ming. HERE IT GOES:-
And it seems like under Tom Thibodeau's persistence and Yao Ming's sheer industry and professionalism, Yao Ming is meeting most of Tom Thibodeau's wish list:- More minutes per game .....33.9 mpg; not too far from his set goal of 35 mpg. Except for the 21 games sidelined for his toe surgery, Yao Ming has been in great competitive form and shape. His personal foul numbers had gone down, particularly right after he returned from his toe injury. As to his last expectation of averaging 20+ points/18 + rebounds, Yao Ming is meeting 50% of his wish, and not yet there on 18 rpg. But we know he is getting there.....13 ~ 14 rebounds per night after the All Stars break.
Actually other than Tom Thibodeau, another guy should get credits for Yao Ming's current improved stamina, strength and conditioning. He is Anthony Falsone. I don't remember whether I've posted these photos before here in Clutchfan site. These are the photos of Yao Ming doing his strength and conditioning exercise by running 8-peat of 100-meter dashes (average 17 seconds per peat) in the hot and humid summer in Beijing (about 90 degree Fahrenheit)during Yao Ming's recovery from his ankle surgery under the stringent supervision and guidance of Anthony Falsone and Tom Thibodeau.
LOL, yeah we all know it was a typo. But the way Yao's playing now, what's the harm in telling him we expect it? Seriously, the discussion between Thibodeaux and JVG about allowing Yao to shoot more from the outside has great resonance to me. JVG believing Yao has to go to the hole is great - I believe it took Yao a longtime to fully grasp it - but there are other elements in Yao's natural game that need to be accentuated as he, uh, improves? I'm not sure what Yao's doing now. But there is that "fancy" element to basketball that JVG seriously loathes. A Dreamshake to him is wasted motion. An outside shot from a big man show lack of conditioning or coaching. But having seen Dream play around 45 minutes in important games he did often choose not to go inside, score some points and make others wonder how tired he was and WTF he's going to do. All the Ewing hating here is more centralized now, but JVG would probably openly swear to the basketball gods that he still believes Patrick was a better center in '94. It's not about Dream vs. Ewing, it's about JVG's belief system. Life isn't pretty and basketball only smells better. I do really wonder what Riley thinks about this guy. I think it's "he's so smart, so myopic, so driven, but I'd have loved to have seen this guy in the locker room with Magic in '82". Oh, and since T-Mac has this downtime going now I think this might be an oppurtune time to tell Yao the NBA megastar facts of life. Yao needs... er sorry, what does Yao need now...
