After reading an updated article above, I cant believe reporters are already upset with his first performance. In my opinion, if he even averages half of those stats, i would be happy. Thats a great upgrade from Cato and there are some other things he can make an impact that are not shown on stats.
Its a matter of center of gravity. A 6' 6'' 260 pounder is better than a 6' 10" 260 in pushing out a taller offender. It is simpily a law of physics. Many teams use stronger, rather taller players to defend Shaq in NBA. Shaq still need the ball passed to him to score. From what I've read and seen in most of the posts here and elsewhere. The 6' 6" Canadian center is a real strong guys for his height, very well built. They dont put him up to defend Yao for no reasons. I m sure there r taller Canadian players. Not to mention Yao got double, even tripled-teamed in the game. If You got guarded like that and didnt get the balls even U r wide-opened, it doesnt help even your opposing center is 1 foot shorter. In situation like that, if i were the coach, I could just let Yao shoots the lights out from the outside, the 6'6" cant defend that. Yao being such a high percentage shooter, that s not a bad strategy. In similar situation, Shaq usually pass the rock to open men rather "dominating" and scored over his 2 or 3 defenders. He definitely cant back out and make a persistent jumper like Yao could. There s no question Yao's upper strength needs improvement, so do most big men in their rookie year. One quick comment, if Yao could learn to get next to rather than behind his defender. He would be awesome in offensive rebounding.
http://espn.go.com/nba/news/2002/0816/1419164.html <I>"I need more weight training,'' said Yao, who was especially impressed by the strength of one of the players who defended him -- a 6-foot-6 center named Richard Anderson who played professionally last season in Austria. </I> ... <I> "His upper body is what he needs to work on,'' said Anderson, who used his low center of gravity to move Yao outside. "The first time he grimaces when you give him a little shove, you know you can play with him.'' </I> And of course, Rudy's comments: <I> Tomjanovich spent more than an hour Thursday night meeting with Yao and China coach Wang Fei at Yao's hotel room. "It had an unbelievable bed. You've never seen a bed like this. The extenuation stretched clear across the room,'' Tomjanovich said of Yao's accommodations. </I>
By the way, if Bradly was in Yao's place, he would be pushed by the 6' 6" Canadian all the way out to the 3 point line. All these comparisons to Bradly only mean one thng. Either these people r stupid, never did their research on Yao, or pure racist comments.
Yao Ming, could you hit the weight room , please? Forget about all the excuses your fans come up for you. If you were impressed by a 6'6 Canadian NOBODY, then Houston, we got a problem!!
http://waymoresports.thestar.com/NA...id=979061475221&call_pagepath=Raptors/Raptors Canada beats China, big Yao so-so in debut Aug. 17, 2002. 12:32 AM Aggressive defence contains 7 1/2-footer in easy 94-66 victory VANCOUVER — Amid the masses who came to pay homage to local hero Steve Nash here last night sat one man who didn't really give a hoot about what happened to the wild-haired Canadian point guard. Nestled in the stands at GM Place, where Grizzlies used to prowl, Houston Rockets head coach Rudy Tomjanovich watched intently and if there was another team besides China on the basketball court, he really didn't care. But while Tomjanovich was concerned primarily with China, he missed Canada kicking off its final preparation for the world championships with a solid 94-66 victory before more than 10,000 fans. Using aggressive defence that will have to become their trademark without Steve Nash, the Canadians looked solid for most of the night and pulled away after leading by 10 at the half. Tomjanovich, meanwhile, finally got to see 7-6 Chinese centre Yao Ming, the first pick in last June's draft, and what he saw, after Yao lost the opening tip to 6-10 Kevin Jobity of Toronto, was a rather spotty performance by a 21-year-old who looked out of place in the first half and solid in the second. Tomjanovich said after the game that while Yao will have to put more bulk on his body, he's far from a waif. "Probably," he said. "But I kept hearing how skinny this guy was but his legs are gigantic he's got a great foundation," Tomjanovich said after the game. "He'd only be a senior in college and I think he's pretty far along." With a large Chinese contingent in the crowd cheering wildly, Yao committed a turnover on his first possession but made his first North American basket was memorable, a thundering one-hand dunk over Ottawa's 6-6 Richard Anderson on his way to a 17-point, five-rebound, five-block game that included a 6-for-6 night from the floor. He also showed good ball handling skills for someone his size and a soft touch from the free throw line but he was muscled off the low post by the much smaller Canadians and was hamstrung by some poor play from his team's guards, who couldn't handle Canada's pressure. He had a handful of blocked shots and changed a large number of others by his mere presence under the basket. But he was far from the dominant force in the game, unable to get position on the low block (although the Chinese game plan seemed to avoid all thought of that) and not comfortable enough to get off the outside shot he's known for. Yao was more assertive in the second half but he couldn't overcome his teammates' inability to solve the Canadian defence. He did operate smoothly a couple of times in the low post but he certainly wasn't playing anyone with the skills he'll see every night in the NBA. Tomjanovich reserved comment on Yao's play last night but said earlier he won't be making any grandiose prognostications about the young giant. Instead, Tomjanovich wants to gather intelligence he can use when Yao joins the Rockets in mid-October, after the world championships and the Asian Games. The coach had a face-to-face meeting with his latest project at China's team hotel on Thursday night but won't get a chance to work him out until after Yao fulfills his obligations to his national team. "I've learned not to put on great expectations," said Tomjanovich. "Do I have a good feeling? Yes, but I'm going to let it happen, not force it. My gut feeling is he's going to do pretty good, he will adjust at a good rate."
