One of the big problems Yao Ming will face this year is staying out of foul trouble…or is it. Certainly the first few games Yao Ming looked like he could foul out at any time, but he never did. There is so much written about Yao Ming’s height and athleticism that some people do not realize just how intelligent Yao Ming is. For someone so young to come in the league and identify his deficiencies and then correct them in such a short period of time is amazing. Here are his and his opponent’s minutes and fouls over the month of December. 12/20/02 Yao Ming 32 minutes 2 PF’s Theo Ratliff 20 minutes and fouls out 12/18/02 Yao Ming 38 minutes 4 PF’s Brad Miller 37 minutes 5 PF’s 12/16/02 Yao Ming 41 minutes 4 PF’s Brian Grant 37 minutes fouls out 12/14/02 Yao Ming 36 minutes 2 PF’s Michael Olowokandi 37 minutes 4 PF’s 12/13/02 Yao Ming 36 minutes 5 PF’s Lorenzon Wright 32 minutes 4 PF’s 12/10/02 Yao Ming 35 minutes 2 PF’s Vlade Divac 27 minutes 3 PF’s 12/07/02 Yao Ming 27 minutes 4 PF’s Todd McCulloch 17 minutes 5 PF’s 12/06/02 Yao Ming 35 minutes 5 PF’s Jamaal Magloire 35 minutes 5 PF’s 12/3/02 Yao Ming 37 minutes 5 PF’s David Robinson 26 minutes 3 PF’s 12/01/02 Yao Ming 23 minutes 1 PF’s Vlade Divac 29 minutes 3 PF’s The more Yao Ming plays the better he gets. It looks like Yao Ming has no foul problem at all and he is in fact keeping the opposing center in foul trouble a great deal of the time. During the last 3 games Miami, Indiana and Atlanta tried the Hack a Yao Ming strategy. I think it is clear that it has not worked. Brian Grant and Theo Ratliff fouled out while Brad Miller in foul trouble down the stretch. In that same stretch Yao Ming has hit 23 of 26 free throws. The message that should be sent to the opposing centers in the league is that Yao Ming is not foul prone and trying to get him into foul trouble will only result in getting yourself into foul trouble and Yao Ming getting an extra 8 to 10 free throws.
Crash, very nice post! Opponents were hoping Yao was foul prone but that's about it. I hope they keep fouling him cause he is freaking lights out on the FT line. Against the Hawks, the turnaround in the game occured when we started dumping the ball into Yao. He'd either get fouled or an assist. Shorthly thereafter, Rice and Cat started raining 3's when they had to triple team down low. Again, nice post.
I said this exact thing a couple of weeks ago in this thread: http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=47137 Just one more thing that was obviously wrong about Yao.
I think as the Rocket becoming one of the power house in the NBA, the obvious way to beat the Rocket is to get Yao out of the game. For the past few game, it seems to me the offense run much more smoothly with Yao in the game. Even though there are times when he didn't get the touch, but opposing team have to constantly aware of him on the court. This make it easier for his temmate to find an opening in the defense to shoot. Obviously when Yao is out of the game the Rocket need to continue with passing to get an open shot. But with Yao being a smart player he will learn to stay out of foul trouble as we have seen so far. I think eventually all the weaknesses that people label that Yao was having will go away(most of it already had). Eventually, I think we will see Yao turn into a player without weakness and that will be scary.
Without Yao, we cannot do much. The only way we can win when Yao is not playing is by passing the ball and getting open shots. G MONEY!!! 3 3's!!! The Cat with 2!!!
I agree that he is not foul prone, and manages fouls very well actually. Once he learns who the bad/good FT shooters in the league are, he'll be even better with them. BUT, the opponents Fouls per game are IRRELEVANT in this thread. If you post their average over the season, OK. But their Fouls Vs Yao only mean that they need to foul Yao sometimes to stop him from scoring. In no way is it a reference to whther or not Yao is foul prone. Both of my points support Yao though. He's learned to use his fouls well, and he's being fouled a lot, meaning teams would rather have him make 80% of his FT's than 60% of his FG's.
when they foul him, usually it's because he was right under the basket and would probably made more than 90% of those shoots, even if someone is shooting like 95% ft, u have to foul him sometimes to provent a dunk or something.
Yao is not foul prone because the refs treat him well. Among rookies he might be one of the top 5 most respected rookies of all-time.
This is a little overly simplistic. I think that the Rockets have plenty of options with and without Yao. It is clear that they are better with him on the floor just as they are better when Steve is on the floor. Every team is better when their best players are playing.
That is, of course, true. But in the Pacers game, NOBODY was scoring until Yao retirmed to the game. If we did not have Yao this season, we would not be doing this great. We would probably be attempting to be the 7th or 8th best team in the league. Currently, we could probably Number 4. Yao has made an impact. And without Steve Francis last year, we did not win too many games. I guess most great teams have at least two good players. Most people have fouled out AGAINST Yao. Yao still has fouls but he hasn't fouled out because we have a good backup center. Cato had about 4 fouls in very little time but he is a good substitute. And Yao can shoot his free throws most of the time.
Why doesn't Yao get in foul trouble? I'd say: 1. He's so tall he never has to leave his feet to block you. Most engineered fouls are caused by getting the defender to leave his feet. 2. He's smart and disciplined. He knows to keep his hands straight up and his feet set. 3. He's quiet and respectful. Refs appreciate that and give him the benefit of the doubt. 4. The league sees him as a marketing attraction here and abroad. He gets preferential treatment. 5. He plays an attractive game. The league has always bent or slowly changed its rules to accommodate attractive styles of basketball.
