I believe Yao is misused in defense. I don't know if it is by design but our guards gamble on defense too much and let their men drive to the basket and forces Yao to help. I know Rudy preaches "help the helper" but I have rarely seen anyone helps on Yao's man. Yao also said that the Rockets' scouting report always say that his man can't shoot and he should back off them to help out. That has proved to be wrong on many occasions. The guards in the old days could force their men into Hakeem and he could almost always helped to block or alter shots. Hakeem was also quick enough to get back to his man. Yao is very different player from Hakeem. He does not jump as quick, he is not as fast and has good lateral movement to be able to do the things Hakeem did. Expect him to do something his physics does not allow him to is to promote failure!
I agree. People are attacking Yao...and then his man is being left wide open. The guards can't let opposing guards to get past them so easily. And they have to help out on defense....not just stand around and watch. They have to find open men and go to cover them.
You can only play defence when you know how to! Its unfair to expect our Guards to help stop the penetrating players. They leave it to the big men. They can do it when they want to but the urge to play team defence only occurs infrequently.
