lancet, I watched that game and I totally agree with you. Yao isn't that tired. What he needs now is the supports from the coach and teammates. Please try to give him some easy shots and help him to rebuild his confidence.
I may have some of this wrong, if so correct me. Between the Shanghai Sharks, Olympic team, National team for the Asian Games, and World championships and then the NBA, hasn't Ming played or been in organized practice for the last three years straight? Does anyone know of anybody that has played at that level for three years straight, hell the NBA players complain if they lose 2 weeks of their off season as hurting them. I have no doubt Ming is trying hard and may even think he is not tired, but we all know when the legs go so does the shot and the player does not even know what is wrong.
windandsea, This is what's so sad in some of the games. He's missing 2-5 foot layups or getting them blocked. When he's down that deep in the paint, he needs to quit laying the ball up and instead, slam it with authority. I think if Yao can get the hook shot going, he will be near-unstoppable. If he can get that and some viciousness in the paint going, I know he will be unstoppable.
How is he going to get INTO the paint? He has been making most of his shots inside the paint. He's been missing everything outside. But he needs to get inside with the ball first. Eddie Griffin did well with Yao in passing it to Yao very close to the basket.
Griffin is the person who assisted Yao most in this team. In other words, his most assists were awarded by Yao. In the first game with Dallas, Griffin had 5 assists and AT LEAST 4 of them came from feeding the ball to Yao in the paint.
It is apparent that Yao has hit a rookie wall but I think it is not fair to say that there is no other rookie that has such a busy schedule before entering the NBA. Because most of the international players have similar schedules. For example Pau Gasol played approximately 50 games including play-offs in Spanish league, 20 or 25 in European cups(international tournaments organized between club teams if you are not familiar to the European basketball) and passes every summer with the Spanish NT for the European Championships, World Cup or for the next Olympics. Even before when he was younger he played for the Junior team and I think Spanish junior NT had become world champions in that era.
I feel your pain, WinandSea. But my feeling of the game is a bit different than yours. Yes, I don't watch Yao's game as often as you do, but all NBA games I watched tell me that not more than 5 teams have Jason kidd-like selfish-less game organizers. On the contrary, guards like S Marbary, S Francis, J Stakhouse and alike are jacking up bad shot in most teams, just like in Houston Rockets. It is a sad fact, but it is sadder to attribute Yao's recent slump to SF and CM's ISO play. I don't say I like their play, not at all. Actually SF's ISO makes me sick from time to time, even during his big game against LA Lakers last week. But at least they do pass to Yao when Yao is aggressive and consistently makes shots. The also try to pass the ball when they bump into 5 opposite players and have no way to go......many of their passes in that situation become instant TOs, but..they are passes. If Yao catches these passes, no matter how bad these passes may be, he can still play his play. Yes he may just have a couple of seconds to do his work, but since you don't have J Kidd at your team and you are supposed to be a go-to player, you have to make your shots like D Nowitski and T Ducan do in almost every game. But unfortunately Yao is not being able to do this recently. Having watched all Yao's national-broadcasting games and having logining to clutchcity's chat room during every game, I feel Yao's struggling has more to do his general fatigue and his <b>lack of adjustment when the opposite teams adjust to his play</b>. By general fatigue, I mean some symptoms like poor shooting touch, slow response time on court, and lack of heart unconsciously. I think this is the so-called Rookie Wall. A couple of day’s rest may help, but cannot break the wall without other adjustments that Rudy T knows and I don't know. Actually I feel playing him more may be a better way for Yao to break the Rookie wall sooner, but, as I said, Rudy T should know better, and we have no reason not to trust a veteran coach who have brought us two championships. For Yao's lack of adjustment in his play, it worries me a bit more than the Rookie wall. His right spin move, his fade-away and his duck-like post move need some adjustment since they have not been working well recently, but Yao fails to do it as soon as we fans expect. We can do nothing but hope he is as smart as advertised and quickly make his adjustments and make boom plays again. If he still cannot, well, Houston this time then didn't get a Dream-class player but rather a decent player like Big Dog Robinson. A little sad but whom else Houston would have taken in this year's draft?? A post above said it is time to distinguish real fans and 'good time' fans. No claiming myself a real Houston fan, I did have spent too much time and enthusiasm on following Houston and Yao's development in the past six months. I think I need a little adjustment, too. I will still follow Houston's game, and will still login to Cluctch city chat room for every game, but probably will not feel like live only for Yao MIng and his game again every day. I will still wear Yao ming's jersey to go to watch his game next week when Houston comes to visit Cleveland, but I may give up my plan to drive to Atlanta for the all-star weekend - he doesn't deserve a all-star starter yet, though I voted him at least 10 times and only voted O'neal about 3 times. I will still keep my patience and confidence on Yao Ming and Houston Rockets, and understand that a young team is growing, but not without a pain down the road, but I won’t bet my hope on Yao’s success in NBA in his first year. Are you ready for an adjustment, too
Wait until the last 4 weeks of the season (after the All-Star game). Then, Amare will start hurting. After the All-Star game, it's all about the long haul and work. The hype and "stories" start to die down.
he does passes, and a lot of them should be him take it to the hole strong instead, remember last game, there are at least two passes he made while he should just shot by himself while he is under basket wide open.
This all sounds good, but when you lose your legs you lose your shot and after playing for three years straight he does not even know his legs are gone. Lets not make Ming look bad by playing him like this, lets think what is best in the long run. Too hell with what anyone says, show me any NBA player that has played three years without a break?
Saying Yao Ming has played three years without any stop is exagerating. China CBA basketball teams only play about 35 games of regualr season, and about 10 play-off games for a championship-conpetition team. In Yao Ming's case, he has been playing that schedule for years. The only time he plays more than usual is last summer when he played world games at Indiana and asian games at Korea, but it was nothing too much for him. Remember many NBA players played in World Games too, including Ben Wallace and J O'neal. The asian game was really a cake for Yao Ming and he implied that he didn't give all himeself in playing. Saying he's worn out because of no-stop play is a very weak excuese. I want Yao Ming succeed but don't buy this at all. About Ming losing his legs, I think it is more like he is losing his touch, and <b> confidence </b> too. How to cure this I don't claim I know better than many of you, but my personal experience is that playing more at his pace may help. I don't play organized basketball but when I play at the school gym, I know sometimes I have no touch and can not jump, and continuing to play often gets myself back.
It's no exaggerating. While Chinese NT might just play a few games, they trained for months unlike the USA team. I've heard that he only had the chance of going home for 3-5 days for the past year.
I think of Yao Mings position from a different perspective. I dont think of him being tired out. I think of him being tired of putting in the effort and being excluded from the main flow of the game! The Guards make very little effort to help him along in his game when they condesend to make a pass its mostly to get them out of a sticky situation and the pass is rushed and a bad one at that.Putting myself into Yao Mings shoes I would have been discouraged by the petty selfishness of his team and the lack of coaching and direction. He is just not used to this free wheeling street ball that the Rockets play. I hope that when the team either'Gels'or reorganises that Yao Ming will still be with the Rockets and become their leading player.This may take time and a melding of the wills of Players and Coaches to a common Team Goal to play Team Basketball.Rudy needs to develop the game arround the fact that the ball is passed to players not as an after thaught, or when the Guards get into trouble,but as the first option as decision makers to shoot or pass, depending on how they perceive the situation. At present it appears that his playbook is empty, he should fix this situation quickly and get away from the Players standing arround watching the 'Mobes and Franchise Show'.
What's the best way to gain your teammates trust? Make your shots. But, don't worry. I really do think that Yao has hit the rook wall. His shot just doesn't look the same. It has no arc (flat). I mean, even his FT look flat.
Maybe I had it wrong, I thought he joined the national team when he was 18, 6 years ago. When he was not playing with the Shanghai Sharks he was practicing for the national team. That would include the practice for the Olympic's, World games and Asian games. Not counting the games and travel for all three. I may be mistaken but I believe it has been three years since he has had any time off to relax. Its been games or organized practice for some games for the entire time. If it was just getting upset with not getting the ball it would not be hurting his free throws, and they are even not the same.
