As I pointed out before in my previous thread, Ming's main weakness for now is getting into foul trouble. If you cant stay in the game, you cant contribute. Even you stay in the game, your defense becomes less effective. It's nice to see him hustle and dive for the loose ball, but a 7'5" should not do that. It wasnt even for a critical possession that worths risking injury. Forget about the Chinese guards who r mediocre at best. Ming should stay focus and avoid getting into foul trouble. Rudy's team should concentrate on that when Ming comes over. Gaining body strength, improving stamina, etc are important. But most important of all, learn to stay in the game, and other aspects of the game will come along.
Like someone else said, should Yao quit using his desire to win and become another Shawn Bradley? I think he did the right thing. He hutled to get the ball. IMO, that's a good thing. As for the other fouls, most of them were borderline. Even if they were not borderline, many were do to the fact that the Chinese guards couldn't stop the penetration. Yao either had to contest the shot or stick with his man. He would normally contest it, and try to get back to his man after the pass from the guard. This would get him a foul. But with the Rockets, he shouldn't have a problem. The other guard won't be in the lane every other play. And he has Eddie to help out. Also, after getting 3 fouls, Yao did a good job of being cautious. He probably could have had another 2 blks, but stayed on the floor.
Most fouls are borderling in most games. Of course, if Ming had better teammates, he would be getting less fouls. But a great defender knows how to adjust according to the situations. He should know that it's more important for him to stay in the game than getting too aggressive on defense. Dont try to go after every loose ball on the FLOOR, dont try to block every shots but rather just alter them is the way to play if you need to stay in the game. I m not bashing MING here, I m pro MING. I just want to point out his biggest weakness that need the most concentration. The longer he can stay in the games, the more he'll learn and the faster he can become a dominating player in NBA.
If I remember correctly, Yao only had one foul when he dove. I wouldn't consider that foul trouble. Plus, it was a bad pass in traffic, but he had a shot at it. He didn't get it, but after feeling it, probably felt he could get it. And like I said, after getting 3 fouls, Yao stayed on the ground. I think when China started losing it, he realized he couldn't give up layups and tried to make something happend. The only dumb foul I could possibly point out was the illegal screen, but not seeing it, I don't know if it was dumb. It could have been the guards fault. He may have gone before Yao was set. I understand your view. I would consider this to be Yao's biggest weakness, but I'm not sure how big it will be in the NBA. Cut down on bad passes, that's one foul away. Play better D on the guards and have better support, and that could be at least 1 less foul. Jmo.
its sooooo frustrating that he fouls so much. He'll learn though. It called adjusting to hogher competion
One reason why he is fouling out a lot, is because he knows that he has to bust his ass and do basically everything he can to help China out. With the Rockets, he'll have more help than he does with China, relatively speaking. Ming won't be asked to fill as large of a role with the Rockets than he does with China right now. As long as he can play 30 mins, I'll be happy. It will be 30 quality mins at C, that we lacked last year.
Um, our guards couldn't stop penetration last season, either. Opposing guards were in the lane every other play.
I never say he got into foul in the play when he dived for the loose ball. My point is he needs to learn to use his advantanges better, and protect his assets. Otherwise, he could easily get into injuries that would shorten his career. We all agree he didnt get good supports from his teammates. He would be less foul prone in NBA because of different rules and he'll be playing in a much better team. But, he'll also playing much more physical and quicker players day in and day out. I 'm not sure his proneness to foul trouble would go away that easy. But I do think he'll learn quickly, not only he has talents, so far he has also shown to be quite an intelligent kid with good characters. I must say he has good parenting
And most of the team was injured so they never got a chance to develop defensive chemistry like they did in 2001. With Griffin, Cato, and others helping out, there isn't going to be nearly the guard penetration that China is giving up. There's no way Francis and Mobley are worse then the Chinese team, and since Ming won't be the only defensive big man for the Rockets he won't have to do all of the work. I'm guessing that with Mobley's ankles 100%, and Francis headaches under control they can focus more. They definitely won't allow the penetration the Chinese allowed.
They weren't as bad as the Chinese, but they were bad. Overall, we had the worst defense in the league last year. I hope you're right about improved health helping. We really have a long way to go. I really want to change my signature, but I want to see some proof first.
the term 'defensive chemistry' implies that an attempt at playing defense was made last season well... Kenny and Eddie played D
Well, It is a big upgrade for yao ming to play with the Rox guards All the chinese players need to bulk up except bateer The chinese guards are undersized...
Rare day that I agree with kidrock8. Yao will not be asked to anchor the entire defense as he does with the Chinese NT. Also, IMO the foul called when Yao was diving for the ball would probably have not been called in the NBA. Although NBA officiating is far from perfect, it is called more consistently from game to game more so the the World Championships. I don't think Yao will be the starter and he will probably get major minutes against 2nd unit centers...this will build his confidence. IMO, Yao will get big minutes, but won't start until after the All Star game In addition to playing smarter and eliminating his "fouls of enthusiasm" better condtioning will help Yao from commiting "tired fouls" - like reaching in with his hands.
