Not sure how much I agree with this article. A lot of it is the same old rhetoric constantly recycled in the national media. Anyway, discuss. http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/3410520 Yao admits he's not living up to expectations Stan McNeal / TSN 2/27/05 The Rockets are strolling off the court after a morning shootaround when Jon Barry playfully jabs a newspaper at Dikembe Mutombo. "Look at this, Dikembe," Barry blurts out. "It says here you're the third-most overpaid player in the league." Mutombo, a backup center pulling down almost $19 million, continues on his way. Though he's deserving of such a claim — he's the league's second-highest paid player but plays only 13.7 minutes per game — the veteran center cracks a smile. He knows Barry merely is giving him grief. Trash talking is a favorite pastime among teammates — especially when their team is playing well. No team entered the All-Star break playing better than the Rockets They had an eight-game winning streak, the franchise's best in nearly six years (although they have lost three consecutive since the break). After losing by 28 points at Milwaukee in late December, the Rockets won 19 of 25 games and moved a season-best 11 games over .500. There are reasons aplenty for the surge: # Tracy McGrady, after an adjustment period following last off-season's trade to Houston, has resumed his status as happy superstar. McGrady has raised his scoring average 5.4 points — to 25.6 — since November. He is making an effort on defense, too. There even have been times when he has asked to guard the opponent most likely to take a big shot. # David Wesley has emerged as a defensive stopper. At 6-foot-1, 203 pounds, Wesley uses his strength to control opposing point guards. He helped hold Wizards All-Star Gilbert Arenas to 3-of-14 shooting in a recent Rockets 30-point victory. # Wesley and Barry, both early-season acquisitions, have supplied enough outside shooting — each has made better than 40 percent of his 3-pointers since joining the Rockets — to open up the floor for McGrady. Barry is one of several veteran reserves who bring energy and a specialty. Scott Padgett shoots 3s, Ryan Bowen hustles, and Mutombo still plays defense. (But Rod Strickland? Don't ask us.) # Bob Sura, sidelined the first month, has taken over the point on offense and picked up where he left off last season with the Hawks, when he was flirting with triple-doubles on a regular basis. Sura is second on the team in assists and is tied for second in rebounding. # Coach Jeff Van Gundy actually has dialed back his (over) control of the offense. During a recent victory, one scout turned to another and said, "Can you believe this? He's hardly calling any plays." After averaging 86.8 points while going 6-10 in November, the Rockets averaged 104.6 in the eight-game winning streak. For everyone easily sucked in by the NBA hype machine, you probably figure there has been a huge omission to this list of Rockets riches. You know who we're talking about — the starting center for the West All-Stars. The foe regarded as Shaquille O'Neal's biggest rival outside of L.A. That good-humored guest star on The Simpsons. Yes, we're talking about Yao Ming, the 7-foot-6, 315-pound center from China. But — d'oh! — there is a slight problem. Yao's impact on the Rockets' recent run — on their entire season, in fact — has been more like his backup Mutombo's than McGrady's. Yao is shooting and scoring well enough, but McGrady has taken over. This isn't what was envisioned when Yao was picked first in the 2002 draft. He was widely considered the next big man who would take over the game, a behemoth who could score, rebound and block shots. Well, it's season No. 3, and the gap between Yao and Shaq remains about as wide as the distance between Shanghai and Miami. A case can be made that the Rockets' season took off after they shifted their offense toward the perimeter. McGrady began the season trying to fit in and worried too much about getting the ball to Yao. McGrady averaged 16.9 field-goal attempts in November to Yao's 13.0. In January, McGrady averaged 23.3 shots per game; Yao was at 11.8. Yao's field-goal accuracy has improved — he ranks among the league leaders at 54.5 percent — and he has upped his scoring average a point over last season to 18.5, but no other part of his game stands out, much less dominates. His mediocrity is seen in a variety of ways: # His rebounding — his 8.5 boards per game rank 21st in the league — and blocked shots (1.8 per game) are down from last season, and his turnovers and fouls are up. "He doesn't go get the ball well outside of his area," says a Western Conference advance scout, "but not many guys that tall have been able to." # For a willing passer, Yao doesn't get many assists. He is averaging less than one per game and earlier this season went six games with nary a one. "He has to get better passing out of the double-team," says the scout. "He too often brings the ball down and is stripped." # There's the frequent sight of an opponent dunking in Yao's grill, a feat performed this season by such non-household names as Nenad Krstic, Chris Mihm and Josh Childress. # Yao often is in foul trouble, which, combined with how quickly he seems to tire, limits him to an average of only 31.6 minutes. Even Yao admits he is not living up to most expectations, including his own. "Yes, yes," Yao says. "Other players are improving very fast, and I'm not improving as fast, and that bothers me." There's certainly no embarrassment in falling behind the rapid ascents of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Amare Stoudemire, all of whom are younger than Yao and have become serious All-NBA first-team candidates faster than Yao. But it's time to ask: Will he ever reach that level? Can the Rockets win a title if he doesn't improve? Is he going to be more like Shaq or Shawn Bradley? For the moment, comparisons to Shaq, as Van Gundy has said, are not fair to either player. These days, Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas serves as a more suitable comparison to Yao. They're the two tallest starting centers in the league, and both are capable second options to their teams' superstar swingmen. "That's a really good comparison," Pacers center Jeff Foster says. "Both are such big guys that when they get the ball, they can just turn around and shoot over you. Ilgauskas has a few more tricks than Yao does. Yao's still learning." "Ilgauskas relies purely on his skills, and his skill level is higher than Yao's," Pacers assistant coach Mike Brown says. "He has more range on his jump shot. He's a little quicker. Yao is a little bit thicker and has a little more upside." So what has happened for Yao to be likened more to a gawky 7-foot-3 jump shooter than the game's top big man? For starters, the expectations were out of hand. Yao had just turned 22 and moved to a strange country when he entered the league. Just as tough was being closely watched by 1.3 billion people back home — all viewed by the NBA as potential consumers. The hype and his height are beyond Yao's control. The development of his game, however, is on him. He's still too soft, too slow and even, at times, too nice. "He's probably plateaued from where he was after his rookie season," says an assistant coach in the West. "He's still soft. He never hits anybody hard, and he doesn't make his presence felt enough." Being slow-footed leads to fouls when Yao is unable to stay in front of players driving the lane. Yao scrunches his forehead and drops open his mouth in a pained grimace when calls go against him, but he doesn't say more than a word or two. He has yet to be called for a technical foul this season. "There'll be nights I tell him, 'Yao, you've got to get a tech tonight,' " McGrady says. "Do some yelling; do something to get a technical foul so these guys will start giving you a call. But that's who he is — such a nice guy. One of these days, I'm going to have to get it out of him." Being so tall is not always so good, either. Van Gundy recently wondered if Yao would be better conditioned and more mobile if he were six inches shorter. The Pacers' Foster gives up 73 pounds and seven inches to Yao, but he says a lack of strength isn't Yao's problem. The shorter player has leverage. "Ask any big guy who is covered by a strong guard," Foster says. "The shorter guy can get his legs lower and push him out." Yao has gotten much bigger from the waist down since his rookie season — a scout who saw him pre-NBA says he barely recognizes Yao's beefy calves — but he still has trouble preventing defenders from pushing him off the block. "If he could hold his position, he'd be such a dominant scorer because nobody can stop him when he catches the ball close to the basket," an Eastern Conference scout says. "I don't know if it's fatigue, but the fact he can't hold his position prevents him from being dominant." His commitment to the Chinese national team could be holding Yao back as well. The near year-round schedule does not give Yao time to focus on his training. "Practice three, four hours a day, and that's it, no problem," Yao says. "But I don't like all the traveling we have to do in the summer." "It's a problem playing year-round," Pacers forward Jermaine O'Neal says. "I can relate to that, after playing for the USA team. He needs to take a summer off, lift weights and get his body strong." Play some pickup. Talk some trash. Do what teammates do. Someday, it could help the Rockets get even better. Stan McNeal is a managing editor for Sporting News. Email him at smcneal@sportingnews.com.
