It's not just how to use Yao but how the whole offense works. Isn't that what +/- is about, how well the team does when the player is on the court? During the JVG era, we pretty much had no offense whenever TMac was out. Yao was too easily neutralized without a good offensive system. Under Adelman, we were able to win without TMac. That would certainly benefit Yao's +/- numbers.
The stats are very deceptive here. Because Yao didn't have a long career - his most productive years were short lived and injury plagued - and his early years he just wasn't that good. Its obvious to anyone that his last 4 healthy years he was the best center in the league - and to actually try to say that he wasn't a net positive is ridiculous. With Yao - the problem wasn't him passing out of the post - it was getting the ball into the post before the swarm of defense came in. Once Yao had it, he scored incredibly efficiently. Problem was no one knew how to get him the freakin ball except for tracy macgrady.
The funny thing is if the rockets or any other team had a player like Yao right now you can bet your ass that every other team would be jealous. No human is perfect and that applies for basketball players also. Kobe Lebron even mj all had flaws in there game and theres no doubt that Yao did too. with that said Yao was a legit number 1 option that you can build your team around and I can count about three in the game right now and one is old (Kobe). Yao was the last of the the true center who you could build your team around on offense and defense. As good as Dwight Howard is you can never build your team offensivly around him period. I think because of all the injuries ppl will never truly recognize yaos greatness which is fine because he doesn't deserve to be mentioned with Hakeem or wilt and Kareem but its not because of his talent it's because of his health and that's part of the game. Talent wise yaos a top 7 center all time no questions asked all you old timers can dog me but iv seen them all play so get over yourselfs Yao was a monster and a great teammate I'm very thankfull I got to watch his whole career because chances are we will never see another player like him.
Yao as a player was WAY overrated. It's pretty telling that when he was injured, we could trot out Dikembe Mutombo's aging corpse and still have basically the same chance of winning a game.
One more thing I forgot to say is that IMO you build a team around Yao much like Tim Duncan in that you make him your anchor for everything you do on both sides of the ball even if he's not the player getting the most shot attempts.
You're an idiot. You really are. Yao opened the floor because just having him out there commamnded a ton of double teams. Terams were collapsing on him as soon as we started to move the ball. This got the shooters a ton of open looks.
I would argue that rather than getting him the ball, it's our inability to punish any team defending that way that's the problem. You simply should be giving him the ball in that situation. The fact that the Rockets had to force feed Yao the ball is why that offense was garbage in the first place. I mean, having the opposing center front your own center is a penetration guard's wet dream. Imagine any player that can attack knowing opposing center is 15 feet away from the basket fronting your own teammate. How could that not lead to a good shot? Unfortunately, we got such players too late. Lowry, Brooks, Landry, players that can attack the basket came too late to Yao's rescue. Instead we had Rafer 'punishing' opponents by bricking gazillion teardrops, or T-Mac driving for one step before pulling up yet another 20ft jumper. Honestly, it was simply a cluster**** back then.
I don't care about any stupid stats or what some phony writer says.. I will always have a special place in my heart for Yao Ming. One of my all time favourites and a tremendous human being as well.
You can't build a team around Yao like Duncan because Yao was...nothing like Duncan. And that isn't even mentioning being injury-prone. That being said, I hope this doesn't turn into a Yao-bash thread because I sure as hell miss the guy and everyone else should too.
That part made me laugh but you are wrong in a sense. I see the point you are making, record wise there wasn't much of a difference, but I guarantee you Deke couldn't do what Yao did vs the blazers.
We only got a glimpse of his peak potential before his componded injuries. We were robbed of his best.
Once he got the ball he was pretty much unstoppable. Unfortunately getting him the ball was kind of hard.
Outside of maybe 50% of Houston, whoever overrated Yao? Even in seasons where he was statistically top-2 center in the NBA, and the Rockets were having 50-game seasons, people were routinely chalking up his all-star appearance as "Chinese votes." Or point how he's only one of the top center in the league because there are no centers. His rebounding and toughness were constantly criticized, despite being the worst officiated player in the NBA(JVG's words, not mine). Honestly, there was never a single season in Yao's career that people didn't question his game. And that was true even if you just limit it to clutchfans.
No, he was what he was and got credit from everybody around the league for what he did. In fact, I say he's even underrated because if Yao would've received the benefit of the calls like other great players do, he would've averaged 25-30 ppg easily. The man got fouled on almost every play like Shaq because he was too big and too much to handle. Blatant hacking and elbows to the back was something he had to deal with every game. Not getting calls not only took at least a few free throws a game for Yao, it also changed the way he played.
Yao was beset by injuries just as when he was grasping the concept of being the most dominant offensive big guy in the league at that time. Referees were clueless on how they should officiate the game when he was playing. Some sucked at low post entry passing. Someone with foresight should have hired Hakeem from the get-go and drilled him on who he was and what he should be doing on the court. Not so much as to teach him post-moves, just to have that alpha dog, I need my 30 touches tonight or I'll break your face mentality ingrained into him. That size, that shooting range, that FT shooting...automatic 25 - 30 points per game.
I never thought yao was a great offensive player,but I always thought he was very underrated as a defender. A lot of people thought it was no stats all star,but as soon as yao and deke were gone, the defense was garbage. What really kept yao from being a dominant offensive was his mentality. He never went into every game thinking about dominated it. Its great to be a team player and all,but boris diaw and al harrington shouldn't be able to guard you one on one. A lot people didn't like it,but I used to like yao in the high post or when they would pick and pop with him. He was a very good shooter when he didn't think about it. Plus it gave him a chance to be the play finisher vs play starter which probably fit him better anyway.
