i agree that he has been missing that outside shot A LOT...but I think Yao just needs to keep on shooting that shot in the game...Yao has a shooter's touch and you know what they say about shooters...when their shot is not falling they just need to keep on shooting until the shots finally start to drop. (Damn I hope rafer does not read this, and decides to keep on shooting )
why do we consider certain players "great offensive players?" ask yourself that. why do we consider kobe, lebron, tmac, and wade the top tier scorers? why not redd? why not peja in his prime? kobe/lebron/wade/tmac are ALL-AROUND scorers. you stop them in one way, they do another. yes, jumpshots are not reliable, but it gives you options. if teams double tmac in the post, he can go outside. if teams double him outside, he can go inside. and so on. same thing with post players. if you double hakeem in the post, he goes to his mid-range game. if you double yao inside, what other options does he have? like i said, it's VERY easy to take out a guy if he stays within a certain area of the court. adelman admitted that last night in the post game conference. the reason we need tmac in the 4th is b/c and i quote from adelman, "it's very easy to take yao out with double teams."
I've seen him hit baseline fadeaways in 10-15ft range but I'm just judging from how close he is to the 3pt line as opposed to the lane line. I saw him hit a far one late in the Sonics (or the Spurs?) game, he was closer to the 3pt line then the lane line.
sorry that I raised my tone in the first place. When he got doubled, the other one came from the sideway and knocked the ball away from him. I do remember that happened occasionally. Like what you said, he is very intelligent and plays within his skills so he doesn't put the ball on the floor as much as he used to before and this is so good.
how about the other night Yao dribbling from top of the key and dunking over Malik Rose? he has ability to put ball on the floor.
I can name on too...remember the behind the back dribble and dunk in the open court Yao did a few years ago? Just b/c he can do it once in a while doesn't mean that its part of his game...could it be? yes! will it be? No, only because its too easy for players to pickpocket him.
I suppose then it is even more ridiculous to compare TMac to Kobe. A lot of "objective" non-YOFs on this very board think TMac >>> Kobe. Yeah I'm a YOF.
true. but to win a ring takes a lot, though; incl. a little luck sometimes. in mm era of the rockets, 1st year it was obvious yao wasn't ready; 2nd year injuries and then last year yao back from a broken leg (and had to face boozer - a bad matchup) and no support almost at all from role players. what will happen down the road this year? no one knows. i guess i'm just saying you almost have to have everything right (incl. the refs, your luck, etc.) at the right time to win a ring. remember fisher's 0.4 sec?
who? i don't think anyone does. i think most mean to say tmac FITS this team more in terms of chemistry. nobody in their right mind would say tmac RIGHT NOW or even in the past 3 yrs are better.
it's a question of trusting what your brain sees versus what your mind tells you. it's very possible for your brain to tell you that yao had a 25/10 game and as a fan still walk away from the game he left something on the court. he'll play great and then suffer the equivalent of an on-the-court b**** slap via a having the ball slapped away from his hands, a dropped pass, get dunked on, an untimely offensive foul etc. Yao's an efficient player but he does suffer from more than his share of ugly plays a game. a large part of that is the fact that he's often the slowest guy on the court, and another part is that players are allowed to get away with rough play on him. the two combine for cringeworthy Yao plays form time to time that leave a bad taste in your mouth that's actually the truth, it's not a matter of being a hater or a YOF, the truth is that this is a game that mythologizes flashy plays and Yao looks bad from time to time on the court... while that doesn't translate into the box score it is something that fans see with their eyes and often leaves this little disappointment in our stomachs we feel guilty about when we consider at his stats
applying the same logic of yours, it also depends on which scenes you (or your mind) want to remember as a fan of the game or a player. for example, all turnovers are stupid and look silly and untimely to me. why are yao's easier to remember and harder to let go for some of us? no one seems to point out nash or iverson has a high turnover as well. yeah, he's a pg and handles the ball a ton. but guess what, so does yao. although he does not dribble the ball, he handles the ball just as much since the offense is meant to through his hands. going back to the op's point, why some of us tend to remember more of yao's bad moments (like being dunked on by swift) and for longer, rather than to remember his great moments (like the one he dunked on rose) - despite the fact that his great moments are a lot more than his bad moments?
I await, with hope in my heart, for the day that Yao comes onto the court and says in a loud raw " Give me the Dam Ball" and takes over the game. From that point on the team becomes the team of Yao and not before. When this happens we will win a championship.
Duncan doesn't do any better than Yao. He gets stripped, doubled and isn't flashy. You don't think he's done anything the entire game until you look at the stats at the end of the game and he's put up 25 pts and 10 rebounds. As for undervaluing Yao, that's not me. It might be for the original thread starter but that sounds like a personal issue to me. Yao is dominant and with the decline of Shaq...the new Most Dominant One!! Dwight Howard can't hold a candle to Yao.
When Yao plays well, I give it up to him. When he doesn't then I say something. I think when I look at Yao, its more than how many points he scores. As a center in this league, the big guy has to establish the paint. I don't think anyone undervalues him, I guess its more to some fans that think he's great. I think he all star caliber, but not superstar caliber. Maybe it is his limitations whethers it physical like his stregnth and stamina or cultural. I do realize what the Rox have in Yao and that's cool, but some people think that being good in a center poor nba is ok. I'm not one of those guy. With the lack of centers in the nba, he should have more night like he did against the sonics.When the rox play a team like the warriors or suns, he should drop 40. Some will say that's unrealistic, but when teams play with small guys, it should be murder. I know dream has rox fans spoiled,but Yao can establish himself as a hall of fame type player, when u have avg 10 rebs a night once and let these small teams take you out the game, its really frustrating. Yao is what he is and that's what the rox have to deal with. I do think people see what he can do. I would just like to see him dominate the paint a little more.
Crazy to say, but I think Yao is still learning and adapting his game, even after five odd years in the league. He's never been a really good offensive rebounder, but this year he's really turning into a force on the offensive glass. And is it just me or does he dunk a lot more?
I think that the biggest knock against Yao Ming is his lack of playoff successes. Until Yao proves that he can win in the playoffs, he will not get his respect.
Put Yao on a team in the East nobody will say anything about his "lack of playoff success" anymore. Put him on a big market team like Lakers or Celtics I guarantee he will be much better refed. Put Yao on a team whose starters are not Chuck or Rafer he'll definitely have an easier life. Individual success is never truly 100% individual. It's not like he will suddenly turn into Hakeem but I think the situation where he's currently in has magnified all his weaknesses. Still I think he does pretty well facing all these shxt.
I don't necessarily undervalue Yao so much as his performances are inconsistent. He has nights where his rebounds are down because he waits for them to come to him. Game 7 against the Jazz was what killed us. However if he attacked the boards like he's done the past couple of games then that is certainly asserting his will on both ends of the court. His blocks have been tremendous and the rule change where body collision as long as you're standing up straight and are in position first has really helped his overall defensive gain. A few seasons ago he would have surely been called for more blocking fouls but I see the refs let contact initiated by an offensive player go uncalled because Yao is keeping his arms and hands up and just letting them bounce off him uncontested. Really his only weakness are perimeter oriented centers, and Chuck Hayes as good as he is on defense is still a liability merely due to the fact he has little size. I think Landry is partial to the solution and will make a good backup but a defensive specialists in the PF slot would really go a long way to cover up his deficiencies on defense against certain teams. Yao has always been a great mid season performer. January through March are generally his most memorable performances in his career, so its nice to see his recent string of dominance on both ends of the court. His passing has improved and he's really matured a lot despite not really growing a whole lot athletically. His game is getting more and more polished with each passing game. He just needs a closer and a PF with size and a defensive mindset to be paired along with him. And a consistent PG. Basically we need a consistent larger team. It's not all on Yao when he struggles. Hakeem as great as he was wouldn't have gotten as far as he did without closers on the perimeter like Horry, Maxwell, Drexler, Cassell, Elie, and even Kenny Smith. Centers even back when the zone was illegal still couldn't really be counted on to take the last second shot to win buzzer beaters. Centers are more like the starting pitcher in baseball to help keep the game close so the team can win it and have a closer seal the deal. Shaq had Kobe, Fisher, Foxx, and Horry. Hakeem had a plethora of perimeter players to count on. The only memorable buzzer beater I can recall from Hakeem was the tip in, in the NBA Finals against the Magic to help seal a victory I believe. Yao is doing his thing. The rest falls on his supporting cast to close the deal.
Give Yao an excellent point guard, one who will get him the ball where he likes it night in and night out, and run the offense consistently, not sporatically, like we have now, and I think his scoring would get at least close to what you're talking about. I agree with you. We have the talent now to cover the 4 spot by committee, with someone eventually growing into the starting role... Scola or Landry. The other big hole we have had is at the point. Alston should be coming off the bench. Brooks may end up being what we're looking for, but if he is, it'll be going against the grain in the league with his lack of size. It's asking a lot for a young guy like him to run the team. In my opinion, making a deal for a starting caliber point would insure Yao is scoring the way we think he should and sooner rather than later.
