We're going in circles here,arguing against no one. I said that I wasn't saying you said the opposite, but was merely giving my take...lol...Now it's your turn to refer me back to your post...
Well, no. I'm just wondering if we're expecting too much too early or too much altogether. Maybe Yao will never be the physical dominator even JVG expects him to be. He's still a hell of a center even if he isn't "Shaq-like" in his motions.
hopefully yao can lift more weights this summer to get stronger but i don't think he'll have much time since there's the olympics.
I don't think Yao will ever truly dominate, but he will continue to be a huge part of any team he's on. I see him as being more like Divac than Shaq.
We are expecting too much. Remember Don Nelson's comment about how Yao was a long term project? He said last year that he thought it would be like 3 yrs or something to get to be as good as he was in that Dallas game. He's still a 2nd yr guy, he had no experience with the American game, and he's still getting double doubles. I'm still happy where he is.
Yao seemed a step slow to me most of the game. He probably isn't ready to play more than 25 minutes. I wish he could spend more of the offseason in the States so that we could put to bed whether or not that would make a difference. Is Cato playing PF, and doing a surprisingly good job of it, helping Yao or causing him to play more minutes than he can handle? Maybe it doesn't matter. Perhaps someone without the distractions I often get during games has an idea about that.
Actually, there's no "we", but there's a "you". I've been reading quite a few posts of yours, or should I say drivel? You want to believe Yao will never dominate. Even though he puts on 20/12 for 2 straight nights playing with generally self-centered guys, to you he still sucks no matter what he does and you will continually to dig for bones from an egg.
I think Yao is reluctant to get too physical for fear of getting into foul trouble. He doesn’t have the strength to get position without resorting to using all of his force to knock his defender back or using his arms to hold them back. This usually results in a foul. Hopefully, once he adds some more mass to his upper body he can fight off defenders without blatantly fouling. Shaq seems to be a master at this.
People keep saying Yao should be aggressive and demand the ball. But given the most selfish guards as his teammates in the LEAGUE, he will only get embarrassed.
I'm not sure whether Yao has softened or not. But he's certainly getting nastier. If you took a close look at how he backed A. davis down, you would find he used he left elbow to hit AD's stomach while dribbling with his right hand...geez that was exciting.
It is much easier to teach a player to play dirty than play straight. Yao need to use his elbrow a lot more to know a few guys out to earn some respect in the paint.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! Im sick of people using this excuse for Yaos poor play Take a look at these guys stats in their 2nd years:Shaq Duncan Zo Hakeem Ewing Robinson They did'nt need excuses because the were DOMINATING the league. Just face the facts Yao is not any of these players so don't expect him to be
Speaking from conscience, Yao was quite aggressive. Some drivelERS D a new word) said he was soft, couldn't rebound, not being aggressive. Well, just how many guys on the Rockets team went to the charity stripe to shoot freebies 10 times? Just who in the team can give you double figure points generally shooting at 50 from the field? Yao was completely ignored during the double OT. Van Gundy's offensive strategy got ignored, because somebody wanted to make a nice homerun.
If we had Amare, he wouldnt have developed as fast as he has with the suns. and some more points 1. we had 3 pretty good PF's at the start of last season, and taking another one would be idiocracy. KT, EG, and MOT were all good enough to start. 2. EG needed to be brought along as the PF of the future for the rockets, so most of the minutes would have been given to EG. 3. KT was traded just to give EG more time, and Bringing in Amare just wouldve slowed down the growing of Both players. 4. We needed a Center 2-3 years back. Remember we were suffering with these 2 guys named Cato and Collier. O yea and finally even if he did do as well as he is doing right now many people would've been b****ing about why we picked a player that doesn't pass ( he didn't have an assist for like the first 4 games) And finally we wouldnt have had 2 allstars in the game last year
Put in 2 backcourt duo, say...Stevie & Cat, make the big fella the 3rd man in the team and see what happen.
One thing you might want to also look at are those players' respective fga/game. The fact is, I can never remember another potential dominant center who wasn't automatically made The Man immediately upon arrival. Even the Big O deferred to Kareem from the get-go. Now this is a chicken/egg argument, but it is certainly arguable that the reason Yao isn't putting up similar stats is because he sin't being given the opportunity. His fg%, the only comparable guage, is certainly in line.
MacBeth Do you really think Yao could manage 45%+ FGP if our guards get the ball to him every time, even without double teamed? I don't think Yao's ready. His strength, his stamina...all big problems. His go-to move is still fade away... He's just not there yet.
